Day 2 – A Braai & Brazil v Ivory Coast

A great night’s sleep before our first match day. No nerves here! Of course we’re not actually playing. Our first meeting of the day was with........Mexico. All the other rooms in the guest house are occupied by a large Mexican family, 9 in total including wives and kids. They are really nice people and speak fantastic English, even the kids. They are spending much of the summer in Africa, initially in South Africa and then going on to Kenya and Tanzania for safari and other experiences of this great continent.

Today was one of the Mexican ladies’ birthday and so when she came into the breakfast room there was much singing, festivities and present-giving. The guest house owners also gave her a cake and a specially decorated place at the table. It was a great start to the day, and so was our first breakfast in Northcliff Manor. Great choice and lovely food, a table of 9 for the Mexicans and one of 2 for us. They are also going to Brazil v ivory Coast this evening and have been to several matches so far including the Mexico games. Apart from having some interesting conversations we also learned that we have to book the stadium car parking in advance so that was very useful and off we went to our second shopping mall in two days. Who would have thought it!

Then John and I sat down for an hour and planned some sightseeing and a ‘to do’ list for the week after which we headed to get the car parking sorted. The Cresta mall was another very impressive centre that could easily fit any European city. Not far from the guest house. We found the ticket office and after a short queue with the rest of the United Nations of FIFA (people from so many countries here for this even, living in harmony in the name of football much as we have seen in France and Germany in the past) we got our tickets for Park and Walk. We chose to Park and Walk at all four Johannesburg events as there will be less reliance on queuing for buses etc.

That done we headed to a braai that we had been invited too at the home of Harrianne and Jonathan, some friends of my parents. They live in the suburb of Riverclub within, as is normal here, a gated and secured development. We learned that this is just accepted as ‘what you do’, and although it wasn’t always this way, it is seen as a stage in the process of the development of an otherwise lovely country. Other guests included Harrianne and Jonathan’s daughters, both in their twenties, the husband of one daughter and his parents and brother. Later Harrianne’s brother and his wife arrived. Great food, really interesting conversation and all really nice people. Our experience of South African hospitality and family life was great and we learned a lot and gained additional insight into what lays beyond the walls and security systems of the houses here. We also got some chocolates as Fathers’ day gifts – thanks Harrianne! – it seems Father’s Day is a much bigger deal than at home. By the way kids, I found my great card hidden in my suitcase, with lovely words, so thanks to Alannah and Richard.

Now for some football!

We were driving to the ground listening to Italy 1 New Zealand 1 on the radio. Another shock result. Coupled with Paraguay’s earlier victory over Slovakia it further confirmed my thoughts on the tournament so far. The major European footballing nations, with the exception of Holland, haven’t performed to their potential and many of them – France, Italy, and England – have really underperformed big time! The African nations have not managed to take advantage of ‘home advantage’ and the huge support they enjoy here, they just don’t seem to quite be ready for this level still. But the Latin/South American countries have dominated the tournament and you’d have to bet on the eventual winner coming from one of those nations. Argentina, Brazil, Paraguay, Mexico, and Uruguay have all done really well and seem certain to qualify for the next round. The minnows from other countries have managed to pick up points and/or score goals. Hard to work out why, but certainly the Europeans have buck their ideas up big time.

The journey to the stadium was quite smooth and nowhere near the traffic that we expected. We allowed four hours before the kick off but we got there in a little over one hour. The Park and Walk facility was very close to the stadium but little more than a dusty field with lots of local people selling everything, especially the dreaded Vuvuzelas. However we quickly realised that these have spawned another new line for football supporters as we came across people selling ......ear plugs. Some of these seemed to be in team colours. There’s an antidote for everything apparently. But these things are very noisy and their constant loud hum, occasionally varied to staccato sounds, is an unwelcome addition to the football scene in my view. But they are part of the sport in Africa and will be one of the main memories, and probably legacies, of this World Cup in the same way as Argentina will be remembered for its ticker tape and Mexico for its Wave.

We didn’t find much to do around the stadium but late on we spotted an area which may have been more animated as a Fan Zone. We will try it next time. The souvenir shops were disappointing in their range and the prices for things were for the international market, not for locals. T shorts range between £20-£30 etc, and from a first look there was a poor selection. We will look further.

The scenes were colourful everywhere, the Brazilian yellow and green and the Ivory Coast orange and white. We saw a man dressed as an elephant (Ivory Coast) but the Brazilian girls were much more wrapped up than at previous tournaments – it’s freezing cold here at night time. That said, the crowds mingled in carnival atmosphere and a spirit of friendship, not the normal football tribalism.

Our seats were great, towards the front of the top tier right on the half way line and we could see everything around the whole stadium. Ivory Coast started well but quickly faded and the Brazil victory by 3 goals to 1 was fair, even if the second goal was an obvious handball. Another South American victory and another African disappointment – it is still possible than no African teams will reach the knock-out stages. We enjoyed the match and the atmosphere – it was a great start to our week of matches although there will be better games to come.

We made it back to the Park and Walk site quite quickly and it was every man for himself! I drove that night and it was like rally cross through the car park, avoiding people, cars, trees and a variety of other obstacles. I made it to an exit fairly quickly only to discover that there was a massive kerb and out little car was never going to make it without knocking out the oil sump. So we drove along the pavement with many other cars (four lanes at one stage) until a steward finally shepherded us down a ramp onto the road. We got back to the guest house quickly after that and it was a very full and memorable first full day in SA.