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The tournament is not complete but the two week journey of my 13 year old son and I has come to a close. Having attended other world cup finals (1994 USA, 2002 Japan Korea and 2006 Germany) we were looking forward to an amazing time in Africa and we were not disappointed - except for the final goal in Rustenburg.
Starting with some of the best of the tournament which in my mind is the rebranding of South Africa from Apartheid to the Rainbow Nation and no longer being seen as a third world country; the message of Mandela and the power of reconciliation is a lesson for all mankind.
It is pure joy enjoying the father - son experience of traveling together and the highlight of all of the soccer games we attend (domestic or international) is kicking together at halftime. The World Cup makes that even more spectacular as it involves kids and people from all over the world united by the touch of the
Other highlights included:
*The early goal by Shabalala and the quality performances by the Bafana Bafana despite being the first host nation not to advance to the knockout stages.
*The contrite English fans who claimed they beat USA except for the goalkeeper error. Hello soccer gods. About 95% of all soccer goals are due to defensive mistakes in one form or another - including the one you got on USA.
*The Minnow surprises made early matches exciting:
-New Zealand Italy 1-1 a country that has played in 4 world cup final matches vs. a country that has won 4 world cups.
-North Korea surprisingly competitive match against Brasil; the 2-1 result was not televised in North Korea as the their little 'Little Kim' felt as though the expected one-sided match would be too much for his nation to handle. Instead, they missed out on a great fight by their team and aired the following match where they were dismantled 7-0 by Portugal. I'd hate to be the senior advisor who recommended that to Little Kim.
-Switzerland upsetting Spain 1-0
-Greece with their first world cup finals victory courtesy of Nigeria 2-1.
*Speaking of fish, it was interesting to visit the KwaZulu Natal Shark Boards and learn about their work with great whites. Durban has a long history with sharks and the implementation of shark nets off the coast has apparently proven successful in avoiding human tragedy.
*Weather was wonderful with many days in the 80's.
*Durbin. A world cup on the beach. I know that in southern California we like to say you can surf and swim in the same day but in Durbin they advertised 'take a dip at halftime'; although the warm Indian Ocean felt as cold as the Pacific.
*We were somehow able to move ourselves into the front row for four of the five matches we attended:
ARG MEX 3-1, POR BRA 0-0, NED SLK 2-1, USA GHA 1-2 and KPR NIG 2-2.
*We were able to sell off all of our extra tickets (the wife and daughter barely make it to a LA Galaxy game every season, let alone South Africa), except the rural Rustenburg match which basically was equivalent to having a Super Bowl in San Luis Obispo - the roads were only two lane which made 34,000 (capacity was 44,000) fans and their cars drive hours to a match. It was like driving the grocery store parking lot for 5 hours on the way home from the game. The extra tickets for that match were dispensed to the local kids courtesy of an impromptu juggling contest.
*President Bill Clinton attended several matches as he continues to lead the USA charge toward hosting the 2018 or 2022 World Cups.
*The vuvuzelas were loud and fun and a hallmark of the 2010 world cup finals.
"Howz it" is the standard greeting of the people and the rainbow nation and all of it's people were very friendly.
Some lowlights of the tournament included:
*Nelson Mandela's great granddaughter tragically being run down and killed by an alleged drunk driver the night of the opening ceremonies.
*The ball. Jabulani is the 11th world cup finals ball provided by Adidas and looks fantastic with it's unique design and 11 colors - the same number of official languages spoken in South Africa; but it really does sail away like the ones you would buy at a grocery store. Just take a look at the many restarts delivered into the upper seats by some of the best finishers in the game.
*The lack of Ireland due to the cheat of France in qualifying matches. France's participation in the finals was riddled with unrest within their camp, horrible performances, mutiny amongst the squad and capped off by the French bozo coach refusing the shake the hand of the class South African coach following their final group match.
*The USA Ghana match was a tough loss to handle; especially after the fact knowing that American viewers would have been treated to a real delight of a match the following Friday in Soccer City. It was reported that a record 19 million American viewers watched the loss and the numbers for the next game might have been doubled.
*The USA's slow start in every single match including the overtime start against Ghana.
*The referee performances included low rank mistakes of no goal in England Germany (which I dubbed the "Mind The Gap" match referencing the gap in the subway entries so widely noted across the tubes in England), the Mexico Argentina no-offside call and the disallowed (game-winning) goal for USA in the closing minutes against Slovenia.
*Edson Buddle should have come on for Altidore in the USA Ghana overtime instead of Hercules Gomez - it is an African side and Buddle has the size and speed to perform in that tough scenario.
*FIFA ticket processing was poor. Many matches were not sold out dispute many, many fans waiting in line for hours only to be turned away. How so many could wait in lines for over 10 hours and seats be empty is beyond me.
*The most anticipated match for us was Portugal Brasil Friday night in Durban but the 0-0 result made it less appealing than most of the other matches we attended.
*The private security firm of Fidelity was absurd in the USA Ghana match, almost ejecting my son and I from the stadium for (get this) "standing" in the American section where ALL fans stand the ENTIRE match. The fat, bald headed, idiotic leader was a man calling himself Warren. Warren has no right to be around anyone playing soccer anywhere. He simply does not understand The Beautiful Game.
*The final pool play matches were scheduled at the same time for each group to ensure no advantage of knowing your competitions score line but somehow that stopped the television broadcasts and stadium updates from the other matches - a little ridiculous in this age of instant communications.
Away from the soccer pitch, Table Mountain in Cape Town is an amazing experience - it's as if the Grand Canyon was beach front property. Many roads in Durban incorporated Roundabouts instead of four-way signal intersections and America would do well to consider adopting these to keep traffic moving freely. The Gateway Mall in Durban was spectacular and touted as the largest shopping mall in the southern hemisphere.
Prostitution was supposed to be huge during the event, as was crime. We didn't see much of either actually although a news story about the working girls being ignored due to soccer fans focusing on the games did include a comment that the German and Australian fans were an exception and seemed to be their only customers. The other thing we did not see was wildlife and safaris (other than a few monkeys crossing the street near a suburban land reserve); our world cup travels are focused on football so no time for safaris and countryside pursuits; the upside being we didn't have to deal with the malaria pills.
The starting eleven have not been announced yet but Landon Donovan should be on the list - well done LD and well done Clint Dempsey, Tim Howard, Jay Demerit, Benny Feilhaber, Jozy Altidore, Jonathan Bornstein and the rest of the USA squad.
Zakumi (ZA means South Africa and Kumi means ten) was a legitimate mascot.
Finally, the travel: 40+ hours door-to-door can be brutal - especially in economy seats. The departure flight out of South Africa included a surprise courtesy of the World Health Organization (WHO): apparently the flight attendants have to spray insecticides all through the cabin just prior to lift off - good thing I can hold my breath for over a minute at a time.
Thank you South Africa for a wonderful experience!
If you have not yet signed the petition for USA to host the FIFA World Cup in 2018 or 2022, please do so immediately. Word is that both host countries will be decided this coming December.
Go USA!
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