World Cup - Argentina vs. Nigeria

Rodrigo & Fabian

At the hostel...getting ready to head to the game

We owned the streets of
downtown Johannesburg

The good thing the previous night was that I got a free upgrade at the hostel from a 12 bed dorm to a 4 bed dorm and the bathroom and toilets were right opposite our dorm.

The bad thing was that someone had kept the window open the last night and we only were given light blankets as the hostel owners had not envisioned Jo’burg to be this cold. Even though I had worn multiple layers, I slumbered up cold the next morning.

Ellis Park stadium

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My first world cup game was at 4pm that day so I wanted to get to the stadium as early as possible to soak in the moment.

Fabian (who incidentally was in the same dorm) and I were having our breakfast planning out the day when we met Rodrigo from Brazil. He also was traveling alone and had ticket to the Argentina vs. Nigeria game so he tagged along with us for the day. We on the other hand tagged along with a bunch of Chileans and Argentinians who had rented a minibus to go to the stadium which is located not too far away from the center or downtown of Jo’burg. A quick fact on downtown Jo’ burg is that everyone advises to stay away from it and its surrounding areas as they have a reputation for being the center of crime.

The crowd was buzzing inside the stadium

Action from a corner kick

As we passed through some of the busy streets of Jo’burg, I noticed a marked change in the scenery compared to Sandton the previous night. While Sandton was definitely upscale and could easily be mistaken for a neighborhood in a world class city, the streets we passed through seemed distinctly like a ghetto and was exclusively Black South Africans (don’t want to sound racist but I will come back to this topic in a later blog).

Messi about to take the freekick

Maradona on the touchline

Messi!!!!!

All of us in the minibus were slightly nervous as we passed through this neighborhood knowing fully well of Jo’burg’s reputation of being one of the worst cities for violent crime.

Corner kick

We were even more insecure when the driver dropped us off a kilometer away from the stadium as asked us to walk. Evidently the police had blocked off all roads leading to the stadium and were escorting all pedestrians going to the stadium. The walk initially was a little disconcerting but later turned to a refreshing one as I finally got a chance to feel the vibe of the city.

Some less-than-happy Nigerian fans

Once I got to the stadium maybe I got carried off in the moment or something like that but I don’t quite remember a lot from what transpired for the next few hours except for the though that I had finally accomplished my life long dream of going to a World Cup. I did take a few pictures once the game started but somehow the whole match experience seemed just like a single moment in time that just passed by briskly.

After the game I was asked for my comments on the game by some news reporter and I remember saying that I was so excited to just be there and the best moment for me was seeing Lionel Messi take a corner kick not more than 20 yards from where I was sitting.

After the game, we got some supper and me and Fabian took a taxi back to the hostel while Rodrigo headed to the Airport to catch a flight to Cape Town. At the hostel, we just curled up around the fire to see the next game on a projected screen and chill out the rest of the evening.