The day was 27th of June and that evening at 8:30pm my last game of the World Cup awaited me in Jo’burg. That day I was happy since I was about to embark on my home leg…which is the final part of my journey where I start the trip back home. So, even though I was in Swaziland, that day I was to start the progression of going back home by getting to Jo’burg and from there leave for Liberia. 
I was still about 350 km east of Jo’burg in Ezulwini valley but…I had a Plan. I was to wake up early that morning (around 6am) and head the opposite direction to a city called Manzini from where I was to take a taxi and head west through the Oshoek border where I would cross over into South Africa and then reach Jo’burg. Once I get there I wanted to find a place to stay that night, rest a little and then head to the game.
Well that was a plan…no sooner I encountered my first problem. It was a Sunday and since there were not a lot of business travelers, the wait time for filling up a taxi was significantly higher. I had reached Manzini around 7:30am and had to wait for almost 2.5 hours to get the taxi filled up. At one point I was loosing my patience and was really wondering if the taxi was ever going to leave. However, the taxi finally left around 10am and considering that it would take me 4.5 hours to get to Jo’burg, I was hoping to get there around 2:30pm which meant that my plan was still on track.
On our way we passed Ezulwini valley and then just after Mbabane, our taxi broke down and I really was wondering if it was that kind of a day when everything was going to go wrong. I even tried hitchhiking with the ticket in my hand hoping that somebody will see that and give me a ride but it did not work.
Fortunately, the taxi company had a backup taxi called in and we were able to continue our journey after about 30 minutes of waiting. Pretty soon we hit the Oshoek border and unlike when I entered Swaziland where I had to change taxi on either side of the border, this time I was going to take the same taxi. The taxi dropped all the passengers at the Swaziland Immigration office where we had to get my passports stamped and then walk towards the South African immigration office. After getting the necessary paperwork done there, we were supposed to get back into the same taxi that was waiting on the other side of the border.
I dozed off for most of the ride while the taxi made it into Jo’ burg around 4:30pm and then dropped us off at North (the public transportation hub). If you have followed my blog so far then you might have read how desperate I was to get out of Jo' burg but this time I was pleased with my arrival in the city. I guess the main reason for that must have been the fact that my trip was successful so far and I was close to wrapping it up.
Since I did not have a lot of time to search for a decent place to sleep that night I returned back to the same hostel where I had slept for my whole stay in Jo’burg. I could sense that the atmosphere was less colorful as half of the teams had already gone back home and it just seemed a little less festive than before. This was indication that the tournament was changing from a festival of nations to a serious competition where the best teams were fighting it out now.
As soon as I checked in, I got ready for the game putting on my Argentina shirt one last time and headed to the match. This time around I was to see the game all alone and that’s how I wanted it. Till then, I had seen the games up close to the playing field and along with the most raucous supporters but this time I wanted to see it from a vantage point and focus on every single move of the match knowing fully well that would be my last match at a World Cup (I don’t foresee myself doing it again anytime soon). Outside the beautiful soccer city stadium I spent 15 minutes just gazing at the stadium which was my way of bidding adieu to the games.
Inside the stadium, I was sitting in a section with mostly neutral fans, lot of whom were South Africans and needless to say there were a lot of vuvuzelas blowing around me. Contrary to what I have heard and what I believed before I came to South Africa, the vuvuzelas were not a distraction. I was not one to blow one all through the game but quite frankly I did not mind it at all since I was able to tune out the sounds created by them. I think it sounds much worse in TV broadcasts.
By the way, here’s a link of a video that I took when the players are making their way into the playing field and when the national anthem is sung. I think this is the best video I captured because I got the moment when the Argentines are humming to the national anthem. I might be an Argentina fan but if I put my neutral hat on this still is the best rendition of any national anthem I have heard. The video might be good but its nothing compared to being there live
I was also of the opinion that just as chanting and singing and jumping are part of a culture of watching a game in different parts of the world, blowing a vuvuzela is part and parcel of the South African culture so regardless of the fact whether I like it or not, if I am seeing a game in SA, I totally accept the vuvuzela sound (or noise as some would term it ) as part of a game.
Since I saw this game from the second tier of the stadium, tactically I could follow the game a lot better as I could see all 22 players. I was amazed when the first goal was scored by Carlos Tevez because from where I was sitting I could clearly see that he was offside so as soon as he scored I looked at the linesman expecting him to blow the whistle for offside which never happened. I also distinctly remember seeing Tevez scored the second of his two goals with a rifle of a shot from outside the penalty shot.
That’s night as I retired to my bed, I knew that that was going to be as easy as it gets for Maradona and Co. because they were to face Germany in the next round. When I was planning on seeing the World Cup, Argentina was struggling to even qualify for the finals and I seriously doubted it they would make it, so when they did finally qualify in their last match, I was more relieved than excited . Due to this my expectations of the team at the WC were pretty low. I had originally expected them to barely make it through the round robin and then my bet was they would loose in the 2nd round. So from that standpoint I was happy that I was leaving the team on a winning note. Overall I think the team played pretty well and won their games fairly well but that had more to do with the talent on the team rather than Maradona’s coaching and tactics. I still had my suspicion that the midfield and defense was weak and believed that they were not tested so far (the German’s proved me right).
As I am writing this blog, Maradona is no longer the coach but what amazes me is that he and his team were greeted in Argentina to a heroes welcome and everybody including the president was asking him to continue as the coach. It’s one think to respect your national icons but to blindly support and worship then is something that is totally crazy. Personally,
I think the Argentine public should stop looking at the past and worshipping those heroes and start looking into the future with higher expectation than just making to the quarterfinals else it might be a similar case as the past few World Cup where they enter the competition having some of the best players in the world only to fall when they face a real challenge.
I was still about 350 km east of Jo’burg in Ezulwini valley but…I had a Plan. I was to wake up early that morning (around 6am) and head the opposite direction to a city called Manzini from where I was to take a taxi and head west through the Oshoek border where I would cross over into South Africa and then reach Jo’burg. Once I get there I wanted to find a place to stay that night, rest a little and then head to the game.
Well that was a plan…no sooner I encountered my first problem. It was a Sunday and since there were not a lot of business travelers, the wait time for filling up a taxi was significantly higher. I had reached Manzini around 7:30am and had to wait for almost 2.5 hours to get the taxi filled up. At one point I was loosing my patience and was really wondering if the taxi was ever going to leave. However, the taxi finally left around 10am and considering that it would take me 4.5 hours to get to Jo’burg, I was hoping to get there around 2:30pm which meant that my plan was still on track.
On our way we passed Ezulwini valley and then just after Mbabane, our taxi broke down and I really was wondering if it was that kind of a day when everything was going to go wrong. I even tried hitchhiking with the ticket in my hand hoping that somebody will see that and give me a ride but it did not work.
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| Soccer City at night |
Fortunately, the taxi company had a backup taxi called in and we were able to continue our journey after about 30 minutes of waiting. Pretty soon we hit the Oshoek border and unlike when I entered Swaziland where I had to change taxi on either side of the border, this time I was going to take the same taxi. The taxi dropped all the passengers at the Swaziland Immigration office where we had to get my passports stamped and then walk towards the South African immigration office. After getting the necessary paperwork done there, we were supposed to get back into the same taxi that was waiting on the other side of the border.
I dozed off for most of the ride while the taxi made it into Jo’ burg around 4:30pm and then dropped us off at North (the public transportation hub). If you have followed my blog so far then you might have read how desperate I was to get out of Jo' burg but this time I was pleased with my arrival in the city. I guess the main reason for that must have been the fact that my trip was successful so far and I was close to wrapping it up.
Since I did not have a lot of time to search for a decent place to sleep that night I returned back to the same hostel where I had slept for my whole stay in Jo’burg. I could sense that the atmosphere was less colorful as half of the teams had already gone back home and it just seemed a little less festive than before. This was indication that the tournament was changing from a festival of nations to a serious competition where the best teams were fighting it out now.
As soon as I checked in, I got ready for the game putting on my Argentina shirt one last time and headed to the match. This time around I was to see the game all alone and that’s how I wanted it. Till then, I had seen the games up close to the playing field and along with the most raucous supporters but this time I wanted to see it from a vantage point and focus on every single move of the match knowing fully well that would be my last match at a World Cup (I don’t foresee myself doing it again anytime soon). Outside the beautiful soccer city stadium I spent 15 minutes just gazing at the stadium which was my way of bidding adieu to the games.
Inside the stadium, I was sitting in a section with mostly neutral fans, lot of whom were South Africans and needless to say there were a lot of vuvuzelas blowing around me. Contrary to what I have heard and what I believed before I came to South Africa, the vuvuzelas were not a distraction. I was not one to blow one all through the game but quite frankly I did not mind it at all since I was able to tune out the sounds created by them. I think it sounds much worse in TV broadcasts.
By the way, here’s a link of a video that I took when the players are making their way into the playing field and when the national anthem is sung. I think this is the best video I captured because I got the moment when the Argentines are humming to the national anthem. I might be an Argentina fan but if I put my neutral hat on this still is the best rendition of any national anthem I have heard. The video might be good but its nothing compared to being there live
I was also of the opinion that just as chanting and singing and jumping are part of a culture of watching a game in different parts of the world, blowing a vuvuzela is part and parcel of the South African culture so regardless of the fact whether I like it or not, if I am seeing a game in SA, I totally accept the vuvuzela sound (or noise as some would term it ) as part of a game.
Since I saw this game from the second tier of the stadium, tactically I could follow the game a lot better as I could see all 22 players. I was amazed when the first goal was scored by Carlos Tevez because from where I was sitting I could clearly see that he was offside so as soon as he scored I looked at the linesman expecting him to blow the whistle for offside which never happened. I also distinctly remember seeing Tevez scored the second of his two goals with a rifle of a shot from outside the penalty shot.
That’s night as I retired to my bed, I knew that that was going to be as easy as it gets for Maradona and Co. because they were to face Germany in the next round. When I was planning on seeing the World Cup, Argentina was struggling to even qualify for the finals and I seriously doubted it they would make it, so when they did finally qualify in their last match, I was more relieved than excited . Due to this my expectations of the team at the WC were pretty low. I had originally expected them to barely make it through the round robin and then my bet was they would loose in the 2nd round. So from that standpoint I was happy that I was leaving the team on a winning note. Overall I think the team played pretty well and won their games fairly well but that had more to do with the talent on the team rather than Maradona’s coaching and tactics. I still had my suspicion that the midfield and defense was weak and believed that they were not tested so far (the German’s proved me right).
As I am writing this blog, Maradona is no longer the coach but what amazes me is that he and his team were greeted in Argentina to a heroes welcome and everybody including the president was asking him to continue as the coach. It’s one think to respect your national icons but to blindly support and worship then is something that is totally crazy. Personally,
I think the Argentine public should stop looking at the past and worshipping those heroes and start looking into the future with higher expectation than just making to the quarterfinals else it might be a similar case as the past few World Cup where they enter the competition having some of the best players in the world only to fall when they face a real challenge.
The journey to world cup was awesome. We enjoyed the thrill sitting at home, through your photographs and narrations. You looked like Argentine in new makeup! Thanks for sharing your joy.
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