The excitement here for the past month and a half has been incredible. It's difficult to describe the importance of this World Cup to the country of South Africa and the continent of Africa as a whole. This was the first time in history that the World Cup was awarded to an African country and the whole continent seems to be sharing in the joy. Everywhere you look you see the flags of the countries represented at this WC, see people wearing soccer jerseys, and hear the sounds of vuvuzelas.
Another thing that is unique to this World Cup is the Fifa Fan Zone. Fan Zones are a great place to watch the games in a stadium for free; complete with giant screens, crazy fans, live music, small soccer tournaments, and more. The atmosphere is often the next best thing to being present at the game. Emily and I had some great experiences going to the Fan Zone in Port Elizabeth. We saw a huge group of orange Netherlands supporters go crazy after their victory, Ghana fans singing and dancing for an entire game, and Germans sitting an enjoying and Argentina game. On top of that, we experienced some very good local African musicians playing all kinds of different music.
Of course no World Cup is complete without the random, local experiences of fans cheering on their team. When Bafana Bafana (nickname for South Africa's national soccer team) is playing, there is no better place to be than South Africa! One of the best experiences I've had here during the WC was during Bafana's last game against France. South Africa knew that they had one last chance to make it to the second round of the 2010 WC and the only shot was to not only beat France, but to beat them handily. The whole country was on the edge of their seat in anticipation. Emily and I were in the mall in East London where they have a giant screen set up during the WC. I was actually a little disappointed before the game because we didn't find a Fan Zone to watch. However, that quickly changed once I stepped into the vicinity of the game. The game was only a few minutes in and SA had already scored a goal, taking a 1-nil lead. The way that the team was playing, everyone quickly realized that the unbelievable dream of achieving a huge victory over France was possible. There was a massive crowd around the screen and everyone was going nuts the entire game. The buzz of the game was so extreme that people were cheering all over the mall. I felt like part of a big South African family. In the end, Bafana fell just short, but it was an amazing experience nonetheless.
Though I appreciate the general atmosphere of the WC and all of the smaller things that are unique to this experience, the obvious highlight of it all was the game that Emily and I attended in Port Elizabeth. When I first looked at the schedule and saw that Cote d'Ivoire was playing Portugal in PE, I had an easy choice of which game to go to. Though the game ended in a 0-0 draw, I have no regrets as I got to see a very competitive game and got to see some of the best players in the world do what they do best. From the moment we parked for the "park and ride" it was an experience like no other. There were Portugal fans everywhere! I really expected a lot more Cote d'Ivoire fans considering we are in Africa, but I saw mainly Portugal colors in all directions. The cool part was that I was wearing my Cote d'Ivoire and South Africa stuff so I had a special bond with the smaller groups of Cote d'Ivoire fans. Walking to the stadium surrounded by crazy, vuvuzela-blowing fans served to intensify my ever-growing anticipation. When we finally arrived at the stadium and walked through the gates, my lifelong dream of going to a World Cup game was finally realized. The stadium was immaculate and we had great seats right in the center of the field. Seeing the huge flags of Portugal waving and the group of Cote d'Ivoire fans singing was just what I expected. The game itself was a great battle and went down to the last minute. One of the highlights of the game was when Didier Drogba of Cote d'Ivoire ran out onto the field. The crowd went crazy and Drogba himself injected a ton of energy into his team. Drogba is one of the heroes of soccer in Africa and the leader of his team. He was injured right before the WC and was not expected to play. I was disappointed when I heard he probably wasn't playing, but seeing him come into the game added something special to the whole experience and made the game a lot more exciting. Sharing this experience with Emily was also very rewarding. During the game Emily was going crazy right there alongside me. She may not have been a huge soccer fan before, but before this game was over, she definitely was!
Even though I've written a lot about this experience, it's really hard to describe what it's been like. I do believe that "a picture is worth a thousand words" so I'll leave you with that.
