The first match was in Port Elizabeth: Switzerland-Chile. The drive along the coast was scenic. I had to laugh when I saw the sign "(the host town of) Knysna proudly welcomes the teams from France and Denmark"... Getting closer to the stadium, the indications were good and the traffic fine. We parked on a school's rugby ground and then walked to the stadium. It is that easy. Lots of fans, festive atmosphere, great weather, friendly officials... After all, the motto of Port Elizabeth is "the friendly city" (in Cape Town, we say it is because they have nothing else they could advertise...). Anyway, I was quite impressed with the whole experience around and inside the stadium. Well done!
The new stadium is beautiful and we got to sit in the fifth row. Besides, all the positive points, it was a little disappointment that 10000 seats were left empty. Surely, FIFA must have some rigid rules not allowing last minutes local fans to access the stadium at a discount price... On the other side, the monopoly given to sponsors inside the stadium gave an impression of communism. Sad to see only one make of soft drinks and of beers available - and of course none is local. I wonder whether these sponsors were pleased that the stadium was not full, because of FIFA...
I suppose I should not comment much on the game itself - you all read the score and a resume in the newspapers. So let's move to the second match, in Bloemfontein. The first thing I noticed when I got there is that everybody spoke to me in Afrikaans. Maybe I should take it as a positive sign that I look like a local. Still I found it very interesting that this language manages to keep its position in society (even black people spoke to me in Afrikaans...). The game took place in the renovated rugby stadium. Again, there were numerous empty seats for this Honduras-Switzerland match. Still it was nice to see black and white South Africans watching the match together.
I will again abstain from mentioning the scoreline. All I can say is that I was very disappointed not to see a single goal from the swiss team. At this world cup, it was clear they had reached their ceiling. The only thing they did well was defending. It is sad that their gameplan has been to speculate on three 0-0. The fact that it worked in the first game against Spain did not encourage them to be more constructive in the next two games. All in all, I think they did not deserve to go any further in the competition. To finish, a little video with the ambiance inside the stadium. but a warning first: get your earplugs - the vuvuzelas are in full swing!
The new stadium is beautiful and we got to sit in the fifth row. Besides, all the positive points, it was a little disappointment that 10000 seats were left empty. Surely, FIFA must have some rigid rules not allowing last minutes local fans to access the stadium at a discount price... On the other side, the monopoly given to sponsors inside the stadium gave an impression of communism. Sad to see only one make of soft drinks and of beers available - and of course none is local. I wonder whether these sponsors were pleased that the stadium was not full, because of FIFA...
I suppose I should not comment much on the game itself - you all read the score and a resume in the newspapers. So let's move to the second match, in Bloemfontein. The first thing I noticed when I got there is that everybody spoke to me in Afrikaans. Maybe I should take it as a positive sign that I look like a local. Still I found it very interesting that this language manages to keep its position in society (even black people spoke to me in Afrikaans...). The game took place in the renovated rugby stadium. Again, there were numerous empty seats for this Honduras-Switzerland match. Still it was nice to see black and white South Africans watching the match together.
I will again abstain from mentioning the scoreline. All I can say is that I was very disappointed not to see a single goal from the swiss team. At this world cup, it was clear they had reached their ceiling. The only thing they did well was defending. It is sad that their gameplan has been to speculate on three 0-0. The fact that it worked in the first game against Spain did not encourage them to be more constructive in the next two games. All in all, I think they did not deserve to go any further in the competition. To finish, a little video with the ambiance inside the stadium. but a warning first: get your earplugs - the vuvuzelas are in full swing!
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