Three Men and a World Cup 2010

Second day in Cape Town

Andy — Sun, 18 Jul 2010 06:30:45 +0000

Went for a flight lesson – best way to get up there and take pictures… Here’s a good one of Cape Town and the Greenpoint Football stadium

Cape Town – Cape Point

Andy — Fri, 16 Jul 2010 21:44:15 +0000

Beautiful drive, even though it was a little rainy and blustery, down the coast to the most south-westerly point of Africa – Cape Point and the Cape of Good Hope

Heading West to Cape Town

Carl — Tue, 13 Jul 2010 09:25:12 +0000

Now that the football is complete we have a few days to go and visit friends and other parts of South Africa. So today we’ll be flying South African Airlines just under a 1000 miles to Cape Town located on the West coast of South Africa. I’ll post pictures and updates as they occur. Unless the airline try and charge us for an extra seat, we’ll be taking Chris jr with us.

World Cup Final 2010 – Spain vs Netherlands

Carl — Mon, 12 Jul 2010 13:59:20 +0000

Last night we attended the World Cup Final at Soccer City in Johannesburg. It felt special to be there, and the atmosphere is something I will never forget. To see Nelson Mandela was something special, and everyone in the stadium gave him the standing ovation he deserves, football players are often referred to as heroes by the media (falsely), but Nelson Mandela is a real hero, and a great inspiration for millions of people.

The game did not flow very well, and compared to football played in the 3/4th playoff game from the previous night was disappointing, but lets face it, if I was only interested in the football I could have stayed at home and watched it on the tele with instant replays, attending the games has been as much about the atmosphere as the game itself. The Dutch played dirty and unfortunately their tournament will probably be remembered that way.

As with our other games, we met people in the stands, took lots of photos and did our regular video introductions…

Alex from the train to Soccer City

Andy introduces the World Cup final (be sure to listen to my score prediction)

Stacie, our gracious hostess, provides the closing comments

Chris Jr shows his colours…

Carl — Sat, 10 Jul 2010 08:57:32 +0000

Chris Jr, has an upgrade for the World Cup final. He’s now in colour and sporting a new hair do. Orange hair? Who could he be supporting I wonder?

Chris Jr shows his true colours

Germany vs Spain Intro

Carl — Thu, 08 Jul 2010 17:47:30 +0000

Yesterday we got to watch Germany vs Spain. Didn’t get access to a computer until I got back to Johannesburg so sorry for the delay. The best team won, Spain totally took Germany out of the game, no idea what the posession percentage was, but Germany couldn’t have had it much. Chris Jr continues to get lots of attention, and is very popular with the ladies, much like Chris Sr. There were some fans which missed the game because of issues with their flights, to them I say, what the hell were you thinking? Who leaves their travel to a flight that is supposed to get in a couple of hours early? So now we will have a historic World Cup final, with neither the Netherlands or Spain having won the competition. I have more friends that are Dutch, so I think I’ll be rooting for them.

We did see a person invade the pitch early on in the game, and unfortunately, the security didn’t beat the crap out of him as I had been told would happen. Oh well, I did video what happened.

Intro Video

Chris getting attention

Dumb ass Italian

See you at the final!!!!

Lucky break…

Andy — Wed, 07 Jul 2010 22:52:02 +0000

Well, we decided to check out a semi-final in Durban – so we we’re on the road to Durban and we pulled into a service station on the road down there. We were just going to get some gas and a snack when the gas/petrol attendant announced “That’s Tshabalala!!” – he had seen a guy drive up in his new BMW convertible (with no license plates) and get out – it turned out it was Siphewe Tshabalala, the South African striker, who scored the first goal in this World Cup (and what a cracker that goal was)… so I went over to him at the checkout and asked if I could get a picture…..

I told him his goal was a corker!!

Shredded Vuvuzela anyone?

IdoNotes — Wed, 07 Jul 2010 21:27:58 +0000

As we sat game after game listening to the drone of vuvuzelas, it became apparent they might be part of sports culture globally soon enough. Oddly, there are two choices. Ear plugs (which I wore almost every game) and the new choice #2..

The remote intro for Spain v Germany in Durban

IdoNotes — Wed, 07 Jul 2010 19:28:05 +0000

While I was not there in physical presence, I certainly am there still in spirit and I am happy Andy and Carl are joining me watching the game in Durban.

Sorry for the noise they make, they get excited easily.

It’s not all football, football and more football you know.

Carl — Tue, 06 Jul 2010 21:39:25 +0000

Although did I mention we managed to get FIFA World Cup Final Tickets! Don’t worry, we’ll take Chris Jr.

Seriously though, it would be absolutely crazy of us to come all the way to South Africa and not do a Safari. So for the last couple of days between games we drove up to Pilanesburg Game Reserve. My poor camera didn’t know what had hit it, for the first time this trip I managed to flatten the battery from taking so many photos. They’re still uploading to Flickr, but you’ll be able to see the complete selection in an hour or so (internet is slow here) at the following URL

http://www.flickr.com/photos/iminstant/sets/72157624438149330/

These animals are amazing, they’re massive, and it really comes home when you’re in a tiny Toyota Corolla rental with a Rhino facing you a few feet away. The car was in reverse and I was ready to floor it and lift the clutch if I had seen that Rhino twitch, fortunately the only thing twitching was Andy’s arsehole (so he says I didn’t check).

We stopped at one hide and were lucky enough see a couple of Elephants come for a drink and a Hippo go for a swim.

Pretty tired now, and need to get sleep for our drive to Durban tomorrow, where we will see Germany take on Spain. Who do you think will win?