The evening game yesterday was England vs. Algeria which I had the privilege of attending. If I were estimating I'd say between 90 and 95% of the attendees were England supporters. The stands were full (60,000+), with the exception of the expensive seats directly across from me which had only a sprinkling of people. Here's a shot of Fabio
Capello (England's coach) talking with one of the players (sorry couldn't see his number) at 10:05, this is very near the end of the match and England is stuck at nil:nil.I also got a pretty good shot of Wayne Rooney during the warm up. However, I have to say he was a bit disappointing. I expected to see power and finesse and he seemed to just stand about. Whenever, he would lose a pass he was sent or miss a pass he was sending he appeared to just stand there - no follow through.
Whereas, I thought Algeria was pretty sleepy during their first match they scrambled, had impeccable passes and steals. They had more ball possession which is almost unimaginable if I hadn't witnessed it myself I wouldn't have believed it.
During half time two young men that I've seen around UCT for the last week approached me and asked if I was staying at UCT. I smiled and agreed. I had thought they were from India but it turns out they were Brits. For the first time we stood and conversed even though we'd been on campus together for over a week. They look like twins and frequently dress alike. I'm sad we didn't connect before this as we had a lovely chat standing there in the stadium and they are leaving for Jo'burg today. They were knowledgeable about Oregon - specifically Willamette valley wines and Portland, that was a surprise.
Here are the stats as reported by Fifa.com
| England (ENG) | Statistics | Algeria (ALG) |
| 15 | Shots | 11 |
| 6 | Shots on goal | 1 |
| 0 | Goals Scored | 0 |
| 13 | Fouls Committed | 13 |
| 12 | Fouls Suffered | 12 |
| 10 | Corner kicks | 3 |
| 15 | Free kicks Shots (scored) | 10 |
| 0 / 0 | Penalty Kicks (Goals/Shots) | 0 / 0 |
| 1 | Offsides | 3 |
| 0 | Own goals | 0 |
| 1 | Yellow cards | 1 |
| 0 | Second yellow card and red card | 0 |
| 0 | Red Cards | 0 |
| 35 | Actual playing time | 40 |
| 48% | Possession (%) | 52% |
Before the game on the stroll through the V & A Waterfront the English fans were singing and singing and singing. They had crazy hats:
When we were queued up at the gate to get into the stadium they clapped and sang. BBC television was on the roof of the old hospital building next to the queue and the English fans danced and sang for the entire hour we were in queue. However, they were equally effusive in their repudiation of the team/coach when the game was over and England had not triumphed as they fully expected. They whistled and jeered as the team and coach left the field. They talked and talked and talked through the entire walk back to the V&A Waterfront about what they would have done differently. One fellow gently elbowed me and asked if I though he could have done a better job than Capello. Of course, with his very thick accent I didn't understand him at first and thought he was asking if he could get a job in Spanish - I was confused by the question but he held out his arms, asking me to look and then he says "Me... or Capello... who could do better?" That I understood, and knowing the the better part of valor would be to agree, so I did and assured him I thought he was the better man for the job. He walked away shaking his head and I don't know what he was thinking but he was in pain. However, based on the volume of English supporters headed to the party spots I thought they would be on the way to anesthetizing the pain in short order. This morning when I went to breakfast there were no other people at breakfast and the dormitory was exceedingly quiet and there are more than 200 Brits at the present so that says a lot. The whole evening made me smile.
I shared a taxi partway back to UCT. Four South African men took the back seat and I the front. They were a riot. They'd been to three games so far and not one of the games had yielded a single goal. They had reached the opinion that they were the unlucky stars in the South African Fifa World Cup. The chattered away in Afrikaans from time to time - which sounds like German to me. They paid almost half the fare when they were dropped off at the Strand so I was left with a much smaller taxi fare which was lovely. One of the Afrikaners is a fan of American Football and is very familiar with the University of Oregon Ducks and Oregon State Beavers - that was hilarious. His friends told him he had way too much leisure time.
I went to the V & A waterfront at 2:30 in the afternoon as this was the last available bus to the area for the day. I managed to watch the end of the Germany vs. Serbia game through an opening in the Fan Zone tent.
I had missed most of the game in transit from the University of Cape Town (UCT). I was stunned to see that Germany was losing the game.The view into the fan zone tent
The walk from V & A Waterfront is beautiful. Here are a few shots from the walk
The fan zone tent was sold out so I was worried I wouldn't find a place to watch the USA game. I hovered like a carrion at the entrance and tried to figure out how things were working. I had tried asking but the noise level made it impossible to hear what they said so I just hung around and finally got in. I got a seat, bought a beer and settled in to "enjoy" the game. Of course, I love fútbol but watching the team I love and knowing the result is so critical is a form of torture.
In the Fan Zone tent I witnessed some pretty ugly behavior by one Brit towards four American young men. I couldn't see them so they very easily could have said something to provoke him but he went into a rage and started calling down curses on them. For the rest of the match he exuberantly celebrated every Serbian success. How I would have liked to have seen him at the end of the England match, a little bit of revenge felt good even if I couldn't see it. Of course, I took my own form of revenge by exuberantly celebrating Algeria's success.
I was so caught up in the game (and suffering - as we were down 2 at half time) I didn't get a single picture. I'm so disgusted with myself. When play began after half time the USA came out strong and equalized the game at 2-2. There was a third goal which was ruled out - I still don't know why as there was no commentary that I could hear in the tent. I've been surfing the news trying to find out what happened but so far no luck. I'll find it never fear.
Anyway, enough for today - I've gone on and on.
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