International Tournament (South Africa, Brazil, Ghana & Nigeria) - I forgot about this under-20 tournament as an SMS woke me up at 2pm while we were busy planning to go to chesa nyama with my other friends. Another SMS… “I got 2 free tickets for you! Come Now” says my friend from Pretoria. It was three of us and only two tickets.
Hustling for a ticket - NEVER thought it was this hard to hustle for a soccer ticket as I always buy my tickets early! We started at Computicket, but without luck tickets were sold out - sh*t, 40 000 of them! One of my friends from Durban said we should go to the stadium. Already we were debating about not going to the stadium as we were one ticket short. Driving to the stadium was funny as we hustled people who were walking and driving to the stadium, especially the ladies, asking if they had a spare ticket so we could buy it.
Luckily as we asked for the Information Centre one of the police officers outside the stadium gave us a ticket. I couldn’t believe how many people were trying to get tickets for this tournament. It was like it was the FINALS of the World Cup! The feeling of the World Cup was THERE and everyone wanted to be inside the stadium especially when the supporters inside started singing the national anthem and blowing the vuvuzelas.
Cape Town stadium was so packed inside and it was like entering Old Trafford! This was my first state of the stadium and seeing more that 35 000 supporters made me shake a little bit. A smile came from my face and my heart just stopped beating for a second... this was it… this was it baba!
I watched young Bafana vs. Nigeria from the top third row of the stadium… the view was just amazing! The football was wonderful despite the South African under-20s losing to Nigeria 3-1. The second game was between Brazil vs. Ghana which was good as well and I watched this game near the touchline (front row) with some Brazilian supporters.
The rating of stadium organization: We exchanged our tickets at computicket inside the stadium as we wanted to sit together (10/10) – this was wonderful. The security was great (8/10)! The system of seating was done well as most supporters followed instructions from security especially in the first game (7½ /10). Support was just superb in this tournament (9/10). Food service was good and we had food venders also moving around the stadium selling food to those lazy fans - pity that Nandos ran out of chicken after the first game as other shops were still operating (7/10). Beer shop was just marvelous (8/10) – only the long lines were a pain, however while you waited you could still watch the action on TV screens. There was a smoking area for the smokers (8½ /10).
Kaizer Chiefs vs. Ajax Cape Town (9:00pm) – after the Cape Town stadium experience we rushed to a sports bar and it was already the second half of the Telkom Knockout Cup Final. Chiefs had just scored their second GOAL! The bar was packed with Chiefs supporters, not even one Ajax supporter. I have to say I didn’t watch this game properly as the beers and diski debates were just too much! The bar was so noisy and the Ajax GOAL silenced the bar and woke up all the drunken people. You could see Chiefs supporters were starting to panic. Was this going to be déjà vu? I felt the taste of my beer and action for the first time since I entered this bar in the last 5 minutes of the game… and when the referee blew his whistle the bar erupted like Chiefs had just won the World Cup. Suddenly there was a bell RINGING and one of the ladies (bartenders) shouted that it’s NOW a happy hour… buy one beer… and get one free! That was it for me!!
Real Madrid vs. Barcelona (10:30pm) – we rushed to my friend’s place as he was having a small braai and showing the Real Madrid vs. Barcelona game. The first half of the game was great and many people praised Messi as the tormenter of Madrid, but did anyone see Xavi mara? As the beer and meat kept our mouths quiet Barcelona kept us entertained with beautiful football until Iniesta was introduced in the second half. That was the final nail for me as I dozed off a couple of times… a cold Heineken woke me up! And I decided to watch the game via the window while I braaied meat with a couple of people outside. Barcelona was not playing like the Barcelona of the first half and Iniesta to me killed the pace of the game. But at least outside the braai area the pace of people making moves on the ladies was fast and nice… hehehe!
That’s my weekend that was… FOOTBALL! When I arrived at home at 3:30am… I switched on the TV… and guess what? I challenged my friend on the Playstation and like always Young Stars beat Arsenal!
By Proffesor Khumalo
Check some of the videos on:
http://www.youtube.com/proffesorkhumalo#p/u/0/OjMOaR1m-t4 - South Africa vs Nigeria
http://www.youtube.com/proffesorkhumalo#p/u/7/f504LOaPEa0 - Brazil vs Ghana
http://www.youtube.com/proffesorkhumalo#p/u/6/H85lflNc3gI - South African wave
