Ok, so on the soccer tip…it’s been a bit of a haze for the last few days. I’ll be honest, some non-World Cup things have been given my time from Friday so I don’t have too much to say about the last few days.
Thursday of last week I sort of watched a bit of the games on TV, but didn’t focus too much on the matches. I have to admit there was a cute guy I had met the night before that was beating out soccer in my thoughts. Don’t really have much to say about the games for Thursday. The big game was France vs. Mexico and my only comment is that France’s blue jerseys are kind of lame. Ok, there was one funny thing about that game. On the TV station that is hosting all the games here there was a quick little spat between the commentators that made me laugh out loud. There was a guy from Trinidad/Tobago and a French guy on the round table team that is adding their 2 cents to the matches. The Trinidad/Tobago guy was sort of cutting off the French guy and the French guy said “hey, at least we are here.” Meaning that at least their team made it to the World Cup this year. Ouch. It was hilarious because often commentary is innocuous yet opinionated…however that is possible.
Friday saw Germany vs. Serbia, USA vs. Slovenia, and finally England vs. Algeria. I watched all the games, but really was most interested in the USA game. I don’t have a USA flag so I made one out of a piece of paper and put it on a stick. Literally, a tiny branch from a tree. Super ghetto, but did the trick and I figured I could lose it and mess it up without feeling too much remorse. Good plan when you are going out to do a spot of drinking. I wrote “Go U-S-A!,” “Bleksem Slovenia!,” and “Nishayani” on the back of my flag. “Bleksem Slovenia” means “beat up Slovenia” in Afrikaans, but I think the intention of the phrase is a bit more violent and vulgar in Afrikaans. Also, it was pointed out that I spelled “bleksem” wrong…that is should be “bliksem.” Shades of gray, shades of gray…people got the point. “Nishayani” means “you must hit them” in a few languages here. I walked alone to Hatfield Square and caught the end of the Germany game. Got a few shouts on my walk there cos of the flag…nice! Showed a Slovenia fan how to blow a vuvuzela and met some old men, but otherwise the Square was really dead. I was hoping it was warm up a bit from when I got there…but no dice. I heard there was an article in the paper here complaining about how Hatfield Square was really really gouging its prices (which is true) and that may have had an effect on attendance. As I said, I have this “loyalty card” that I got a week before the Cup started…so I’m all good. No price gouging is affecting me. Whew! Cos I can’t afford it! 
(Zadok and I rep'n for the USA...stick flag and all)
The USA game was great! The Square was dead, but I befriended some other USA fans and was later joined by my friend Zadok to cheer on the USA. I had the advantage of 2 for 1 happy hour and a vuvuzela in hand…all making for plenty of shouts and cheers for the USA J I got to sing the national anthem, which was kind of exciting for me. I missed the start of the 1st USA game, so was looking forward to singing for this game. A quick word on national anthem singing. It makes me so sad to see the players not singing their national anthem. It is possible that some of the players are not natural-born citizens of that country, but if you are playing for a national team…you need to represent. Don’t just stand there like a statue when the national anthem is playing. It’s not cool. To those of you players and fans moved to tears…aw, that is sweet. I mean it.
Overall our team played well, so it was a nice game to watch. Gave me lots of chances to shout and be rowdy. Since the Square was so dead...I really had to make up for it. ;) Many people say that we were robbed a win in that game over a kind of shady ref call. I’m just happy we didn’t lose and that it was a nice game to watch.
Again, there is about 3 hours in between the 2nd game and last game of the night. By this time my friends Edwin and Douwe had joined me in the Square so I had those guys to chill with. I met a girl from Delaware (“Hi, I’m in Delaware.”) and later Edwin and Douwe and I met some nice girls from Mozambique. I also met an Australian and had a pretty lively chat about a bunch of South African issues. That was a good conversation.
We were inside at News Café, so I decided to go out and watch the England vs. Algeria game out there. I saw some close friends of mine that I have been meaning to visit, but haven’t been to see. It was great to see them cos we had some catching up to do. The England/Algeria game was disappointing. I was too embarrassed to wave my new Algerian flag cos I was at the English pub and surrounded by English fans…including my friends. Sorry Algerians! But England just never exploded. I was really expecting them to win. During the game a ghost from my past visited me and I spent a lot of time talking to him…meaning not focusing on the game.
The Square was really dead and Edwin and Douwe were chatting up the Mozambiquan girls…so I decided to head out with my ghost. This turned out to be a bad idea. Not because of the ghost, though. It’s a really long story and I don’t feel like going into details but basically I was involved in a domestic abuse fight type thing at the ghost’s friend’s house. I’m okay. It wasn’t directed at me…I was just there. After all that has happened regarding this issue this weekend…I can’t definitively say who was at fault. At the end of the day, I didn’t feel comfortable with both parties being in the apartment together for the night so I helped the young lady go to the police station cos that is what she wanted to do. The following day saw the entire family of the male party come and try to intervene in the issue with me sitting on the couch quietly witnessing a Tswana crossfire between family members. Wow. Because of all the drama I ended up not sleeping Friday night and not much Saturday either. It was really draining. I don’t know these people. And, yeah, I could have done without all that drama. I just hope they can sort the issue out without messing up each other.
I didn’t watch any soccer on Saturday, except for part of the Holland vs. Japan. I surreptitiously watched while family members duked it out in a language I don’t quite understand. When I got home from that ordeal I kind of just relaxed in my room cos I was so tired. Also was spending time with my ghost.
Same thing today…too tired, relaxing in my bed, entertaining my ghost. I did want to watch the Cote d’Ivoire vs. Brasil game as it would hopefully prove to be an exciting match. I’m sorry but it was a really disappointing game to watch. Cote d’Ivoire did some good things, but it wasn’t enough. Brasil was manipulative and relied not so much on their superb playing, but instead on trickery and lameness. It made me sick. If you are the best, play the best. The ref was FUCKING HORRIBLE. He didn’t call about 1 million things that he should have. He allowed a double handball leading to a goal to stand. All the ref did was ask the player if he used is hands. WTF. It is the ref’s job to call this and make decisions…not leave it up to the players. What do you think a player is going to say? Yeah, my world cup goal SO didn’t count. Please ref, call a yellow card against me. Please. Because the ref was so horrible he lost control of the game at the end. There was a fight…kind of. A star player for Brasil was ejected on a double yellow card and things pretty much just spiraled out of control from there. I think if the ref would have been more fair in his calls then the players wouldn’t have been so quick to lose their cool.
Argh. I’m still annoyed…that game was so lame. Also I think Cote d’Ivoire is probably the most likely African team to kick some ass. But probably not now. When I root for teams my loyalty is: 1. USA 2. South Africa 3. Any other African team 4. The underdog 5. Anyone playing Brasil
As for tomorrow…probably Portugal vs. North Korea will be the game I’m most interested in watching. Sorry…but N Korea just fascinates me.
Happy Father’s Day to all the daddys out there. I called my dad today and he asked me if I had one of “those noisemaker things” he has been hearing so much about. Hilarious. I told him yes and explained how the vuvuzela has been messing up my lips and throat…all acceptable soccer injuries ;)
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