This is my final post for our World Cup 2010 Blog. After traveling for 52 days I arrived home, which means back to paying bills and house chores. I also get to reflect on my travels and the World Cup, which I have started to watch replays of that were recorded on the DVR. First off the entire trip was awesome! Everything worked and happened according to plan and I could not have met more friendlier and kinder people in both South Africa and Italy. As for the World Cup, I am excited that there is a first time winner. Both teams, Spain and the Netherlands were stacked with talent and for both teams it was either now or never. Spain has some of the highest paid players in the world playing at club level and the pressure to perform was very high. The Netherlands had been close to winning a final several times, but could not get the job done in the end. Bother Spain and the Netherlands have very good youth programs to develop players, which takes lots of investment and time to see a return on investment. If you watched the final game, Spain dominated the Netherlands. It was not until extra time that they were able to seal their fate and win their first World Cup. I must admit, I was rooting for the Netherlands. After having traveled to Spain last year and watching on TV them lose to the USA in the Confederations Cup , I did not think that Spain could pull it all together for the entire tournament. My hat is off to Spain, the new world champion, the Netherlands, runner-up, and South Africa, the host, who despite media reports during the tournament, were wonderful hosts. I will end my last post with three video clips. First is the singing of the South African national anthem. This is a beautiful national anthem and it was being played and sung everywhere, not just at the games. The lyrics are sung in Afrikaans one of the official languages of South Africa. The next video is for Turkish Airlines, the official sponsor of the Barcelona Football Club in Spain and features many of the players on of the winning Spain side. I first saw this commercial in Italy on the BBC. It has very catchy lyrics and music to match and shows the financial impact of world football as an airline from Turkey is sponsoring a football team from Spain. Lastly, I have included Shakira’s official World Cup 2010 theme song, Waka Waka. This song became an overnight success. I knew nothing of this song until the second game that I saw between Italy and Paraguay when they played it on the big screen at halftime. After that it was being played on every radio station and every TV station http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Waka_Waka_(This_Time_for_Africa). It was also being played in the airports and even in the grocery store in Rome. However it has not yet broke the Top 40 here in the USA!
Waka Waka- The Final Post
July 28th, 2010Semi-Finals
July 6th, 2010I came out of the Quarter-Finals with a worst prediction accuracy compared to before, a mere 50 percent. If I call the final correct, I will just go ahead and award myself 50 extra bonus points. Anyways, these match-ups are still tricky. However, I feel I have been correct this entire tournament about the final, that somebody new will lift the title. Uruguay seems to be able to do one thing correctly, and that is winning, even at all costs. Look at the last game against Ghana, Luis Suarez completely ignored the rules, saved a goal with his hands, and sacrificed himself for his team, even if it was cheap, but the hand ball won the game. This team won’t have him for this game, pushing the weight of the attack on Diego Forlan, and I don’t know if this team can take the pressure with a one man attack. On the other hand, the Netherlands are notorious for underachieving. Two finals with no trophy. However, those two finals were against the host countries, Argentina and Germany respectively. They also are just over the hump by coming from behind to beat Brazil, but there are bigger mountains to climb. In the other match-up, I feel I will have some difficulty in deciding. Germany has been playing tremendous soccer at the moment, and have somewhat been cruising. They had some hiccups with the lost to Serbia and the 1-0 win over Ghana, but in all the other matches they have been nothing short of dominate. I have something else going against me, I always underestimate the Germans. I am just not a fan of German soccer. Spain on the other hand has been flying under the performance radar. This Spanish team at the moment has been unimpressive, but has gotten results. Really, I have no positive thing to say about the Spanish team at the moment, but maybe they will breakout. This is also a rematch of Euro 2008 where Spain beat Germany 1-0, I believe, but I don’t feel like looking that up, and that was when everyone jumped on the Spanish bandwagon. This is a tough one, but I have to go with what I said in the beginning. I predicted a Netherlands-Spain final, and I am lucky to have them both in this position. All I can do now is hope I’m right, and then I will give myself 100 bonus points for predicting this at the start.
Semi-Finals
Uruguay versus Netherlands= Netherlands
Spain versus Germany= Spain
When in Rome
July 5th, 2010
The chance that a South American team would win the World Cup in 2010 looked promising going into the quarter finals. However, now only Uruguay stands as the South American representative in the games as three strong European competitors, Germany, Spain, and the Netherlands look to bring home the trophy as well. I went 3 for 4 (75%) in the quarter finals and the big upset if you see it that way, was the Netherlands beating Brazil. I had either Brazil or Italy winning the whole tournament, so now I will have to get on board with another team. Aaron and I missed the Brazil vs. Argentina game as we were in the air en route to Addis Ababa on Ethiopian Airlines. However, the result of the match did make its way to and through the plane somehow. On arriving in Addis Ababa at Bole International Airport, the sixth largest airport in Africa (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Bole_International_Airport) at 8pm, Aaron and I enjoyed some local eats: rice, beef, and potatoes at a café inside the terminal, which also had an antique big screen TV. The TV is the most important piece here as we were able to watch Uruguay take on Ghana. Ghana represented the last sliver of hope that an African nation would continue on in the tournament, therefore most of the tourists and workers were rooting for Ghana. The game was very slow until the end when there was a red card for an intentional handball on the goal line, a missed PK that would have gave Ghana the win, extra time, and then a PK shoot out, which was won by Uruguay! Very suspenseful watching the game and keeping track of the time, so we did not miss the place, which was scheduled to leave at 12:50am, but did not really leave until 1:45am. When in Africa, do not be in a hurry! The other games saw Germany hammering Argentina and Spain beating Paraguay. We landed in Rome at 5:50am after taking the “red eye” from Addis Ababa. What a change in climates from South Africa. It is HOT in Rome and does not get dark into 9:30pm. We decided to start our sightseeing adventure in Rome by visiting the Colosseum and the Stadio Olimpico (pictures above). The Colosseum is where gladiators fought and the Stadio Olimpico hosted the 1960 Summer Olympic Games and is now the home AS Roma and Lazio soccer clubs. (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Stadio_Olimpico) We will be touring the Colosseum later this week, but went to Stadio Olimpico looking for a tour. Guess what, no tour was offered!
Onto my picks for the semi-finals:
Netherlands over Uruguay
Germany over Spain
Pictures from Johannesburg
July 3rd, 2010
World Cup Wrap-up
July 3rd, 2010The World Cup isn’t over, but our tour is finished. We laced our shoes up one last time to stand under South African Skies, but the scenery was different this time. We spent our last day in South Africa in Johannesburg visiting the World Cup Stadiums. Fortunately, we didn’t run out of time, and we just snapped a picture of Ellis Park before darkness denied us a chance at getting a picture. If you have been following the World Cup, Johannesburg has two stadiums being used for the World Cup, the main stadium Soccer City and the famous Ellis Park. Soccer City has the privilege of hosting the opening game as well as the finale, and Ellis Park has history rooted in Rugby. Ellis Park held the Finale of the 1995 Rugby World Cup where South Africa won their first Championship. I believe that is where Invictus, Matt Damon, and Morgan Freeman come into play. I was pleased in seeing the stadiums and I kind of wish we got to see more of Johannesburg. We also got to see the Uruguay bus, and hey, they are now in the Semi-Finals. I am also pleased that we chose Cape Town as our base of operations. For Soccer City, the only real way to get to the stadium is by bus, and that would get annoying really fast. There was no way really to walk there because Soccer City was about 18 km (no idea about miles) from the city center. Ellis Park seemed confusing as well because I saw no train, and once again the only way to travel was by bus. Green Point Stadium in Cape Town was like a 20 minute walk, not counting security check-in, from the Central Train Station, and was located near the V & A Waterfront, which had many restaurants and what not.
As a whole, I thought South Africa was a great host. I had a little bit of doubt going into this World Cup, but once I was there I realized that any World Cup will have their problems. People are always going to complain about the referees and the new ball every World Cup, but outside of that there really isn’t anything to complain from my point of view. I know they had the British fan Invasion, strikes, and other minor mishaps, but no World Cup is without some problem. My parting words for this World Cup would be, “The people were nice, always giving friendly greetings, Cape Town was a beautiful city with gorgeous mountains, and I had the time of my life.” Yes, I quoted myself, but I hope someday I get a chance to go back to Cape Town, see how the city changes. I am going to be putting pictures of Soccer City and Ellis Park.
Quarterfinals
June 30th, 2010The knock-out stage gets tougher, but I barely could pick the teams that advanced out of the Round of 16. I accurately predicted a five out of eight, leaving me at a 63 percent correct. Ouch. Rough, but I hopefully pick up some slack with the Quarterfinals. There are some blockbuster tickets in this next round. Argentina versus Germany and The Netherlands versus Brazil are the heavyweights, while Uruguay versus Ghana will be pretty interesting to see how these two teams decide to play. Paraguay versus Spain looks one sided (for Spain), but this Paraguay team seems tricky to understand. They haven’t done anything prolific, but they keep advancing. Anyways, Argentina, Germany, The Netherlands, and Brazil could come away with the trophy in my book if they advance. I could use a dart board to decide my picks and people wouldn’t think I was insane for picking one team over the other. Uruguay versus Ghana is tricky because these teams have very conservative tactics. Ghana is fine with playing defense, being physical, and making you turn the ball over, while Uruguay tries to get an early goal and play defense. Uruguay looks like they can turn their defense/offense on like a light switch, making them difficult to pick. Well, I probably should explain my picks, but I rather just pick them. Here we go:
Quarterfinals
July 2nd
Netherlands V. Brazil= Netherlands
Uruguay V. Ghana= Ghana
July 3rd
Argentina V. Germany= Argentina
Paraguay V. Spain= Spain
Accommodations and the Quarter-Finals
June 30th, 2010Our time in Cape Town is almost up. This month has gone by very quickly and each week has brought us something different to do. From getting the lay of the land on foot, going to two live soccer matches, and driving around the peninsula in a car it has been a great experience. Up to this point, I have not mentioned anything about where we have been staying. Our guesthouse is located in the Cape Town suburb of Meadowridge, which is on the other side of Table Mountain, about 30 minutes from downtown Cape Town. The guesthouse is owned by Ron and Lynette Knott, who have both made our stay the most enjoyable and have provided us with whatever we need. From directions, to clean towels, and even rides to the train station they have taken the extra steps to make sure we are comfortable. The whole Knott family is involved in making a pleasant stay, including the children and grandchildren who would pop in every now and again to say hello. I have attached the web address for their guesthouse if you would like to check out more pictures: http://www.capestay.co.za/knottsflatlet/. The picture below is of their pool. Unfortunately for us it is winter in the Southern Hemisphere, so no swimming, but this guesthouse under the summer sun would be awesome! Now onto Italy for a wedding.
The Round of 16 provided some good soccer to watch. The USA should have beaten Ghana, which was the only game that I did not pick correctly, but my average for the Round of 16 went up. I correctly picked 7 of 8 team to win or 87.5%. The USA gave up a goal early, which meant they had to play more offense to make up the difference. The only way they scored was on a PK and 5 minutes into extra time Ghana scored, which meant that the USA had to rush everything to find the counter goal, which they could not do in the end. The other big game was England vs Germany. Since we are in South Africa, most people were rooting for England. Although there was a goal that was not, England really did not do anything special and lost to a much better team. But as the press said, “Germany gets lucky, beats England.” If you watched the news on TV from Europe the English fans were so sure that they were going to beat Germany they were predicting a 5-0 England win. Right now heading into the Quarter-Finals the strong teams are starting to emerge, which include Argentina, Germany, Netherlands, and Brazil. Here are my picks for the Quarter-Finals:
Uruguay over Ghana
Germany over Argentina
Brazil over Netherlands
Spain over Paraguay
Round of 16
June 26th, 2010The group stage is over, and I believe I finished with 75 percent accuracy. I predicted 12 out of the 16 teams to advance. I thought I should have done better than my brother, but we tied so not much to brag about on either side. Since the group stage concluded, I have my picks for the Round of 16. There are some tough matchups to predict in USA versus Ghana, Germany versus England, Brazil versus Chile, and Spain versus Portugal. They are what I consider the hardest to predict. USA has been lucky as well as been unlucky (but got the job done, and I think if they beat Ghana they have a good shot at the Semifinals), and Ghana has been strong, but the two goals they scored in the group stage were off PKs. Germany came out with guns blazing, but have faltered in the last two games, and England has been somewhere. The Brazil-Chile matchup is tough because they both qualify together, but Brazil won both games during qualifying. Is third time the charm for Chile? Spain has looked troublesome, but has seemed to battle the storm, while Portugal had a rocky start in qualifying, but their fortune has turned and they haven’t been scored on during this World Cup. These were some tough picks to make, and I shall see how they play out:
Round of 16 Predictions
Saturday
Uruguay v. South Korea= South Korea
USA v. Ghana= USA
Sunday
Argentina v. Mexico= Argentina
Germany v. England= Germany
Monday
Netherlands v. Slovakia= Netherlands
Brazil v. Chile= Brazil
Tuesday
Paraguay v. Japan= Japan
Spain v. Portugal= Spain
Defending Champs Eliminated
June 26th, 2010Group E:
The Netherlands were the first team in this World Cup to qualify for the Round of 16. They did not lose a match and at times looked very good. They will be one of the teams to watch as the tournament moves on. The Netherlands did not have a great deal of competition in this group. Cameroon continued the lackluster performance of African teams by not winning a single game and scoring only two goals. It all came down to Denmark v. Japan in the last game. Whoever would win, would move on to the next round. Japan was victorious, beating Denmark 3-1.
Group F:
New Zealand did not lose any games in the group stage, but also failed to qualify for the Round of 16. Paraguay won the group and continues the strong performance of the South American teams, who at the time of writing this, will all make it into the Round of 16. The big news coming out of this group of course is the fact that the defending champs, the team I was following, Italy have been eliminated. This means that there will be a new world champion at the conclusion of this World Cup. There is not much that you can say, except the older Italian squad did not have it this time around. They were outplayed in every game and in the final game were shown up by a much younger squad from Slovakia, losing 3-2. Slovakia played hard and got the job done to move into the Round of 16.
Group G:
Group G had the distinction of being the “Group of Death.” Brazil and Portugal made it out, while the Ivory Coast and North Korea go home. North Korea started off very strong with a 2-1 lose to Brazil, but after that it was downhill.
Group H:
Switzerland had a chance to move on with an early win over Spain, but could not win any other games. Honduras did nothing in the tournament and Chile was atop the group stage when they lost to Spain, but were still able to move on second to Spain.
I finished group stage action by picking 12 of the 16 (75%) teams that would advance into the Round of 16. Obviously the fact that France and Italy did not make into the next round hurt my average and if I had it to do all over again, I would still find it hard to bet against those two teams not to make it out of the group stage!
Onward we go! Here are my picks for the Round of 16:
1. Uruguay over South Korea
2. USA over Ghana
3. Argentina over Mexico
4. Germany over England
5. Netherlands over Slovakia
6. Brazil over Chile
7. Paraguay over Japan
8. Spain over Portugal
Planes, Trains, and Automobiles
June 25th, 2010The train system in Cape Town is very easy to understand, because it really only travels north and south. It runs from the main station in downtown Cape Town to Simon’s Town, which is located right along the beach. Compared to other trains that I have been on, which is very few, these trains are for the most part clean, except for the graffiti. There are security guards at the stations as well as on the trains looking for hooligans and free riders. Each station also has a bathroom and usually some sort of concession stand and trains usually run twice or three times an hour. Overall you feel safe when you are waiting in the station or on board.
