June 15 - Brazil v. North Korea

*This is the first of three installments worth of blogging that I am posting today, because we have a very bad relationship with the internet right now*

Today we woke up relatively late and made our way over to the local internet cafe in the morning. We are having to go there for our internet because our maximum security prison of an apartment has no internet.

After doing some research on the subject of game preserves (or safari locations), we decided the best course of action would be to rent a car today ahead of going to the Brazil/North Korea match at Johannesburg's Ellis Park. That way we could wake up the next morning and head for our safari adventure first thing in the morning. Plus, we are stuck out in the 'burbs a bit, so having a car will be helpful for the next week.

So, back on the wrong side of the road again (I'm from the USA and we rule the world, so dammit, we're on the RIGHT side) and with Joe navigating, we made our way to the FIFA Park and Walk location near Ellis Park. This particular Park and Walk was
located about 30 minutes from the stadium. When we got there, we were told that we had to have a ticket that we did not possess in order to park there. This is where the entrepreneurial spirit of South Africa comes in.

A young man named Lloyd arrived on the scene and told us that for 50 Rand (about $6.50) we could park in his backyard, located just down the block from the Park and Walk. I know a good deal when I see one, so we hopped on it. Lloyd and his friend Edward (the two of them were probably around 19-21 years old) helped us park in a really narrow space in a small dusty backyard right between a couple of tree stumps. More on this later.

On the walk to the stadium, we encountered various people using their homes as a location to make and sell braai - Afrikaans for roasted meat. Joe, Fawzi and I all had some boerewors, a sausage made from minced beef (and maybe pork or lamb or maybe ?).

After our tasty snack, we continued to approach the stadium, where we encountered some awesome Brazil fans.

a Brazilian leprechaun with his pot of gold

These guys are always good for some fun, and the atmosphere did not dampen as we got closer to Ellis Park. One thing that did threaten to dampen the atmosphere was the fact that shortly after we entered the stadium, the electronic gates stopped working to admit fans in as there were power outages that were evident all over Ellis Park. Soon, a huge crowd amassed behind the iron gates, and if it weren't for the fact that it was still 45 minutes to kick-off, there may have been some serious crowd unrest.

Luckily, that was sorted out by 30 minutes to the kick, and normal business was restored. When we got to our seats, we were pleased to be in the front row of the upper deck and close to the half-way line.

the view from our seats at Ellis Park to watch Brazil take on North Korea

Two things would blight an otherwise great experience, however. First, it was cold. It was really cold. It was bone-chillingly, let's play hockey on a frozen lake cold. Second, a die-hard Brazil fan placed a banner made of the lightest material directly in front of our seats. And it was flying in our faces incessantly for the first couple of minutes of the match until we all decided to shove the banner below some ad hoardings so we could see. While our incensed Brazilian friend tried to forcibly restore his lightweight banner, the best football of the match took place, as Robinho did about 100 stepovers and then nutmegged the North Korean defender. Not a goal, but the moment of the match for me, and we spent it yelling at an angry middle-aged Brazilian man to get out of our way.

Moving on, the football in this match was better than much in the tournament. Brazil played to their usual high standard, and the #9 for North Korea (I have no idea about the names of any of their players) was outstanding. The two Brazil goals were awesome, with Maicon unleashing a rocket from a nearly impossible angle to beat the North Korean keeper, and the tricky Robinho making a slide-rule pass to set up wispy Elano for Brazil's second. Even North Korea scored, on an excellent move which ended with my Man of the Match #9 for Korea Democratic People's Republic (never trust a country with "Democratic" in its title, Joe commented) heading down for nameless #8 to score a well-taken goal.

Brazil would run out winners, and so would we, as this match was hands-down the easiest to get in and out of for us, except for the fact that moving the right-hand drive car that Joe rented out of our space was one of the most harrowing experiences I've ever had behind a wheel. From an angle nearly as tight as the one Maicon beat the keeper from, I had to turn hard left, attempting to avoid a tree and a tree stump and fit into a driveway two credit cards wider than my car. Trust me, I'm not hamming it up, it was no mean task getting that car out. And as a consequence I put the tiniest of scratches into the rear fender. Oh well, that's Joe's problem with Avis in Johannesburg now (I kid). We did manage to get to our apartment quickly and we'll sort the car out later. Until next post...