without sounding like a brat. There is no way to sugar coat it, no way to phrase it so that it doesn't make you green with envy... so I will just spit it out – "I was there." Yip, I was at the opening match of the 2010 FIFA World Cup. I had the hottest seats in the world on Friday afternoon as I watched South Africa take on Mexico at Soweto's Soccer City stadium. Not bad for my first live soccer experience. Ever. Not bad at all.
(Thank goodness I'm typing this within the safety of cyberspace so you can't throw anything at me...)
I'd like to be able to say that the experience was overrated. I'd like to be able to say that it would have been better to have watched it in a pub on a big screen or, better yet, from the comfort of your couch at home. But if there's anything 'The Lie Belt' taught me growin' up it's that honesty's the best policy and I must always tell the truth, the whole truth and nothing but... you get the picture.
The truth? It was A-M-A-Z-I-N-G. For once a pay-off line that's been all over posters and billboards around Jozi wasn't false advertising. The experience truly was 'Once in a lifetime'.
I will never forget the crowds of excited supporters pouring into Soweto on wheels and on foot, the ever-increasing buzz of Vuvuzela's and the choruses of 'Olé olé olé, the smell of 'pap & wors' and the taste of Budweiser in plastic bottles. I will always remember the explosion of excitement and uncontrollable shreaking that caught me off guard the second Tshabalala's strike hit the back of the net. Thank goodness hubby had equal amounts of adrenaline pumping through his veins cos I fear that on any other day the sheer force of my celebratory hug may have crushed him!
The agony of Mexico's equaliser was short lived as the ecstasy of what was happening sunk in – this was the first soccer World Cup on African soil and the host nation, my nation, had scored the opening goal of the tournament at the opening match in front of a 90,000 strong predominantly green & gold crowd. The boy who was born and bred in Soweto had come full-circle, scoring a goal for his country in front of the world – and his hometown. If that's not the stuff that fairytales are built on then I don't know what is.
(For photographic evidence check out this album.)
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