SA Rocks

Bafana Bafana might have lost last night to Uruguay in a 3 – 0 thrashing (let’s be realistic about it).

Here are some of my thoughts on the game:

Bafana never really turned up on the night. They were slow, they never moved forward and they refuse to use their wide-open wings to push the midfield forward. But hey, that’s just my thoughts. We didn’t deserve to win that game and we made Uruguay look good.

The referee – is, well, a referee and this is soccer, this is the beautiful game and there is always going to be a controversy for one team or another. This time it happens to be our team and it sucks. Most of all it sucks for our incredible goalkeeper, Itumeleng Khune who in no way deserves the punishment he is going through. Khune played out of his boots against Mexico and Uruguay and really got a raw deal. However, let me say this as clearly as possible; The referee had nothing to do with South Africa losing to Uruguay. You need to score goals to win a soccer match and you can’t score goals from your own half for 90 minutes. We lost because we didn’t play well.

Uruguay played South Africa in to a corner. They were driven, they pushed forward, they made space (which SA gave them) and they took shots on goal. They also scored the first goal which is imperative for a mental advantage. South Africa’s lack of international experience on a major scale showed here, we were a goal down and we couldn’t get our heads out of that framework. We beat ourselves after that first goal.

Plus, Forlan is brilliant. Enough said there.

But let me follow all of this criticism up with the following:

Bafana Bafana make me proud. I cannot even begin to fathom the weight that those players feel on their shoulders; host nation, one of the lowest ranked teams in the World Cup this year, they have records to maintain (such as trying not to be the first host nation not to make it past the first stage of a World Cup) and they have their pride above all. I do not envy their position. When they win they are our heroes and when they lose fans leave the stadium early.

ASIDE – the fans at Loftus who left the stadium early; I am hoping they left to avoid traffic and if Bafana were winning they would have left anyways at that time (a bit of a dream, but still). I was honestly insulted by their lack of respect for a team that is playing their hearts out for the nation. Disgusting.

Now on to South Africa and how we can still win. It’s simple: Be great hosts, don’t be bitter losers and make this World Cup one to remember for every single individual who has traveled to our beautiful nation.

We have still gained so much by hosting the Fifa World Cup 2010. Whether or not Bafana goes through to the next round they have done us proud by simply competing at a level that no one had previously even expected. We drew to Mexico who sit at #17 on the FIFA world rankings. Bafana sit at 83rd on the rankings, so let’s be realistic (yes this is me being realistic) about the outcomes of this World Cup for Bafana; we were probably never going to win it. Ever. Participating at the top level of global football is an achievement that we were only granted as the hosts of this World Cup. Our boys are doing us proud and we should hold our heads high.

There is more football to be played. There are more games to be watched and there many other African nations and underdogs that we can put our weight behind. I’m personally routing for the Ivory Coast to pull in some magic and get through to the next round and I’m hoping that Cameroon can pull together and show the world their class.

Bring on the next 20 or so days left of the biggest sporting event in the world. It’s going to be a blast that we will probably never in our lifetimes see again in South Africa. So let’s make it worth our while and enjoy it.

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Images of Cape Town Stadium and Cape Town – produced by African Renaissance Productions and Silver Bullet Productions – to get copies of the images – go to – www.africanrenaissance.co.za

Hat tip to Blacknotes for more great content!

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I covered the Durban stadium previously. Now it’s Green Point’s turn. Cape Town is one of the most stunning areas in the world and fortunately this stadium does a great deal in adding to that landscape I think.

Another cracking contribution by my man Pienaar – you are on fire!

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Do 2010 has arrived. Some are calling it the beginning of a new decade but I am battling to understand the math on that one. Others are calling it the end of an era – which I tend to agree with. But one thing that many people all agree on is that is going to be one hell of a year for South Africa.

Here’s a blog post from Constitutionally Speaking written by Pierre De Vos that I found on what went right in 2009:

(1) South Africa had another free and fair election (it’s fourth!) without any serious violence and the fourth democratic President was inaugurated soon afterwards.

(2) The government decisively changed direction on HIV/AIDS and President Jacob Zuma appointed a health minister who clearly understands that the problem of HIV needs to be dealt with in a comprehensive manner.

(3) Nkosazana Zuma has begun to change things around at the Department of Home Affairs. A friend of mine received her passport only 4 weeks after submitting her application!

(4) The South African banking system weathered the international financial crisis very well and the SA government did not need to pump billions of dollars into the system as was required by the USA, the UK and some European countries.

(5) A free press and independent electronic media continued to thrive and to present a variety of news, exposes and opinion, sometimes harshly critical of the foibles of the governing party and sometimes singing its praises.

(6) Some members of the tripartite alliance began exposing Julius Malema as the self-serving, headline-grabbing, tenderpreneur that he is.

(7) The selection of a new Chief Justice and four new judges to the Constitutional Court proceeded without unnecessary controversy and several good candidates were appointed to the positions while a certain Judge President were clearly not a serious contender for appointment.

(8) A vibrant civil society continued to thrive and to challenge seemingly unlawful decisions made by the President and y constitutional institutions such as the Judicial Services Commission in various courts across South Africa.

(9) South Africa successfully hosted the Confederations Cup and the various soccer stadiums for 2010 Fifa World Cup were completed on time.

(10) Many South Africans quietly continued to build bridges and build the nation by giving of their time and money to address the poverty and deprivation of fellow South Africans.

These are all great things to comment on and take note of.

From a personal perspective I was extremely proud to vote in yet another democratic election in South Africa. I am also noticing a massive influx of young South Africans returning to SA to make their lives. This bodes well for us I think.

I’m not going to dwell on too much suffice to say that 2010 is going to be an invigorating, busy, crazy, manic, massive and important year for South Africa and South Africans all over the country.

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I was fortunate enough to receive photos of the Moses Mabhida stadium in Durban over email.

I managed to find a source for the photographs. Credit goes to Lefty Shivambu for the all of the photos.

Have a look for yourself.

Forget Greenpoint, Port Elizabeth or any other stadium, this one simply blows my mind.

images: Karen Lotter

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I blogged about the need for 15000 volunteers to come forward for the 2010 Football World Cup. It seems as thought people in SA and around the world are not shy to lend a hand.

SouthAfrica.info reports that over 11000 volunteers have already come forward and offered their services from all across the globe. That’s impressive if you ask me.

Just days after opening its 2010 Fifa World Cup volunteer programme, South Africa has already received more than 11 000 volunteer applications from the country, the continent and the rest of the world.

Danny Jordaan, chief executive of the 2010 World Cup Local Organising Committee (LOC), told reporters after a meeting in Johannesburg last week that around 1 100 of these were from the rest of Africa and 1 500 from overseas.

“South Africans and other countries have responded very well to the programme, and we expect more applications before the closing date [31 August],” Jordaan said.

“This … clearly shows that people are looking forward to the event in which volunteers are significantly important. We are very impressed with the current number of applications.”

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I just read on the Mail & Guardian that Fifa’s 2010 World Cup being held in South Africa is asking for 15 000 volunteers.

Apparently anyone over 18 on March 1 2010 can apply from anywhere in the world:

Anyone 18 years or older on March 1 2010, and who has a good command of the English language, can apply. Application forms are available on the Fifa website or at a number of venues across the Cup’s host cities.

I think this is something very cool to get involved in. Apparently at the Beijing Olympics it was the volunteers who made all the difference. Some debate arose around “manufacturing” ambiance or actually having a real vibe. But lets be honest, we want the stadiums filled, the vibe rocking and the event to run smoothly.

Jobs available to volunteers include: accreditation, marketing, media and protocol services, welcoming and ushering spectators and providing them and other people involved in the event with information.

Applications close August 31 2009 so get cracking.

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Found this video over at Zoopy.

Very cool to see the Durban 2010 stadium looking as good as it does. Everyone keeps talking about the Greenpoint stadium but I personally LOVE the Durban stadium. Have a look:

Durban 2010 timelapse.

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One of my favourite websites on the Internet has to be Boston.com’s Big Picture.

Thanks to twitter I discovered that Boston.com features Soccer in South Africa as the focus of their pictures this week.

Here are two photos but for more you’ll need to visit The Big Picture – Soccer in South Africa.

Helen Daws commented: “BC Big Picture – Soccer in SA http://tinyurl.com/lkxdsk pity its so biased tho, not really the full picture”

To which I responded that I felt that it is a fairly unbiased view of football in SA as many, many South Africans experience football in the way depicted in the photographs.

What are your thoughts? What do you think of these photographs?

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I actually watched almost all of the Bafana Bafana vs New Zealand Confederations Cup match last night.

I was impressed (which is why I watched most of the game) with the skill of the players on our team. I was impressed that we could score goals. Scoring goals has been a major issue of ours over the past few years. It seems we have found the net, eventually.

I was incredibly impressed with our defensive line. Booth, the man is massive and a towering figure (who occasionally needs to get in to the box and head the ball a bit more often) who holds up the defense brilliantly. Our midfield came to the party and fed brilliant ball to the striker and star of the evening, Bernard Parker, who put away two great goals and should’ve had more.

Personally I felt that Steven Pienaar was the man of the match (and also a member of my team, Everton, in the English Premier League). He played out of his boots, was aggressive and practical when feeding and holding on to the ball.

All in all a great performance rewarded with a 2-0 victory. Sadly the All Whites were yet again beaten and will probably be knocked out of the Confederations cup. Oh well.

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