The semi-final of the Confederation’s Cup 2009 was an absolutely thrilling game. Fifa’s 5th best team in the world required on the best pressure free kicks I’ve seen to beat South Africa, Fifa ranking of 77 at the time (now moved up 5 places to 72.
The fact remains that Bafana played a game like none they have played in many years. They looked like a top ten team and dare I say deserved to win. The truth is that they didn’t, and that’s OK with me because sometimes one needs to lose to learn. But the match that the Bafana squad played last night pulled a nation together and proved that we are on the right track.
To the coach, Joel Santana, my congratulations go out. He told everyone to judge him on the Confed Cup, well done sir, well done.
Helen Dawscommented: “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?
It’s been a relatively good weekend for South African sports.
Bafana Bafana played great football on Saturday but sadly lost to Spain 2-0. In spite of the final score I felt that the lads played one helluva game and improved their football tenfold from their first performance in the Confederations Cup.
Now, lets just hope that Bafana can hold a MASSIVE upset and defeat Brazil in the semi-final. Surprisingly Egypt did not make it through to the semi’s. I think after their historic victory over World Champions Italy, they deserved to pip the USA and go through. Alas it was not to be.
And the Bokke pulled off a lucky victory against the British and Irish Lions on Saturday. I say lucky because we technically received a thumping in the second half of the match. A great performance in the first half put us up by a fair amount. The Beast had a ripper of a game and destroyed the scrums for the Lions. When he was replaced. Things went bad.
I am impressed with Mr Peter de Villiers and his response. He took blame for making substitutions too early in the game. This most definitely put us in a tricky slot. We handled it well and luckily came away with a win.
Finally, yes in case you had forgotten, we still lost the T20 semi-final. Pakistan however, ended up winning the tournament. Congratulations to them!
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.
It is official; the 2010 World Cup will be in South Africa is a few days less than 1 year. The biggest sporting event in the world is on its way to SA and President Zuma helped kick off the countdown.
Greenpoint Stadium in Cape Town was the venue and all the relevant dignitries were in attendance:
This is a great Zille-Zuma moment after a very aggressive election campaign from both parties. Nice to see the two top politicians in SA doing their professional bit in front of the press.
I managed to secure 4 tickets to a Round 16 game at Ellis Park. Not too shabby I don’t think. To be honest, I just wanted to attend. This could be a once in a lifetime chance to go to the biggest sporting event in the world and not have to mortgage my house for the tickets!
Let me know what games you managed to get tickets for or if you were left empty-handed. A friend of a friend received 4 tickets to the final. I know it’s meant to be completely random allocation but I can’t help feel as if I’ve been hard done by. I want opening ceremony or finals. Come on!
Well, the statue of Madiba at Nelson Mandela Square is all dressed up for the 2010 World Cup. As you can see below he is wearing a lovely yellow football jersey!
It might be something “small” in terms of marketing and promotion but I think it’s a fantastic idea considering the amount of people in general and tourists in specific who take their picture with the massive and interestingly proportioned Madiba Statue.
I absolutely love Jeremy Clarkson of Top Gear fame. He’s a laugh, he’s witty, he says what’s on his mind and he gets at everybody.
I subscribe to his column in the Times Online and read it every week. The man is brilliant.
This week his target is good old Johannesburg. And boy does Clarkson have it in for us.
The article is titled: “I dare you to visit Johannesburg, the city for softies“. I was a bit concerned about the article and Joburg receiving even more bad press. I was almost right. But it’s not Joburg receiving the bad press, it’s us, the people living here. Clarkson believes that we’re all sissies who need to get over ourselves and start positively promoting our incredible city.
His closing lines:
Johannesburgians are telling the world they live in a shit-hole to save their lions. That’s the sort of people they are. And so, if you are thinking about going to the World Cup next year, don’t hesitate.
The exchange rate’s good, the food is superb, the weather’s lovely and, thanks to some serious economic self-sacrifice, Kruger is still full of animals. The word, then, I’d choose to describe Jo’burg is “tranquil”.
I await the backlash for his article and my posting of it. I am sure it is to follow.
Here’s a great video I found about how to apply for tickets and the different types, chances and dates the application periods will be open.
Here’s an overview of the sales phases:
20 February 2009 – 31 March 2009 Valid applications received for any match, or particular ticket category, that is over-subscribed, will go into a global random draw (this will particularly apply to ‘hot’ matches like the Opening Match, the Semi-Finals and the Final). This ticket draw will take place on 15 April 2009. Confirmation of successful applications will be notified approximately 72 hours after this draw.
4 May 2009 – 16 November 2009 Valid applications will be accepted and fulfilled on a ‘first come, first served’ basis – subject to availability for the match/es and the ticket category/ies applied for. Confirmation of successful applications will be notified within approximately 10 working days.
5 December 2009 – 22 January 2010, immediately after the Final Draw for the 32 participating nations. It is at this stage that the world will know who is playing who, when and where and the pressure for tickets will really intensify. All valid ticket applications received during this time will again go into a global random draw which will take place on 1 February 2010. Confirmation of successful applications will be notified approximately 72 hours after this draw.
9 February 2010 – 1 April 2010 Again, valid applications will be accepted and fulfilled on a ‘first come, first served’ basis – subject to availability for the match/es and the ticket category/ies applied for. Confirmation of successful applications will be notified within approximately 10 working days.
The fifth and final ‘Last Minute’ tickets sales phase will open on 15 April 2010 and remain open until the Final is played on 11 July 2010. Tickets will be purchased ‘real-time’ on a first come first served basis via www.fifa.com and over the counter at to-be-announced locations across South Africa.
