We are all still buzzing after the USA’s dramatic late winner against Algeria which not only got us through to the next round but landed us atop the group. I was convinced that we were going to fall short, not for lack of chances, and it was so great to see the emotion on the field (and in the TV room in our b & b outside of Durban where we watched the game with 5 other Americans) after Donovan’s well-taken goal.
We arrived in South Africa a week ago last night and, given the Jordan has been using his excellent social media skills to keep people posted on our every movement (J- I mean that with total respect) I wanted to record some random observations on our trip (for those who don’t subscribe to Jordan’s twitter feed or facebook page, check out his blog at http://jordancpgray.wordpress.com for the complete rundown on our daily adventures). I will update this site at least at the end of our trip, and will ask Scott to add his commentary as well.
South Africa-
We are only in the Cape Town and Durban areas during this trip, but this is a beautiful country, with amazing coastlines, beautiful countryside and an impressive infrastructure marked by good roads and good drinking water. The people, whether black, white or Indian (Durban is home to an extremely large Indian population, who first came here to work on the sugar cane plantations) could not be nicer or more proud of their country. I have been asked repeatedly “How do you like South Africa? Are people treating you well?” People are genuinely excited that the world has come here for these games. Having said that, the fact that soccer is not a big sport for the white community (rugby is huge in the white community and soccer is seen as a sport for blacks) means that watching the games with locals- unless you find yourself either in a black township (where we have not been), watching a USA or England game in a bar full of fans of that team, or in any communal area watching South Africa play (we watched their final game- against France- at the beachfront fan fest in downtown Durban with 25,000 or more people), does not have the same edge-of-your-seat excitement that you felt in Germany.
I have also been impressed by the state of race relations here. Although apartheid ended only 16 years ago and the divide between whites and blacks is still striking, people are outwardly quite pleasant to each other, far different than what I saw in India between the high and low castes, although outright racism still exists (the Afrikaaner who sat next to me on one of our flights called the government a “bunch of monkeys”). We are staying in a beautiful beachside suburb of Durban which is all white, and I don’t think we have seen a black patron in any restaurant in which we have been. This country has a long way to go but we all know people in the states who say horribly racist things and you don’t see a lot of diversity in the customer base of restaurants in Manhattan Beach or Steamboat Springs. It will be very interesting to see if the SA government will be able to maintain a free market economy while managing to walk the fine line between satisfying the rising economic expectations of the black majority and keeping the white community, who created and still control the country’s economic infrastructure, or whether it devolves into a bigger and uglier version of Zimbabwe.
Cape Town and Durban-
As detailed by Jordan, we visited the Cape of Good Hope and the drive to and fro was spectacular. The drive from the Cape to Houts Bay was like a cross between Red Mountain Pass in Colorado and US 1 through Big Sur. At one point the speed limit was 20 kph (12.5 mph) and I could not go that fast. The scenery was breathtaking throughout. We are heading back to Cape Town on Saturday and are there until we fly home on Wednesday and I am looking forward to exploring the city and the wine country, but so far the city itself seems to be nothing special. Yes the scenery is amazing (the ocean, Table Mountain, the Cape), but from what we have seen the city itself is nothing special- sort of like any Midwestern US city with a really cool sports stadium. The city of Durban is worse. The beaches are very pretty, as is the suburb of Umhlanga, but downtown is run down and seemingly getting worse. The bunny chow is good (look it up). These are surface observations and not very deep- just scratching the surface.
The Soccer-
With a few exceptions, the first two games in group play were generally disappointing. The play was cautious and uninspired (except for the US digging themselves out of a hole against Slovenia, Germany destroying the Aussies, and Argentina being great despite Maradona) and the effects of a long European season were obvious on a lot of players. In contrast, the final group matches have been great so far, capped off by the USA win last night, and we are eager to see Portugal v Brazil tomorrow and for the Round of 16 games to start. The stadiums in Durban and Cape Town are state of the art and are great places to watch games. How this country can afford all of this is beyond me- the construction costs for stadiums were WAY over budget, and with no big domestic league, and parallel rugby stadiums in place throughout the country, it is hard to see how these new stadiums will be fully utilized in the future.
Summary-
Great trip so far (the bath at the Springbok Lodge was a real highlight- see Jordan’s blog again) and more to come. Details to follow.
GO USA!
