I know that I promised to go back and catch up on my several missed days, but I felt the need to talk about the day/game yesterday while it was fresh in my mind.
The day started off brilliantly. The weather was fantastic and everyone was moderately sober and in good spirits. I have to admit I was anxious, as I always am before US matches. We are getting better at knowing the ins and outs of Johannesburg and thus made it down to The Ellis Park area about 4 hours before the match. It was a good thing to, because it took us an hour to find the designated parking area. For those who have never been to Johannesburg, the area for yesterday's game would be described as.......straight up ghetto. At one point during the drive I felt like Chevy Chase in Vacation, "Roll 'em up!". To top it off, FIFA posted signs to get to the park and ride, and they would mysteriously disappear right about the time you need to make any turn or decision. We finally found the park and ride and they informed us that we needed to by tickets at the Ticketing Center which apparently is at the Eastwoods Mall....right. So we drive around until we find a FIFA Park and Walk. They also told us we needed tickets, but Jimmy convinced the police officer to let us purchase them from him. We were in! We tailgated for about a half an hour, mingling with other US fans, and began the 1 mile trek through the set of Boyz in the Hood.
To be fair the atmosphere was festive with many residents setting up barbecues in their driveways and selling really really tasty sausage things (didn't ask). Right before we got to the stadium, we came across something a little different. A nursery school was having a fundraiser and their courtyard/playground was full of Americans and a few Slovenians. They were munching on 20 rand sausages and beer. We were afraid that Curtis was not going to come out of the bathroom because everything was 2 feet tall and made him feel huge. After we drank them out of beer, we were marching on again. When we got to the stadium, I realized that for the first time in my life, I was going to a US World Cup match and we outnumbered the opponents supporters. Awesome. We had two extra tickets for the match, and since there were sooo many people trying to sell (US and Slovenia not being the most popular footballing nations) German and Jimmy found two local kids to give the tickets to. They were so excited to be going into the game. Best thing we have done this whole trip. The kids walked in with us, and everything was good in the world.
Right after entering the stadium we ran into our old WC pal Mike Hood (2002 and 2006). He and his wife decided to come sit with us. You see, for all of these matches we have been ticketed all over the stadiums, but thanks to African organization, we just find a block of seats near whoever has the best seats and we all crowd in...no one questions. The American presence was huge and it should have been one of our best and loudest showings. Except for the damn vuvzelas. The f'ing horns are like a locust plague of biblical proportions. you can't hear a damn thing. We were doing our best to keep the sections singing and with a little coordination with Montie (Our US supporter friend from Boston) we managed to pull it off. When we went down 1-0, all I could think was "Do we always have to do the hard way?" When we went down 2-0, I was wondering how we could be losing 2-0 to a country that only had 2 million people in it. I have to admit we were a bit down at halftime.
We rallied, however, and were in full voice to start the second half. When Donovan blasted a goal into the roof of Slovenia's net, we all went mad. Clint started a rousing rendition of "The Roof is on Fire" (Like I said, we gave up on trying to get people to like us). When the second goal went in, things his ludicrous speed. The atmosphere was out of control, with all of us trying to will the US team to victory.
Then the felony occurred. in the 86th minutes, Maurice Edu fought through a rugby tackle to smash home our third goal. The stadium erupted, my beer flew through the air, strangers were being hugged, and general lunacy prevailed. When we saw the ref from Mali signal a free kick for Slovenia, we were absolutely shell shocked. Even the Slovenian couple that was somehow in our section, looked at us with apologetic shrugs. We didn't know what had been called, the ref wasn't giving explanations to anyone, and as usual FIFA does not allow anything controversial to be replayed on the big screens. One of our friends had recorded the goal on his iPhone and we watched it 2 or 3 times...nothing. The game came to an end, and it was bittersweet. We had battled back from a 2-0 deficit, and we were still alive in the tournament. Beat Algeria and we advance. But man, we knew we should have won.
After making our way back to the parking lot, the streets were a lot darker, and lot less festive, and bit more menacing. However, other than a few begging kids, there was no incident. We sat and talked with some South Africans in the lot, because everyone else had decided to make 14 exit lanes to get through a single-car wide exit. Dumbasses.
Once we got back to the guest lodge we watched a really boring England v Algeria game, and waited for the replay of the US game. Now, I have watched the incident in question about 15 times now, and all I saw was 2 or 3 possible Slovenian fouls, and an terrific effort/goal by Edu. When questioned about the call the ref just said, "No Comment". In an effort to keep this blog family friendly, I will have to follow suit.
No Comment
Next. Ryan has to leave us, and Cameroon v Denmark
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