Things are looking bleak for African teams as the World Cup approaches the end of group stages. Last Tuesday, Bafana slumped to a limp 3-0 defeat to Uruguay, all but eliminating their chances of reaching the next round. Though the Boys performance was certainly lacking, Uruguay’s goals came from a deflected shot, a penalty following a missed offside call, and an injury time strike after Bafana had a man sent off, so claims that Bafana were “outclassed” cause me to bristle a bit.
Nevertheless, we have been instructed to support the Boys to the bloody end, because should Uruguay and Mexico not draw, and if a band of mercenary cyborgs from the future takes the team’s place and destroys France by five or six goals, they will definitely go through. Despite the calls for support, Bafana jersey sightings and random vuvuzela honks have been in increasingly short supply since the defeat.
Added to this is the fact that Ghana is the only African team to have won a match, contradicting the conventional wisdom that playing on their home continent would inspire these teams to greatness. What type of advantage Algeria or Ivory Coast were supposed to have by playing in South Africa, I’ve yet to figure out. If Ghana fails to advance, I fancy local fans to support “everyone’s favorite second team”, the Samba Boys, Brazil.
Marnie and I went to Ellis Park on Wednesday to cheer on the Yanks against Slovenia. Having already attended the England match, it was nice to enjoy an atmosphere with such overwhelming US support. Marnie certainly thought so, upon hearing the first U-S-A chant transforming into a frothing at the mouth, flag waving, chest thumping patriot.
The overwhelming support was not translated to the pitch, however, as some atrocious defending led to a 2-nil deficit at the half. A Landon Donovan thumper from close range shortly after the restart and a scrappy goal from Michael Bradley in the 80th minute tied things up. A few minutes later the US had the ball in the back of the net again, only for the ref to disallow it for some phantom foul. This has been widely regarded as the worst refereeing error of the tournament, and if the US fail to progress they have good grounds to feel peeved.
Nevertheless, we have been instructed to support the Boys to the bloody end, because should Uruguay and Mexico not draw, and if a band of mercenary cyborgs from the future takes the team’s place and destroys France by five or six goals, they will definitely go through. Despite the calls for support, Bafana jersey sightings and random vuvuzela honks have been in increasingly short supply since the defeat.
Added to this is the fact that Ghana is the only African team to have won a match, contradicting the conventional wisdom that playing on their home continent would inspire these teams to greatness. What type of advantage Algeria or Ivory Coast were supposed to have by playing in South Africa, I’ve yet to figure out. If Ghana fails to advance, I fancy local fans to support “everyone’s favorite second team”, the Samba Boys, Brazil.
Marnie and I went to Ellis Park on Wednesday to cheer on the Yanks against Slovenia. Having already attended the England match, it was nice to enjoy an atmosphere with such overwhelming US support. Marnie certainly thought so, upon hearing the first U-S-A chant transforming into a frothing at the mouth, flag waving, chest thumping patriot.
The overwhelming support was not translated to the pitch, however, as some atrocious defending led to a 2-nil deficit at the half. A Landon Donovan thumper from close range shortly after the restart and a scrappy goal from Michael Bradley in the 80th minute tied things up. A few minutes later the US had the ball in the back of the net again, only for the ref to disallow it for some phantom foul. This has been widely regarded as the worst refereeing error of the tournament, and if the US fail to progress they have good grounds to feel peeved.
NOTE: I have recently added new posts on our trips to Rwanda and Tanzania, accessible as their own pages at the top of the main blog page.
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