Pictures

To those of you still checking back here, we have been collaborating our best pictures from the trip and will be hosting them on a web album for your enjoyment. Check back in the next few days for the link.

Thanks for your patience and support of Across The Pitch.

Zimbabwian Shenanigans

Hello blogosphere, sorry that we have neglected you but we have been busy enjoying our times in zimbabwe and we have been having a hard time finding our way to the web. Our journey home is about to begin, but I just wanted to give you a quick update on our happenings.

Since our arrival in Zimbabwe we have taken a booze cruise (emptied them of all their booze), whitewater rafted the great zambezi, walked with three baby lions, rode elephants through the game park, took a night drive through the park, rode a helicopter over the falls, and some even bungie jumped the historic bridge that connects Zimbabwe and Zambia. Bets on the three who did it???

Needless to say, it's been quite the four days in Zimbabwe.

Once again, all pictures and video will be available for viewing in about a week or so. Look for the link and additional information on this blog...otherwise you will feel left out (you don't want that, do you?).

Thanks again to all of our friends and family for your words of encouragement and support. It was truly a trip of a lifetime for us, and we are glad that we were able to share our experiences with you.

See you soon!

Zimmy B

After a valiant effort by the USA last night, we left the stadium witnessing the last match of the 2010 USA World Cup team (though many of us quickly started to plan for 2014 in Brazil - anyone?).

Our late night turned into a an even earlier morning, as we woke up around 5am to tour the incredibly expansive game park that Pilanesburg has to offer. Most of us were skeptical at the odds of us seeing live game walking and feeding near our cars, but we were wrong.

The first 20 minutes of the self-guided tour provided us with some shots of the sun rising and the moon setting over the mountains. How often do we get to see that back home?

Seemingly out of nowhere, the first car, driven by the one and only Mike Taylor (or currently known as Zimbabwe Bob / Zimmy B), slammed on its brakes and told us to continue to back up. The second car couldn't see much, but of course we had to trust Zimmy B's native instincts (you'd be stupid not to).

Sure enough, there they were -- two full-grown male lions walking down the middle of our road. These creatures are impressive enough in textbooks and when leading a chorus in animated movies, but this was far better than what we had expected.*

The remaining portion of the game park tour (one of possibly three) had us wind through some pretty scenic topography. We also saw a handful of zebras, warthogs and other African animals that our free pamphlet failed to identify.*

So, as I'm sure you have read, we will be at Pilanesburg until tomorrow morning. We will then drive back to Jo'burg and leave for Victoria Falls (in Zimbabwe, by the way) on Tuesday. There we will enjoying some whitewater rafting, walking with the lions and a booze cruise. Sadly, our two-week escapade in Africa will come to a close on July 3, when we depart from Jo'burg for Atlanta and finally home in Chicago.

Cheers.

*Due to these lovely computers at our place of stay (circa early '90s), we are unable to post photos. We will have a separate site set up for all of our photos following our arrival on July 4.

Spain vs. Chile

Apologies for not updating this in a couple days but we have been without internet at the house. Therefore I would like to take this time to update you all on what has happened since our last post.

After the exciting USA game on Wednesday, Thursday was an off day for us which we spent sleeping in, shopping, playing cards, and generally just relaxing. Friday was another day of shopping followed by the Spain vs. Chile game in Pretoria that evening. Once again Spain proved to be victorious, winning 2-1, but Chile more than held their own, especially in the first half. It was nice to see Spain’s beautiful passing game again, and they definitely have to be considered one of the favorites to win it all.

As I write this we have just arrived at the game park (more to come on this later) and are getting geared up for the USA-Ghana Round of 16 game tonight. Speaking of the USA game, if you haven’t heard a few of us were on TV last time (if you have footage of this please let us know), so keep your fingers crossed the trend continues and you will get to see our smiling faces once again.

P.S. Drew, my Fanta is safe

Circle of Life

Today we arrived at the Pilanesburg game park in Sun City. While the soccer we have seen so far has been great, we are glad to be moving on to the next stage of our journey. And we are happy to have moved into a place that has heat! Unfortunately, we cannot get the camera to work at this resort's computer. We will just have to rub it in verbally for now. Our rooms come fully loaded with a hot tub on the patio and a sweet view that overlooks the game park. We hope to wake up tomorrow to find wild beasts drinking from our resort's watering hole. Or we can just wake up and view the watering hole from our tv. (They have a channel for it...)

Tomorrow we will begin our safari adventure. It's nice to be out of the city and the chaos. However, we will have one last night of amazing soccer. Tonight we will make the 45 minute drive to Rustenburg to see the USA take on Ghana (Tom King's favorite country). Following a victory, we plan to have a great night celebrating. It'll be fun to hang out in our hot tub on a cool night like tonight. Maybe we will find ourselves playing a little Circle of Death...

Go home Italy.

Can't beat Slovakia? Neither can the Vavrik brothers.


Thanks for coming, Italy. We'll see you in 2014 (if you're lucky).

Cheers.

p.s. We are going to the USA v. Ghana game on Saturday! Spread the word, look for us and wear your colors...

Goals

We have the day off today before we attend what could be our final match of the tournament tomorrow in Spain vs Chile (unless we get tickets to the USA vs Ghana game on Saturday, fingers crossed). We thought we would catch up on some blogging while we have time and internet before we head off into the wilderness for some activities.

This morning another article was published about our trip to South Africa. You can find it here. Pass on the blog website to anyone you think might be interested in our trip. Last night we met a guy from Deerfield that recognized us from the newspaper and blog and wanted to take a picture with us.

Below you will find a link to the game winning goal from last night. We have heard from numerous people how amazing it was to watch on tv and its hard to find the words to describe what we were feeling in person at the moment.

You will also find a link to a video taken by Manno during the USA vs Slovenia game. He captured what should have been the game winning goal in that match. This video might give you a sense of the excitement we felt last night.

Enjoy!

The Goal that was (USA v. Algeria)

The Goal that should have been (USA vs. Slovenia)

Epic.

What a game. What a day.

Today started off with nothing but the game on our minds. Next thing we knew, we were on a train to Pretoria (that ran way longer than expected). You'd think that these public trains would be packed with locals, but we found ourselves with the "soccer fans only" train -- with a car entirely to ourselves. Before we knew it, we had invented the greatest train game of all time (only played in South Africa) -- K-Ball. In short, the basis of K-Ball revolves around the elementary school game of "four square" but involves six to eight people sitting on benches on a train using an American flag (Made in China) bouncy ball. Meanwhile, Taylor and Greg took a couple short naps in hoping that our game would soon die down. Needless to say, the game quickly evolved into a game that we will attempt to bring back to the states. In the words of Marty McFly, "I guess you guys aren't ready for that yet, but your kids are gonna love it."

Due to South Africa's lovely public transportation system, we took the first train towards Pretoria but had to take another train after we had already passed the stadium. For those of you familiar with the CTA lines, it's like transferring because you have no other choice.

Fast forward another hour or so, and we are power-walking...jogging...and then finally sprinting towards the gates. With our 'family section' passes in hand (thank you Spector family), we made our way to Gate 1. Here's an idea of what we saw the entire game...

Oh, wait, no...this...


Throughout the entire game, we took part in the many "U S A!" cheers and enjoyed our case (yes, an entire case) of Budweiser straight from the concession stand. We also tried to beat our superstitions by sitting in specific seats and passing the American flag between "lucky" group members.

After hitting the post a couple of times and having a goal called back due to offsides (BS - by the way), we were all starting to grow a little nervous. Oh, and it didn't help that we heard that England took a 1-0 lead vs. Slovenia. At that point, we absolutely needed to win no matter what in order to move on to the Round of 16. The latter part of the second half saw a couple key substitutions that would help us create more chances offensively, but again, we were still cautious.

In the 91st minute, Landon Donovan followed up on a rebound from the Algerian keeper that sent the stadium in to a frenzy. Never have we experienced such a rapid flux in emotions -- from despair to pure ecstasy -- even after winning a state championship back in 2003 (yep, we went there). Put it this way, it was enough to even bring a grown man to tears -- right Tom King?

The aftermath that followed was unbelieveable; strangers hugged, danced, chanted and even toasted beers with one another. And yes, some beers went airborne (courtesy of our row). Can't blame us, right?


If you couldn't tell already, it was a day to remember.


More to come tomorrow. Cheers.

U S A

Unbelievable.

More to come later...

Waka Waka

...and we're off to the USA v. Algeria game!

http://www.youtube.com/v/pRpeEdMmmQ0

Following the USA game, we'll be heading to see Germany v. Ghana later on tonight. We will do our absolute best to update you all once again with pictures...and video!