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.