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!

At This Stage Here

Sorry for the delay, we've been busy driving. Enjoy the recap from yesterday below.

Yesterday we attended a crucial game that determined who would advance out of group A, Uruguay vs. Mexico. A win for either team guaranteed 1st place in the group, and the loser needed to hope to keep the score close. The other pairing in group A was playing at the same time, France vs South Africa. A victory by Bafana Bafana, with a large enough margin, could have put South Africa through to the next round on goal differential, the tie breaker in group play, over the loser of the game we attended. Needless to say, the locals came out in large numbers to cheer on Uruguay to a big win, who was their past chance for SA to advance. Not to diminish the Mexican fanbase that came out in vibrant costumes and face paint as we have all come to expect.

The game took part in Rustenberg which is a bit of a hike from our house. After Gladys made us some delicious breakfast, we got in the cars and 2.5 hours later, we arrived at the Fu...Phokeng Parking Lot. There we enjoyed some lunch that we had prepared: sandwiches, chips, and soda(diet, regular, and frat). Then we hopped on the shuttle and were at the stadium. Rustenberg is smaller in comparison to any other stadiums we have seen, but every seat in the house had a good view of the action on the field.

After being cramped up in the car we were excited to see an exciting game and we weren't disappointed. Uruguay played strong defensively and capitalized on a beautiful cross that Suarez headed home in the first half. Mexico put in a real strong second half and knocked on Uruguays doorstep several times, but unfortunately for them, were unable to put one away. The score ended 1-0 in favor of Uruguay.

But made matters more exciting was that we were surrounded by South African fans who were being updated on the South African score. South Africa went up 2-0, each goal bringing a synchronized blaring of vuvuzelas and exhalting cheers from all over the stadium. They got a third called back on a questionable call and a few others that hit the woodwork. France got one back well into the 2nd half, ending at 2-1. We enjoyed relishing in the potential uproar of the South African fans had the results gone there way. Things did not work out the way we had hoped. While they tied Mexico in points, they lost in goal differential, and Mexico is advancing behind Uruguay to the knockout stages.


This would bring the end of any good time to be had for several hours. We thought driving back from a Bears game was bad!!! From the time we pulled out of the parking lot, we were in the car for nearly 5 hours, bumper to bumper through dark country roads in two packed cars. As you could imagine, we could've done without that. Phokeng perfect.

Spain vs. Who?

Last night we went to see an exciting game at Ellis Park Stadium. This stadium is famous for being the home of the South African Springbok Rugby Team. It is featured in the movie Invictus. Having now seen both the stadiums in Joburg, I can compare them to our hometown venues. If Soccer City is like the new refurbished Soldier Field, Ellis Park is definitely the Wrigley Field of Joburg . . . it is old-school, classy, and awesome!

The match we went to see was Spain vs. Honduras, but it really didn't seem like Honduras showed up to play. Spain controlled the ball the vast majority of the game passing triangles (not circles) around Honduras. Spain's team is made up of a tight group of players that play together on Barcelona, and they really showed that they know how to play together well. Watching them play really made you appreciate the beauty of the game.

Ultimately, Spain won the game 2-0, but it could have been a much higher score if they only would shoot more often. Instead of thinking about the Spain vs. Honduras match that we watched, I kept finding myself comparing the two best teams we have seen so far: Spain and Brazil. In terms of passing, both teams are amazing. Only perhaps Argentina can compare. Passing is a tie. In terms of finishing, both Luis Fabiano and David Villa had some pretty astonishing finishes. So shooting is a tie. But, I gotta say there is one thing that tilts the scale in Spains favor . . . they had the more appealing fan section.