Hup, Hup Holland!

The Holland-Cameroon game that we attended tonight was amazing. The stadium was floating in orange as the Dutch supporters were there in droves (there were only a handful of Cameroon fans). The atmosphere was great with lots of singing and vuvuzuelas blowing. It was by far the loudest game that we have attended and much more energy than in the other games. The Dutch fans were very colorful often in very amusing outfits. The game was pretty good with the Dutch dominating from the first minute. They played crisp and clean soccer. Van Bommel plays an unsung role in the middle and Sjneider roamed freely around the midfield and upfront. With about 15 minutes left, Arjen Robben entered the game. It was clear that he is the leader of the team. Before coming on, he got lots of cheers from the fans as he was warming up (he has been out with a hamstring injury). His teamates on the bench cheered wildly when he entered the game. Once he was on the field, he was active and had a great shot into the post which eventually resulted into a goal. It is amazing that the Dutch had such an easy time in their groups with Robben only playing fifteen minutes.

The big news of the evening was that the world champions Italy were ousted from the tournament. They had a worse record than New Zealand in this year´s World Cup which is pretty amazing. The Danes also go home.

Tomorrow, we leave for Port Elizabeth Bay and we´ll stay there the next two nights. It is a 8 hour drive along the garden route which is supposedly a very beautiful drive. We hope to stop somewhere on the way to see Brazil Portugal play on tv. On Saturday, we´ll see Uruguay play South Korea. Our seats are behind the goal about 14 rows up.