Rain, Rain, Rain...Raining in Goals!

Benni and I saw the magnificent seven!

As we walked to Green Point Stadium early this afternoon, it was raining lightly in Cape Town. There were thousands of Portuguese and other international fans proceeding in good spirits to the game. When the game started, the rain really started coming down. The game was even to start with and North Korea showed some good attacking flashes. They also played Ronaldo very well and did not respect him at all. People in the stands were wondering whether they even knew who he was. The pitch was very wet and slippery and the players had a difficult time controlling the ball. At half-time it was 1-0 for Portugal. At half time it basically stopped raining. But then the fireworks started and the Portuguese started to rain in goals.

In the second half, Portugal added six more goals. With each goal the noise in the stadium increased. If the noise level started at one on the Richter Scale it certainly was at 7 by the end of the game. The atmosphere in the stadium was fantastic. There were hardly any North Korean fans at the game. Usually each side gets allotted a number of tickets for their home fans. But since not many supporters coming to South Africa from North Korea, they could distribute more tickets locally. Therefore a number of South African school children were at the game. The game started at 1:30 pm so they probably got the afternoon off to go to the game. They were at least still in their school uniforms. Throughout the second half, they were dancing and singing and blowing the vuvuzuelas. Since there were more South Africans at this game than at the first game we attended (England-Algeria), the vuvuzuela sound was much different. In fact, at this game it was quite festive and nice. In fact, it was enjoyable (I was wearing earplugs however). It was synchronized and melodicand not as constant. Blowing the vuvuzuela is actually difficult and it takes time to master. So in the later games, I think the foreign fans will get a better handle on it.

The Portuguese played great. Seven different players scored which is very unusual and they will now face Brazil later this week both self-confident and optimistic. I met my student Faisal Khan, who is a rising senior at Williams College, at the game. He is here in South Africa doing economics research. Benni and I left the stadium in high spirits since we realized that we just saw a historic game that will be one for the books.

There is more talk here about the referees. They have been very generous with the red card. For example the red cards that Klose (Germany) and Kaka (Brazil) received were ridiculous. They are really not tolerating any pushing or pulling. In some respects that is good. At the same time, they are not allowing the players to play the physical game they are accustomed to.

In reading the newspapers in the States, I know that there has been a lot of talk about the disallowed US goal against Slovenia. It was gotten some press here but has really drowned in all the other World Cup stories and controversies. So it is not a major issue here nor are the other foreign fans talking much about it. . The major issue here today is South Africa´s game against French. Supposedly a number of French players will refuse to play tomorrow.

We will be watching the South Africa game in Kalk Bay, which is near Cape Town. My colleague David Eppel, in the Theatre Department at Williams, lives there in the summer (he is South African) so we will watch the game with him and some of the locals in his hometown.