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Published: June 24th 2010
The Big Game. The One Elvis Has Been Waiting For. US vs Algeria. We bundled into the Ford Fiesta that came with the house, stocked up the cooler bag with beer and Jameson Whisky, and headed to Pretoria for the game.
There were just four of us left now: Lori Ann had gone back to Manila early to escape the cold (and us footy fans) while Mark, the lone American, had to go back to work (none of the rest of us work in offices).
Incredibly, we arrived in a familiar part of Pretoria despite me driving and Tim navigating.
Our parking spot just a block from the stadium was next to a park with several bums in it obviously intoxicated. I got out of the car, looked at them, and shook my head. Then the other three piled out of the car, obviously intoxicated. I rolled my eyes and shook my head. I had a lot of catching up to do, and the beer was nearly gone and we were down to just a third of a bottle of whiskey.
We spent a couple of hours at the car with me catching up and Wayne and
Erik dressing up in their Elvis costumes while making a bit of a racket and recycling the beer at the base of a conveniently located tree. The bums in the park just looked at us and shook their heads.
It was a 10 minute walk to the stadium. It took us over an hour.
Tim and I managed to buy tickets from scalpers -- awesome tickets just behind the US bench and in front of Bill Clinton. This time, the tickets were from Coke and cost us $100 each for the $160 face value tickets.
Tim and I could have made it to the stadium in just minutes, but the two Elvises (both Canadian, despite press reports that they were loyally supporting their country) took several minutes for each yard gained. Hundreds of people now have their photos with these two Canadians.
One American even supplied Wayne with a cask of wine -- much needed because we had run out of alcohol -- which slowed progress considerably.
We parted ways on entry to the stadium, with the two Canadian Elvises heading into the stands with their commoner tickets, while Tim and I went to the
VIP seating with our cheaper scalped ones.
One thing I noticed immediately at the VIP seating is that there are a lot more cute girls. I guess when it comes to giving away free tickets, cute girls have a considerable advantage!
It was a good mix, with South Africans, Algerians, Australians, the Secret Service, and Bill.
If you've already read about the game, you'll know that the first half was pretty boring. I spent as much time looking around the stands as watching the game.
I was pleasantly surprised at half time to find that they hadn't run out of beer and that there wasn't a queue for the men's. First Class has its advantages I guess. Although I'd rather they stocked up on the extra beer when I wasn't the designated driver.
The US continued missing chances at the beginning of the second half. An Algerian sitting next to us -- about a colourful a character as you could find -- would raise his hands in thanks to Allah each time the US was thwarted.
In the end, though, the game was decided by the score line rather than religion. I guess the
Wayne and Eric dress up as Elvis
... and gravitate towards the only Thai girl at the gameguy upstairs was being impartial -- or not even watching His silly children run around chasing an inflated pigskin.
When the US finally scored, the stadium erupted with over an hour of pent up expectations. It was wild.
The rest of the game seemed more exciting from then on and we were even treated to a red card for the Algerian captain. As usual, the red card wasn't deserved, but the refs here are blind wankers from what I've seen.
By the time we got back to the car (another slow walk for the Elvises) I had sobered up enough to drive. (If you want to avoid getting drink in the first place, go to a stadium that only serves Budweiser. It tastes too crap to drink enough to get past slightly tipsy.)
We changed navigators for the return trip and made better time. And as usual, celebrated our team (always the winning team) achieving a magnificent victory by emptying a bottle or two of South Africa's excellent wine.
As a bonus, we also go to watch Australia beat Serbia in the local pub!
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