Hi! Sorry for the delay between posts…it’s been an amazing few days and I haven’t had a chance to sit down at the computer until now. The last few group round matches are happening this week, so it’s an exciting time here in South Africa!
Since I last posted, I’ve watched an average of 2-3 soccer games per day on TV, with another live match thrown in. I’ve also traveled over 3,500 kilometers by bus, seen the Atlantic Ocean, cheered on Team USA until my voice was gone, and met countless people from around the world. Here’s a little summary of what’s going on!
My 2nd live match was at the stadium in Bloemfontein again, where we saw Greece play Nigeria. Both teams had great fans in attendance, and we were seated near the Greeks (think a lot of blue and white clothing and cheers of “HELLAS!”). It was another beautiful day in Bloem, marred only by a red card given out to one of the Nigerian players for kicking an opponent before a throw in. I’ve seen a lot of great sportsmanship here, but that can’t be included. It was unfortunate, because Nigeria was playing really well, but ended up losing by 1 goal.
Although they aren’t high in the world rankings, the South Africans are certainly one of the most high-profile teams here. As the hosts, there are a lot of expectations on the team to perform well, and it seems like the entire country walks around in gold and green “Bafana Bafana” jerseys with South African flags proudly displayed on their cars. They lost to Uruguay last week (with a VERY questionable red card given to their goalie at the end of the game) which hurt their chances of advancing, but I’m hopeful that they can still 
pull out a miracle. I’ll be there tomorrow in person to watch them play France in Bloem, and I can’t wait. The stadium is going to be packed with vuvuzela-blowing (that’s the super-loud plastic horn that everyone has here—you’ve probably heard the din if you’ve watched any games on TV), Bafana-supporting fans!
My sister and I also traveled to Cape Town, which ranks pretty high on my list of beautiful cities. With the ocean on one side and Table Mountain on the other, the scenery is stunning. We arrived just in time to watch the USA take on Slovenia (on TV), and, wow, what a game! The Americans definitely got themselves into quite a hole in the first half, but I was super impressed by the heart they showed to come back from behind. Landon Donovan’s goal almost took the Slovenian goalie’s head off, and really kick-started the comeback. As a USA fan, I personally thought they should have won, but…;) We’ll be in Durban to cheer them on as they take on Algeria later this week.
While we were in Cape Town we also went to the official FIFA Fan Fest, which was a free, outdoor festival with huge screens set up so that everyone could watch the games. It was located in the Grand Parade, an important historical location for South Africa—it was here that Nelson Mandela spoke to thousands of people after his release from prison (if you’ve seen the movie Invictus, you would recognize it). I loved the Fan Fest because it was another example of how passionate people are about their countries, and how excited they are to share those passions with others, even if they are opposing fans! You can’t go far here without seeing supporters wearing the most amazing outfits (flags, face paint, wigs, etc.) and posing for photos with other like-dressed people from other countries. The action on the field may be intense, but off the field it’s one big soccer party!
I hope that you are all enjoying the tournament back in the States—I know that there are lots of SCORES events going on, and don’t forget about our Best Buy @15 campaign as well. It’s such a great time to celebrate soccer and the opportunities that all kids get to play the game, and I hope you’ll get on board with Team SCORES as you cheer on the best players in the world.
Happy viewing!
-Caitlin
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