The past two days have been my favorites so far during my World Cup adventure…never before have I felt so connected to the worldwide soccer community!
On Tuesday I woke up to the sound of vuvuzelas, which was understandable because it was the day of the South Africa-France group match! The entire country was outfitted in the green and gold of Bafana Bafana, with seemingly everyone ready to cheer on their team. I had the great honor of attending the game with a group of students in the Grassroot Soccer program from Richmond, Northern Cape, where my sister has worked and lived all year. Standing next to these young people while they belted out the South African national anthem (which has lines in 4 different languages!) before the game was awe-inspiring. They come from a community with a population that is less than half that of the capacity of the Bloemfontein stadium; poverty and the challenges of HIV/AIDS are part of daily life. For them, the chance to watch their country—a place that has come so far in the last two decades, and still faces a hard road ahead—was something that I know they’ll remember for the rest of their lives.
South Africa was on the brink of elimination, and they played an outstanding game. Both of their two goals were followed by massive celebrations around the stadium in Bloem. My kids were beside themselves, hugging each other and blasting their vuvuzelas. Unfortunately, with the result of the other group game, South Africa did not advance to the next round. For the South Africans in the stadium, though, you wouldn’t have known. Their support of their team was unconditional. I was inspired by the game and the support that Bafana Bafana received from their country. It once again proved that sports and teams can become common ground for people who otherwise have little in common, and unity is something that South Africa is still building after years of apartheid.
Right after the South Africa game, my sister and I traveled to Durban, which
is on the Indian Ocean on South Africa’s East Coast (add another ocean and a few hundred kilometers to my list!). After days of cold weather, it was great to arrive in Durban’s balmy and humid climate on Wednesday morning!
Our goal for the day was to get to the Fan Fest to watch the USA-Algeria game. Once again, FIFA came through with a great location for the public viewing area: the screen was set up on the beach! Thus, feet in the sand, we settled in beside a huge group of Americans for the action.
And what a game it was! Seriously, the US had so many chances and kept it exciting until the very end. I have to admit that the atmosphere was pretty tense as the minutes ticked down, but then when Landon Donovan scored in injury time the place went CRAZY! There were Americans everywhere, jumping up and down, cheering, and celebrating—it was so special to be able to share the excitement, even though we were thousands of miles away from the US. With the win, the US advances to the next round, where they will meet the 2nd place finisher of Group D. I’m excited to keep following them as they continue their success in this World Cup.
As I write this, I’m watching the Germany-Ghana game which will determine the final standings of Group D (not sure if you’ve heard this, but this game is the first in which brothers have faced each other in a World Cup 
game—one on Germany and one on Ghana, both starters!). We have tickets to the Brazil-Portugal game here in Durban on Friday, and then we’ll see England and one of the Group D teams in the Round of 16 on Sunday back in Bloem.
I hope that you are all enjoying the games back in the US, and that you’re celebrating this amazing tournament with America SCORES! As I watch all of this soccer, I feel so lucky to work for an organization like SCORES that introduces kids to such an amazing sport.
Happy viewing, and good luck to the USA in their 2nd round game!
-Caitlin
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