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Confederations Cup Chronicles: Part Seven- Pharaohs Climbing The Football Pyramid
Goal.com's John Duerden has arrived in the Rainbow Nation ahead of the Confederations Cup and is ready to provide a daily account of the football, the country, the people and his adventures in South Africa...
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Jun 19, 2009 11:44:01 AM
Back to Joburg – the city where everyone has a navigation system in their cars.
The afternoon was spent driving round with Joan Blass, the man in charge of Goal.com’s ever-growing mobile phone news service. This Dutchman was on the lookout for tickets for whatever games he could get and despite a few hairy moments mainly due to the fact that South Africans drive on the left side of the road, he accomplished his mission.
The best way to get these seems to be to drop into the First National Bank and try your luck and the ‘last-minute sales’ counter. The two friendly young women informed Joan that Italy –Egypt and, even better, Spain –South Africa were still available. Italy and Brazil is a sell-out.
The good thing about that game in Pretoria is that it actually means something. After Italy’s first ever defeat against an African team at, a very chilly, Ellis Park on Thursday, the world champions need to defeat Brazil or risk an early exit. Brazil need a point to be sure. It is going to be some game.
Egypt did Africa proud on Thursday for the second time in three days. Talking to Goal.com’s reporters in Cairo, the feeling is that the Pharaohs ‘did an Italy’ on Italy. Egypt took their chance while Italy missed a number of good opportunities. Amazingly, the man of the match award went to the goalscorer Mohamed Homos and not the man of the match, Essam Al-Hadary.
The fans at the stadium were behind the African champions against the power of the Azzurri. As the final whistle drew closer, the decibel level got higher even if the temperature dropped.
Italian coach Marcello Lippi was gracious in defeat and honest in his assessment of the game though there is growing anger back home at his reluctance to trust in youth.
There was a little annoyance in the press conference room too as Egypt didn’t send their head coach, Hassan Shehata but assistant Shawki Gharib. A Dutch journalist said ‘Why did the head coach not come? This is very strange for us.’ Gharib, obviously in a very good mood, explained that it was all part of Egypt’s rotation system.
Another rotation system is the practice of walking around and around these World Cup stadiums trying to find entrances and media centres etc. The one thing that has been lacking around the stadiums of South Africa that I have visited so far is signposts.
At Ellis Park, you have to climb circular staircases, go through tunnels and then brave a temporary overhead bridge that Indiana Jones would have thought twice about crossing.
That is not only the case for the media. For the first time I used the park-and-ride system to get home. There is little public transport in South Africa, at least the parts that I have been to, and everyone drives.
In order to cut down on congestion around the stadium, the city has introduced a number of locations where people can park and then take a bus close to the stadium.
It works quite well once you find where to go but it is not always that simple. Upon leaving the stadium, there were no signs directing people. Many were wandering aimlessly not knowing what to do, a little like the USA defence in the earlier match against Brazil in Pretoria.
The only way to know you had found the right place was because there were lots of people around waiting for the bus (I had arrived at the stadium a different way and was getting a ride home, so it wasn’t a case of simply retracing my steps).
Some people had bigger problems. Kyle from Johannesburg made this comment on Goal.com: “Getting to the stadium was no problem as we used the park and ride facilities from Nasrec, but the HUGE problem came in was when it was time to go back to our cars. The park and ride queue for the taxis going to back Nasrec wrapped around two and a half blocks and we queued for about two hours when the officials organising people onto the taxi's and the taxi drivers decided that it's midnight and its time to go home.”
But this competition is all about getting ready for the big one next year. And as for going home early, that could be Italy if they don’t beat Brazil.
With Spain against South Africa on Saturday and Italy and Brazil on Sunday, get ready for a great weekend.
John Duerden, Goal.com
Johannesburg, South Africa
john.duerden@goal.com
The afternoon was spent driving round with Joan Blass, the man in charge of Goal.com’s ever-growing mobile phone news service. This Dutchman was on the lookout for tickets for whatever games he could get and despite a few hairy moments mainly due to the fact that South Africans drive on the left side of the road, he accomplished his mission.
The best way to get these seems to be to drop into the First National Bank and try your luck and the ‘last-minute sales’ counter. The two friendly young women informed Joan that Italy –Egypt and, even better, Spain –South Africa were still available. Italy and Brazil is a sell-out.
The good thing about that game in Pretoria is that it actually means something. After Italy’s first ever defeat against an African team at, a very chilly, Ellis Park on Thursday, the world champions need to defeat Brazil or risk an early exit. Brazil need a point to be sure. It is going to be some game.
Egypt did Africa proud on Thursday for the second time in three days. Talking to Goal.com’s reporters in Cairo, the feeling is that the Pharaohs ‘did an Italy’ on Italy. Egypt took their chance while Italy missed a number of good opportunities. Amazingly, the man of the match award went to the goalscorer Mohamed Homos and not the man of the match, Essam Al-Hadary.
The fans at the stadium were behind the African champions against the power of the Azzurri. As the final whistle drew closer, the decibel level got higher even if the temperature dropped.
Italian coach Marcello Lippi was gracious in defeat and honest in his assessment of the game though there is growing anger back home at his reluctance to trust in youth.
There was a little annoyance in the press conference room too as Egypt didn’t send their head coach, Hassan Shehata but assistant Shawki Gharib. A Dutch journalist said ‘Why did the head coach not come? This is very strange for us.’ Gharib, obviously in a very good mood, explained that it was all part of Egypt’s rotation system.
Another rotation system is the practice of walking around and around these World Cup stadiums trying to find entrances and media centres etc. The one thing that has been lacking around the stadiums of South Africa that I have visited so far is signposts.
At Ellis Park, you have to climb circular staircases, go through tunnels and then brave a temporary overhead bridge that Indiana Jones would have thought twice about crossing.
That is not only the case for the media. For the first time I used the park-and-ride system to get home. There is little public transport in South Africa, at least the parts that I have been to, and everyone drives.
In order to cut down on congestion around the stadium, the city has introduced a number of locations where people can park and then take a bus close to the stadium.
It works quite well once you find where to go but it is not always that simple. Upon leaving the stadium, there were no signs directing people. Many were wandering aimlessly not knowing what to do, a little like the USA defence in the earlier match against Brazil in Pretoria.
The only way to know you had found the right place was because there were lots of people around waiting for the bus (I had arrived at the stadium a different way and was getting a ride home, so it wasn’t a case of simply retracing my steps).
Some people had bigger problems. Kyle from Johannesburg made this comment on Goal.com: “Getting to the stadium was no problem as we used the park and ride facilities from Nasrec, but the HUGE problem came in was when it was time to go back to our cars. The park and ride queue for the taxis going to back Nasrec wrapped around two and a half blocks and we queued for about two hours when the officials organising people onto the taxi's and the taxi drivers decided that it's midnight and its time to go home.”
But this competition is all about getting ready for the big one next year. And as for going home early, that could be Italy if they don’t beat Brazil.
With Spain against South Africa on Saturday and Italy and Brazil on Sunday, get ready for a great weekend.
John Duerden, Goal.com
Johannesburg, South Africa
john.duerden@goal.com
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| Open an account with Sportingbet today and get up to £100 in free bets! |
|
| Sign up with William Hill for a free bet up to £25 |
|
| Sign up with bet365 for a free bet up to £200 |
|
| Sign up with Paddy Power for a free bet up to £50 |
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