Vuvuzelas are traditionally used to summon distant villagers to attend community gatherings. These loud, monotone wind horns are now more commonly used in Soccer matches. Some people find the sound too intense and would rather see it banned in stadiums, however having been in a live soccer crowd in Jo'burg, I believe it actually enriches the whole experience and builds up excitement. Rose and I gladly joined in the cacophony of blaring horns throughout the night. As one wise man said, if you can't beat 'em, join 'em!The day of the FIFA 2010 World Cup Finals arrived. The weather was perfect and the sun was brilliant. All around us, we could feel the excitement and electric buzz in the air as everyone looked forward to being part of the greatest soccer event in their country's history.
At mid-day, we had a fancy lunch at a restaurant with the group before jumping in the van to join the thousands already making their journey towards the stadium.
Me and my yummy fish!
Our newly-made friends from the same events group who coincidentally also originated from Malaysia. (Left: Rose, Karen, Susan, Francis)
A photo with a sporting celebrity star - Victor Ubogu. He is a former Bath and England rugby union player, now a businessman who owns and runs a travel company, VU Limited - The company that organised our trip.
Every fan had a soccer team they were supporting and weren't shy to display it in every way possible. There were orange wigs, orange beer can helmets, Spanish flags for a cape, costumes adorned with soccer themes, football-shaped hats, painted faces and everyone carried their brightly-coloured vuvuzelas.
Fans parading in their outfits sporting their team's colours.
Gigantic puppets do the jiggy to keep the crowds entertained.
We were there!
Beer and snacks in hand, we made our way to our allocated seats. One of the first things I discovered was that the football ground seemed smaller than what it appears on TV!
We were both really excited to be in the thick of it all and as soon as we gobbled our plain hot dogs and sculled our beers, we began blowing our vuvuzelas in earnest! Boy, were those horns hard to blow! There was a certain technique to it that took me a while to get a hang of. But eventually, we joined the orchestra of blaring horns. As you'll notice, we were both wearing red. Go Spain!
The stadium started filling very quickly and before we know it, the countdown began for the opening ceremony. With a burst of colours, laser beams shot into the sky and Shakira broke into her catchy theme song "Time for Africa".
A dazzling laser light performance.
Other artists did their number and even life-sized puppet elephants took to the stage. We were also fortunate to catch a glimpse of the former South African President Nelson Mandela with his wife Graça Machel who honoured the audience with their presence. There was also a crazed stage invader who tried to plonk his hat on the World Cup trophy! Luckily, he was tackled in a blink of an eye and carried away by security. Once the performance was over and the players have done their warm-ups and sung their national anthem, it was time for the match to begin!
It was a long, drawn out game between the two teams as each side fought to gain the upper hand. The Netherlands could not get a grip on the match but were helped by a series of yellow cards from referee that disturbed the rhythm of the game. There were high-flying kicks, brilliant maneuvers, red cards, bad tempers, foul play, off-sides and players taken away in stretchers. We were constantly kept entertained by the drama unfolding throughout the game. It was however, fairly hard to see as much detail as how we can on TV. The players were merely coloured spots on the field from where we were sitting! There were also no replays on big screen. So every once in a while, we had to ask each other what we thought happened.
1.5 hours into the game and there was still no goal by either team in sight. The temperature was dropping steadily as we started to get quite chilled. We wore our beanies and wrapped our scarves tighter around us as the game powered on. The morale of the teams seem to ebb away as the match continued into Extra-time with no goal in sight. It was only until the 116th minute (approx 2 hours) when the feet of Iniesta connected sweetly at the ball for a winning goal! Victory was finally made by Spain! 1-0. Ole! Ole! Ole! Ole! A well deserved win at last to the team that I believe played the game best and most ethically that night.
The winning goal!
All the Spanish supporters burst into cheer and Spanish flags rose in unison. It was a huge joy and relief to many but also dismay to thousands of staunch Holland fans.
Ole! Ole! Ole! Ole! Go Espanol!
Happy Spanish supporters.
We were walking out towards our van when we witnessed the glorious closing ceremony fireworks.
The beautiful stadium all litted up.
We were both really excited to be in the thick of it all and as soon as we gobbled our plain hot dogs and sculled our beers, we began blowing our vuvuzelas in earnest! Boy, were those horns hard to blow! There was a certain technique to it that took me a while to get a hang of. But eventually, we joined the orchestra of blaring horns. As you'll notice, we were both wearing red. Go Spain!
The stadium started filling very quickly and before we know it, the countdown began for the opening ceremony. With a burst of colours, laser beams shot into the sky and Shakira broke into her catchy theme song "Time for Africa".
A dazzling laser light performance.
Other artists did their number and even life-sized puppet elephants took to the stage. We were also fortunate to catch a glimpse of the former South African President Nelson Mandela with his wife Graça Machel who honoured the audience with their presence. There was also a crazed stage invader who tried to plonk his hat on the World Cup trophy! Luckily, he was tackled in a blink of an eye and carried away by security. Once the performance was over and the players have done their warm-ups and sung their national anthem, it was time for the match to begin!
It was a long, drawn out game between the two teams as each side fought to gain the upper hand. The Netherlands could not get a grip on the match but were helped by a series of yellow cards from referee that disturbed the rhythm of the game. There were high-flying kicks, brilliant maneuvers, red cards, bad tempers, foul play, off-sides and players taken away in stretchers. We were constantly kept entertained by the drama unfolding throughout the game. It was however, fairly hard to see as much detail as how we can on TV. The players were merely coloured spots on the field from where we were sitting! There were also no replays on big screen. So every once in a while, we had to ask each other what we thought happened.
1.5 hours into the game and there was still no goal by either team in sight. The temperature was dropping steadily as we started to get quite chilled. We wore our beanies and wrapped our scarves tighter around us as the game powered on. The morale of the teams seem to ebb away as the match continued into Extra-time with no goal in sight. It was only until the 116th minute (approx 2 hours) when the feet of Iniesta connected sweetly at the ball for a winning goal! Victory was finally made by Spain! 1-0. Ole! Ole! Ole! Ole! A well deserved win at last to the team that I believe played the game best and most ethically that night.
The winning goal!
All the Spanish supporters burst into cheer and Spanish flags rose in unison. It was a huge joy and relief to many but also dismay to thousands of staunch Holland fans.
Ole! Ole! Ole! Ole! Go Espanol!
Happy Spanish supporters.
We were walking out towards our van when we witnessed the glorious closing ceremony fireworks.
The beautiful stadium all litted up.There could only be one winner for 2010 and it's Spain who claims victory! Now, if only we bought that lottery ticket...
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