Goals By Ginger #4 - USA v. Algeria Match Day

Luckily for us, Ginger is celebrating her birthday by providing another special on the USA - Algeria thriller from yesterday. So enjoy and be sure to thank her and more importantly wish her a Happy Birthday. Cheers!

This game marked the third time that I have seen team USA play live. I attended their first match against Brazil in the Confederations Cup last year (also in Loftus Versfeld Stadium in Pretoria) where they played disappointingly and lost 0-3. I also was present for Grand Theft Coulibaly last week, where USA tied Slovenia 2-2 despite knocking in the winning goal that would be infamously called back by the now exiled and disgraced Malian referee. I guess it was fated that the third time would be the charm and that the Americans would finally win one in spectacular fashion, but they did take their time in doing so!

Pretoria is a 50km drive from Johannesburg, so we left at 1pm to make sure we arrived at the game in time. We did the park and ride again and we arrived at the stadium by 2:30pm. While we were excited to be on the sunny side of the stadium, we were somewhat dismayed to discover that we were seated directly behind an enormous section of Algerian fans. Several hundred Algerians had showed up en masse, with flags, jerseys, banners, face paint, jester hats and bravado. With group D wide open, the winning teams of each match today would likely advance. 

We settled into our seats, which were Category 1 this time, only 30 rows back from the field. A few more USA supporters joined us in our area and we formed small islands of stars and stripes among the crowds of white, green and red wearing Algerians. Since we had plenty of time I applied even more elaborate face paint to my friend Nick and his Uncle Jimmy, who had flown up from Cape Town to join us. Nick and I also decided to write US on our stomachs, as the temperature in Pretoria was noticeably warmer than Joburg. Our costumes made us very popular, as American, Algerian and South African supporters wanted to pose for pictures with us. At one point one of the cameramen trained the camera on us but I don't think we made ESPN, sadly. 

As the teams took the field for warmup, the excitement in the stadium heightened. The Algerians sang songs and chanted, "One, two, three, viva l'Algerie!" The US fans responded with cheers of "USA! USA! USA!" and something that sounded like the tune to "Oh My Darlin'" with the only lyrics being "USA!" At the moment of kickoff, the crowd erupted into frenzied cheers and it took some time for things to settle down into a normal rhythm. 

Thankfully, the Americans succeeded in their endeavor to not give up an early goal in the first half. Instead, Clint Dempsey's valid goal was called back due to an alleged offsides. It looked perfectly good to us, the replay they showed on the Jumbotron also showed no offsides and I would later see replays from US and European sports channels that confirmed once again the ref seemed to be unfairly conspiring against us (or at least, blind as a bat). 

The game became more and more hard fought into the second half. One thing about the American team that makes me proud is that we don't take dives--we just get up and keep playing. Some of the Algerians, however, had no such scruples and we received some unfair penalties against us as a result. One Algerian player, Hassan Yebda, was a real standout playmaker, often intercepting passes or controlling goalie kicks and moving the ball forward. He stood out for other reasons as well, since he had a white blonde dyed mohawk that might rank as one of the worst follicular challenges in the entire tournament.  

As the clock slowly ticked towards 90 minutes, the attacks of both teams became more and more frenzied. The US had biffed several open goal or one on one chances throughout the match and we were getting more and more desperate for a goal. The ball flew back and forth from one side to another as the players raced desperately in an attempt to score first. When the official held up the sign indicating four minutes of injury time, my heart clenched as I feared that we would run out of time. We knew that England was leading Slovenia 1-0, so if we didn't win this game we'd be out of the World Cup. 

And then, in the 91st minute, Tim Howard threw the ball to Landon Donovan, who passed it to Jozy Altidore. Both players had been trying so hard to make plays and attack and had up until this point been thwarted. Altidore passed the ball towards Clint Dempsey, but it bounced off the Algerian goalkeeper. Donovan was in the perfect position to slam it into the net. The crowd paused for a second, terrified that once again the ref would call the goal back, but amazingly it was good! The USA fans erupted into a delirious celebration. Landon Donovan, the beloved tiny pixie of US Soccer on his dancing feet, had saved us from yet another ignominious early exit from the world cup. As we cheered, screamed, hugged, high-fived and tooted vuvuzelas from the stands, Donovan slid like he was riding a slip'n'slide as the US team dove into a giant puppy pile near the corner. The Algerians fell to their knees, stunned. The last minutes of the match flew by in a tide of reckless joy on our part and some unfortunate fouls on the part of the Algerian team. When the final whistle blasts sounded, the stadium truly went crazy. USA fans stayed an extra 45 minutes after the game ended to cheer the team, who came by after the media interviews were over to salute and wave at fans. Amazingly we had won our group, beating England on goals even though we both advanced with five points. As I'm sure you've already heard, the last time the US finished #1 in their group was 1930, in the first World Cup ever. 

As we slowly filed out of the stadium, random strangers from both countries kept coming up to us and wanting to pose in photos. We laughed, we hugged, we shook hands and slowly marched out into the chilly night for the drive back to Joberg. After so many tournaments and matches where US Soccer fans ended up sad and out of contention, we had finally done it and it was a magical feeling indeed.

Goals By Ginger #3 - USA v. Slovenia Match Day

Here we go with another PBP special provided by Ginger. She attended the USA - Slovenia match a couple days ago and has kindly prepared a report on the game and her experiences attending the match. Enjoy and be sure to pass the website along to your family, friends and colleagues. Cheers, and Happy Father's Day!

When I applied for my World Cup tickets back in February, I remember being disappointed that the USA vs. England match was no longer available and I had to "settle" for the matches against Slovenia and Algeria. It turns out I couldn't have been more lucky in terms of ticket acquisition, as the game against Slovenia was one of the most exciting of the tournament (and controversial, to be discussed later) and then now the US is in a "must-win" position against Algeria coming up.

Friday's game was in Ellis Park stadium, which is in the heart of downtown Johannesburg. The surrounding area is much like downtown Los Angeles 15 years ago... it's half derelict, dirty, crowded and one gets the feeling that in 15 or 20 years it might become a gentrified, vibrant neighborhood. Unfortunately, that time hasn't come, so we decided to brave the park and ride facilities at University of the Witswatersrand instead of parking nearby and walking ourselves. I must give hats off to FIFA and South Africa for doing a great job organizing the park and ride. I purchased my ticket over the internet, picked it up at my local supermarket, and everything went very smoothly. We arrived three hours before the match began and parked on the campus. We then joined a host of local South African and USA fans, piling onto buses decorated with the World Cup logo. The buses were plentiful and departed regularly. We were then driven to Ellis Park, which took about 30 minutes. Spirits were high on the bus with singing, cheering, and requisite vuvuzela blasts out the window. We passed apartment buildings with kids watching from balconies, many of which were waving and holding USA flags--we were pretty pleased to see them.

Once we reached the stadium, we disembarked and joined a cheerful throng of spectators heading for the entrance. We did have to go through a metal detector and bag check, where they confiscated the stick that my giant USA flag was attached to, but they gave me the flag back. I would say that was my only grump about the entire event (aside from the crap ref) as how could I wave my flag vigorously with no stick? What irked me further was that when we got inside the stadium, some people made it in with their flags intact, so there was a disconnect somewhere.

Anyway, the audience was probably about 75% pro-USA and they showed it! There were lots of people in jerseys and jackets, some guys dressed up like Uncle Sam, some gentlemen dressed up like George Washington and a group of girls in bikinis with USA drawn on their stomachs. They were quite popular as I'm sure you can imagine. We also ran into a few Slovenian fans, most of whom were friendly and wanted to take pictures with us. One crew were extremely inebriated and tried to kiss me, luckily I deflected and managed to avoid being mauled by a drunk Slovenian in one of their Charlie Brown team jerseys. I ask you to ponder which is worse--vuvuzela blasts or unwanted Slovenian tongues trying to reach down your throat? I prefer the former.

We got to our seats and settled in to await the start of the match. Anticipation was high and the stands were filling up quickly. The final attendance was later posted to be over 45,000, nearly capacity for the stadium.

When the match kicked off, the US seemed to be playing anemically, and it showed with the two goals scored by Slovenia in the first half. The crowd cheered and started up with "USA, USA, USA!" anytime it seemed like the US would mount a successful attack but again and again we were disappointed. When the halftime whistle blew, many of the US fans sat down in their seats almost as if they wanted to regroup. Most of the South Africans, however, kept tooting right along on their vuvuzelas and seemed just excited to be there. I brought earplugs and a vuvuzela of my own, so I was happy to join in the chorus when appropriate.

Luckily, the US team that doesn't suck actually showed up for the second half, and tied things up with truly spectacular goals from Landon Donovan and Michael Bradley (the coach's son). The crowd went nuts with Donovan's goal and stayed high energy for the rest of the half. I actually have a video on my phone of the infamous "no-goal" that was disallowed by the now vilified Koman Coulibaly. One thing that is frustrating about attending a live sporting match is that you have no way of seeing a comprehensive replay of fouls or goals and there are no announcers to explain anything to you. The whole crowd was completely thrown for a loop when Coulibaly disallowed the goal and we all booed quite vigorously. We could see clearly that he wasn't off side, and Coulibaly never explained, even to the US team, what the foul was that he claimed invalidated the score. Almost everyone that I have seen today wants to talk about how the US got robbed--even England fans think we did, which means that it really was an egregious error on the ref's part.

When the game ended, despite the atrocious performance from the Malian ref, spirits were high and everyone was looking forward to the match against Algeria on Wednesday. England and Algeria obliged by scratching out a 0-0 tie later in the evening, which means that if the US wins we will advance. A tie against Algeria would make things more tricky, and there are plenty of websites that have already run the numbers so I won't go into them here. I was so excited to have the chance to see a tremendous come from behind performance from the US national team. Hopefully we can stop allowing early goals and have refs that can actually see and aren't on the Slovenian payroll so we can beat Algeria on Wednesday!

Goals By Ginger #2 - Your Pre-Kickoff Fan Guide

People of the interweb, here is another Ginger Mitchell exclusive with a must read pre-kickoff fan guide for the World Cup in South Africa. Enjoy!

For those of you who haven't seen a football match played in South Africa, there are some fan traditions and gear styles that may come as a surprise. Panos has kindly allowed me to prepare this fan gear guide so that some of the customs and paraphernalia that are sported by Bafana Bafana fans won't come as a surprise. In case you're confused, Bafana Bafana is the local nickname for the South African football team. It means "the boys the boys" in Zulu. 

1. Marakapa hat. You will see many fans sporting what looks like a construction helmet with pop ups all over it, usually in yellow and green. These are the famous marakapa hats which range from basic to incredibly elaborate art pieces that are plastered with stickers, decals and depict entire scenes (and sometimes block your view). The marakapa was designed in the 1970's by Alfred Bayoli, a Kaizer Chiefs fan from the Johannesburg township of Germiston. When he saw a fan get hit in the head with a bottle at a game, he borrowed a friend's hard hat and decorated it with paintings of his own design. The helmet was such a hit at the next game that Bayoli saw a business opportunity and eventually retired from his job to produce the helmets full time. To meet accelerated demand for the World Cup, Bayoli started a factory to train unemployed locals to design, create and decorate the hats. They are hoping to make them for all 32 teams and are also hoping the craze will spread outside of South Africa. Each one is hand-made and most are very inventive and definitely show a lot of team spirit. 

  

2. Giant sunglasses. These are sported usually in conjunction with a marakapa in team colors and generally add to the outlandish and exaggerated appearance of fans. Beadwork on wire is a very popular craft here, and some fans even have sunglasses that are wrapped in multi-colored beads. 

  

3. Vuvuzela. This loud mouth trumpet is a polarizing element of South African soccer. It seems that everyone either loves it or hates it. Fans have been blowing this thing outside my office for the past three days, rendering concentration a complicated effort. Some teams who participated in Confederations Cup last year complained to FIFA about the noise (i.e. those whiners from Italy), but president Joseph Blatter agreed to allow the horns at the matches as they are uniquely South African. The fact of the matter is that the vuvuzela is here to stay for the World Cup and people need to get used to it. I myself bring earplugs to matches and then I am not bothered by the noise. I will admit, however, that the solitary blatt of a vuvuzela waking you up at 5 in the morning is not my favorite sound. 

  

A single vuvuzela makes a trumpeting noise somewhat like an elephant. Thousands of vuvuzelas blown together create a noise somewhat like angry bees. Some people complained that the noise drowned out the commentary on the sportscast, but that to me sounds like more of a problem with the television broadcast and not what is actually going on in the stadium. Sometimes the fans will form an impromptu chorus, with a leader tooting in rhythm and then the crowd following with a staccatto response. I am constantly amazed at the enthusiasm and endurance of vuvuzela honking fans--they can go for hours! There is also a vuvuzela variant, the kuduzela, which resembles the curving horn of the kudu antelope. It produces a lower, more rumbling noise and is not as eardrum splitting. 

4. Nkosi Sikeli iAfrika, the South African National Anthem. This is a combination of a freedom hymn sung by activists against the government during the apartheid era and an Afrikaaner anthem. Each verse is in one language, totaling five. Fans often burst into this song even when the anthem isn't being played. The first line, "nkosi sikeli iAfrika" is particularly distinctive and you will often hear only the beginning. Check out a recording of the song here.

5. Matthew Booth. The only white man on Bafana Bafana, Matthew Booth is actually one of the most popular and players on the team. With his shiny bald head, he has a distinctive look. Even though he plays defense, which is usually not a high-profile position, the crowd loves him and displays this by shouting "Booooooooooooooth!" whenever he gets the ball. When I first came to South Africa, I thought they were booing him, but they are just shouting his name in support, I promise! 

There you have it! Now you're ready for the World Cup! I of course will have to be supporting South Africa today in the match against Mexico, but I wish all teams the best of luck!

Goals By Ginger #1 - Painting The Scene

Here is thing, from elementary school in Saudi Arabia, attending high school in Massachusetts, university in Toronto and business school in Arizona, I truly have met some interesting characters along the way. The beauty of it all is that those characters have interesting stories and as part of this endeavor onto the world wide web, some of them will share some of their stories.

So here we go, live from Johannesburg is a Posts By Panos exclusive, our very own reporter from the scene of the madness, Ginger Mitchell. Thanks Ginger!

Painting The Scene - Goals By Ginger - Article #1

When I was working in Johannesburg last summer (winter for the southern hemisphere), the World Cup was something hallowed that people spoke of quietly. It seemed terribly far away, with roadworks gumming up the morning commute and massive construction sites dotting the country as South Africa prepared to host the World Cup on the continent of Africa for the first time. Now that I am back a year later, the excitement has reached a fever pitch and the World Cup is clearly front and center.  

With my family having lived in this country for the past two years, I feel somewhat bound to defend it against the tide of "but are they ready???" stories that the Western media love to broadcast. To answer: yes, we are ready. The major roadworks on the highways are done, the stadiums are all complete, the Gautrain connecting O. R. Tambo airport to Marlboro will start running tomorrow, on schedule, and the logistics are set in place to host "the big dance." With no offense meant to Panos, the Greeks managed to pull off a very successful Olympics in 2000 with many of the same concerns raised and South Africa will be able to do at least as well, if not better. 

World Cup spirit is sported in more ways that I could possibly imagine. Instead of casual Fridays, team jersey Fridays have been de rigeur in most offices since March. Most workers opt for brightly colored yellow Bafana Bafana jerseys, the name of the South African national team which means "the boys" in Zulu, but there is a smattering of England, Netherlands, Portugal and Brazil jerseys amongst the crowds. The roadside vendors have taken their creativity up a notch, offering car flags that slip into your windows and flag pattern rear view mirror covers that have exploded in popularity. Most drivers either have two South African flags proudly displayed, or one SA flag and one from their team of choice. I have even seen Mexico and Chilean flags, proving that nearly all countries are represented. I'm still looking for that North Korean flag, and will of course report as soon as I see one. Even my parents have gotten into the spirit with a USA mirror cover that took them some time to ferret out, as my mother enjoys telling me. What is most amusing is that the covers resemble bikini tops, so it's rather like your car is wearing a bathing suit once the device is applied properly. 

My family has also received an excellent gift from a friend, our very own plastic vuvuzela, or horn, so we can make obnoxiously loud tooting noises at matches (and outside our home) to our heart's content! I have practiced my skills and am proud to frighten the neighbors dogs without too much sputtering and unfortunate blatting warmup noises. Word of advice, however, if you are attending any games in person, bring earplugs!   

Just before the weekend we received the exciting news that Nelson Mandela himself will make a very rare public appearance at the opening match on June 11th to cheer on Bafana Bafana as they take on Mexico in the newly renovated Soccer City stadium in Soweto. As to whether or not Madiba will opt for a yellow Bafana jersey or one of his trademark patterned button-downs, no one can say, but I have my suspicions that he will show his team spirit indeed!   

All the cynicism over the increased traffic and the skepticism that some South Africans expressed to me last year about the readiness of their country appears to have melted away and everyone is incredibly excited to be hosting the biggest party in the world for the next two weeks. It appears that most offices will be hosting kick off parties this Friday in anticipation of the big game, and many of my coworkers are planning to take their families to the large outdoor viewing spaces that have been arranged with a big-screen broadcast of the game. Hopefully everyone will be able to have some fun over the next few weeks and cheer on their teams to victory!  

-Ginger Mitchell