Due to events at LCFC this week, this is a delayed publication of part eight of Kate’s diary from South Africa, as Kate continues her tour and then has an early start on the day of England’s final group game.
Day 14: Tuesday, 22 June 2010
After another appointment with the chiropractor I had an early lunch and got the 13.15 shuttle; yet again I was the only passenger. As it was a beautiful day I changed my plans and decided to go on the ‘Wheel of Excellence’. It cost about £8, which I am sure is a lot less than the London Eye, although it is a while since I went on it. I had a car to myself and the wheel made about three or four circuits. Before I got on, I had my photo taken; as I normally take such awful photos I had no intention of buying it, but it was actually quite good. As well as two photos you get four postcards with the same image and you can download the image from their web site after a few days.
I then went onto the V & A Waterfront and to the Robben Island ferry terminal, in order to buy myself a T-shirt. There was an enormous range and it took me ages to decide which one to buy. Having failed to find the Nationwide FSF vehicle [I discovered later they had left to go to Port Elizabeth] I hit the large Victoria Mall shopping centre which is huge. I’m sure I didn’t see all of it because there were arms going off in several directions.….
After only doing a small part of it I was able to find a prime spot on a balcony to watch the France v South Africa game, which was a cracker. All the neutrals appeared to be rooting for South Africa, either because they dislike the French or, more likely, because they shouldn’t have been in the competition at all. The South African players gave their all and I was hoping that England could follow their example; towards the end of the game they visibly tired but they must have been emotionally as well as physically drained. They won 2-1 but it wasn’t enough and they have failed to make it out of the group stages – but neither did the French.
Celebrating a South Africa goal
This World Cup has surely thrown up more strange results than ever before? What impressed me was the mix of South Africans watching the game; although the black people celebrated more exuberantly, the white South Africans were equally caught up in the drama. They surely deserve the title of ‘Rainbow nation’. I had an interesting conversation with an American woman who was standing next to me. I said that I thought France was an old ally of the US and her reply was ‘Yes, but they are very ungrateful’!
I had originally intended to catch the 3.45 shuttle but in the event caught the last one at 7.15 and ate at Camps Bay. It was a lovely day, with cloudless blue skies, but the sea was incredibly rough. This seems really odd as there was no wind, but it meant that the Robben Island ferry wasn’t running and apparently won’t do so again until Friday. The father and son from Haverhill (who support Ipswich Town) had planned to go but obviously were unable to do so.
I spent the next hour looking at all the shops, many of which are familiar from the UK. However, they do have a Woolworths (which I assume has no connection with the US/UK store); it was described as Cape Town’s answer to Marks & Spencer, but I would say it is more like John Lewis. The Waterfront was still buzzing and felt very safe. As we had such an early start the next morning, I had a shower and went to bed as soon as the 8.30 match finished.
Day 15: Wednesday, 23 June 2010
Crunch day for England; they have to win to stay in the competition and need to play a whole lot better if they are to succeed. The earliest start to date; we were supposed to get the coach at 3.15 am but it was half-an-hour late. The flight took off on time at 5.30 and took just over an hour. For the first time in my life I had a window seat by the emergency exit so had to be instructed in what to do in the event of an emergency.
Unfortunately it was still dark so there was nothing to see. We were taken to an area known as The Boardwalk, which had overtones of Disney parks, where we arrived at 8.00 and were not being picked up until 1.00. Lisa, Mark and I tried to do a city tour but apparently the tourist buses weren’t running because of the game. I would have liked to see something of the city but I did notice that there were a lot of gated communities as we drove in from the airport.
We found the Nationwide FSF vehicle and I was able to get all three copies of their magazine, Free Lions. I then left the other two and wandered around the shops, which didn’t take long – although I did buy a rather nice wooden springbok for myself. We met up again for lunch with two others from our hotel, sitting overlooking an artificial lake. We got to the ground around 1.30 and made our way to our seats, which were bathed in lovely warm sunshine until about 4.00 when the game started. It is another lovely stadium and the seat was the best I had had.
Sunny PE Stadium
England 1 Slovenia 0
England didn’t start with the urgency I wanted to see but fortunately scored what proved to be the only goal of the game in the 22nd minute and after that they began to relax. However, Slovenia only needed a draw to push us into third place. So, to quote someone (I forget who) it was ‘squeaky bum time’. We could – and should – have scored again, but a mixture of misplaced shots and good goalkeeping kept the score to a single goal. We then heard that USA had scored very late in the game and that we had finished second in the group, and would meet Germany in the next round. I guess we shouldn’t have expected anything else!
Most of us are happy not to be going to Rustenburg again but some were a bit miffed that we had dropped to second place behind a country that doesn’t get football! But most all the reaction was relief at getting out of the group and, for me, delight that my interest in the competition wasn’t finished three weeks before the end of my trip.
As for the game, England certainly played better than against Algeria, but then they didn’t have to do a lot! I could still be critical of them, but hey we won. I would single out James Milner for particular praise, after a poor showing against the USA; he is not a player I know well and I was impressed by him. Others who played well were Defoe (who scored what was a very good goal when I saw it properly on the television), David James and most of the defence most of the time.
Rooney was disappointing again and missed what looked an easy chance; he was substituted towards the end of the game and apparently has an ankle injury. What is worrying is that he did not speak to Capello when he came off and Capello ignored him, which suggests that there is some tension in the camp.
Part nine of Kate’s diary will appear early next week, subject to coverage of an LCFC managerial appointment.