Turn on any TV or radio channel, its all i've been hearing for the past 4 days - Bafana Bafana ( which means something like "bhai-bhai" according to our host and not exactly "the boys" as wiki puts it), perhaps the sound of vuvuzela ( which you develop a liking inspite of the awful first impression it makes with the screeching noise ) is the only thing i have heard more after landing here!
A stroll in the neighborhood earlier in the day gave me a taste of what was to come. Every one in Yellow of bafana bafana. The color is so similar to the yellow of brazil that it took sometime for me to stop hating it :P As the day went by you could feel the excitement and the sound of vuvuzela grew louder. One starts to feel just for the sake of this atmosphere bafana bafana has to win. I never imagined i would sit in a hotel cheering for them, but there i was sitting there with a bunch of natives, many who were watching football for first time.
Not having much to cheer about bafana's play in the first half, the loudest cheer came for a mecixan yellow card and for bafana's goal keeper Khune. Chants of "Khune, khune" sounded more like a cussword we keralites are used to and i could hardly contain my smile :P Second half brought about much better from both sides and it was a awesome experience to be in middle of the crowd when bafana score the opening goal. Almost everyone ( including a guy heavier than tony :D ) dancing and cheering, its something i had never seen before even when Sachin scored the double hundered! Missing several more chances it was sad indeed to watch them walk off with a draw, but the crowd was still happy. You get the feeling that they didnt expect such a good perofrmance from them given their poor performances in recent past.
Although it would be nice for bafana to stay past the group stages, i hope the atmosphere here remains as vibrant come what may happen and this would be a world cup to remember :)
As i wait for the cab to take me to my first World Cup match, my favourites the albiceleste's taking on the super eagles i am feeling the goosebumps.
Couldnt take pics yesterday as the place hardly had proper lighting. Will try to post some pics after today's match
Vamos Argentina!!
Put the pics at the earliest. Were you carrying shoulder bags to the stadium. I found a face similar to your brother carrying a bag inside stadium. but the camera went fast. so i coud n't exacly trace it out. But I think it was your brother.
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