Since the game in Joburg would get over too late for us to return back to Kruger that night, we stayed at a bed and breakfast called the Silver Birch Guest House run by Marna. Marna is the wife of a Boer Farmer who refuses to sell his land to the coal mine that has swallowed up all the land around his farm.Sounds like a plot to a movie I have seen! You can see for yourself how nice the accommodations were!
Notice the security gating on the large window. This is standard in all houses and businesses due to a high incident of theft.
Our next stop, Ellis Park Stadium! This is the home of the South Africa Spring Boks Rugby Team. This is the same place where South Africa beat New Zealand in 1995 for the Rugby World Cup Championship and a key storyline in the movie Invictus! It’s a beautiful stadium with lots of winning tradition.
Upon entering the stadium, I met a stadium steward named Jabulani, which happens to be the same name as the ball being used in the games. I thought everyone back home would get a kick out of this. When I entered the gates, he looked at me and said in his African accent, “You look familiar. Are you famous? You look like Kenny G.” Too funny. Pieter and I got a good laugh out of that one!
We met some crazy fans and thought I would take some pictures. You have to love the South African fan with the Trojan hat and the boa around his neck! FANtastic!
If you can believe it, on the bus trip back to our car, I met Dale. Dale was "The Fan of the Match!" His picture went up on the big screens at Ellis Park and hapened to be standing behind me loading on the bus. I got a picture with the now famous boy and gave him a Soccer pin. I told him that when he becomes a Big-Time Baller for the Bafana Bafana, I am going to remember that I gave him the pin. He said that he wanted to play for the USA instead! What a cool kid!
Here is the game! Our beloved goal keeper TIMMY HOWARD!
The Yanks take the filed!
Oh when the Yanks,
Come marching in,
Oh when the yanks come marching in,
Oh how I would like to be a part of that number,
WHEN THE YANKS COME MARCHING IN!
and the USA dominated stadium erupts for its boys!
Pregame huddle
Kick-Off!
THe match ended in a 2-2 draw with a dramatic comeback of the AMericans after being down 2-0 at halftime. We should have won the game 3-2 but the referree robbed the Americans after calling a foul that couldnt been seen on reply and every announcer I have heard has no idea what the referree called. The Americans got robbed! But what a game!
After the game we drove to our bed and breakfast inWhit Bank about 80 kilometers south of Joburg. In Whit Bank, We stopped at Dros and had a burger and a beer while watching the England vs Algeria match. There are some crazy folks in Witbank and I almost got hooked by a Whit Bank tappet. On our way out after paying the bill, a regular at Dros asked me about my soccer jersey and what team I was supporting in barely intelligible English. It was quite loud in the bar and I said that my shirt was for the US soccer team. He looked confused and said something to me in Afrikans, the local language used by much of South Africa. I asked him if he spoke English. He got smart with me and smugly said, "I speak 7 different languages!" I replied, " Yah gavaroo puh rooskee? Do yo u speak russian?" He walked away with his foot in his mouth and Pieter and I had a good laugh about it!
We left early the next morning to make it back to Kruger. What was amazing is that when I opened the front door to the bed and breakfast the overpowering smell of coal burning hit me. It was as if you had a charcoal barbeque belching smoke in your face. Pieter was used to it and didn’t even smell it.It left the morning hazy as you can see in the picture. The smokey haze is caused by squatter camps that burn coal for heat at night. With the temperatures being so cold, they are burning a lot of coal. On the way from the stadium to the bed and breakfast the previous night, the squatter camps were all alit with burning coal and it was almost unbearable. Another contributor to the haze is that controlled burns happen all the time to burn off all the grass and stubble. This is done clear up to the highway and is quite different than what we do back home. It was quite a shock my first night in South Africa when I saw fires all over the roadside!
Speaking of coal, coal is a MAJOR source of electricity for the South Africans. You can see coal truck after coal truck on the highways taking their black ore to the plants for processing.
Your Blog was really neat. Iloved the pictures of the bed and breakfast. You were at the best game so far in my opinion. You are right, USA got robbed. We miss you and can't wait for the all the fun stories.
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