Up early and in the shower. Deano gets the breakfast on and I start to update the blog. Disaster, a power cut leaves us in the dark, no breakfast, no internet, nothing, what a stupid stop this is proving to be. We persevere, I find out how to get the power back on but it does take ages. Come on let’s get moving!
The batmobile takes us to a Park and Walk, along with what seems like hundreds if not thousands of Australians all keen to take in an England v Germany game and no doubt appreciate what a real atmosphere can be like. 10 minutes later we’re at the Waterfront and despite such an early start there is virtually nowhere to sit and savour the atmosphere. Eventually we create our own seating arrangements by stealing some tables and chairs, popping to the local liquor store and stock up on beer and ice to keep everything cool. The walkways, both upper and lower are crammed and the whole of the world walks by. The English are on the prowl searching for their mates, and we see lots of people we know plus many famous faces that we don’t. The locals and others are all keen to get a look at this type of football support, the flags, banners and the singing seem to put smiles on everybody’s faces and no doubt a real atmosphere is building. Surprisingly the Germans are here but in relatively small numbers, yet again the English team has had a major turn out with its travelling support, do they deserve this, only time will tell. The Germans attempts at singing is yet again to nick our songs and change the words, 3 Lions does not sound the same when they sing it. The only real attempt at originality comes from a bunch of Aussies who have changed the words of our national anthem to something like ‘God save Robert Green, the worst save I’ve ever seen’ etc, it gets a round of applause for being different.
By now the beer is flowing but getting food or anything else seems to be impossible, we’ve had our name on the waiting list at the nearest restaurant for over two hours yet so far nothing. South Africa does make an attempt at fast food, the same names and menus that we are used to, but always seems to promise more than it can deliver. The queues in the local food court are massive, and in all the restaurants people are complaining about not getting served. We give up! We walk to the stadium, encounter South African security which is pretty meaningless as I have my bag searched three times and yet they never bother to look inside. We take photos of ourselves using the Free State Stadium (Vodacom Stadium) as a backdrop. It’s one of the older ones and looks it from the outside. We settle for a hot dog and another beer and then meet up with our little group inside the stadium. The flags are up, the atmosphere is building and yet the age of the stadium shines through with the difficulties encountered in getting food and drink, more than one argument is encountered as people queue on the packed gangways. The poor ticketing arrangements shine through as well, despite this being the ‘official’ England section there are lots of Germans mixed in with us, this should be interesting.
Well the game starts, the atmosphere is really good for a few minutes and then the Germans score. What a poor defensive display, and already we can see a defeat on the cards, we’re going nowhere with this style of play. A second goal and we are even more deflated. Interest picks up as we grab an equaliser and for a few minutes we look like the team we really should be. We all celebrate as Frank Lampard sticks the ball in the net to grab the equaliser, but somehow it’s not given, we’re devastated as we could all see that it crossed the line. Text message from people in the UK confirm this as they have the benefit of a television replay, they don’t do this for us poor souls in the stadium. The newspaper journalists who report that we start to boo the referee after seeing the replay get it wrong again; we don’t see this until the following day. The same journalists who claim we booed the players at half time report other inaccuracies, we weren’t booing the players, we reserve all of our derision for the referee. After half time we have plenty of possession and we push for the equalizer, yet are caught on the break, this is a step too far, and lots of fans start to leave the stadium unable to take the embarrassment. The fourth goal inevitably comes and by this time we don’t care, English football is sacrificed on the fire of the overpaid, don’t care, Premier League. 5 players in that England side have played in a Champions League Final, and yet they look lost against a team of young energetic German players. We’re devastated!
I must say one thing for the German supporters we meet, they all sympathise about the goal that wasn’t and take their victory in good heart, and we certainly wouldn’t have been so considerate! The walk back to the car is a quiet one, nobody yells or jeers at us, maybe they feel sorry for our humiliation. Next stop a restaurant, a couple of bottles of wine and the mood is elevated. Plans are made to get back to the UK as soon as possible, mine and a few others have been sorted for a while but some of the lads have flights arranged for after the final, another two weeks away. The plan is to get up; head back to our starting point of J’berg and see if flights can be re-arranged.
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