Tuesday 6TH July 2010


The four teams remaining in the tournament are Uruguay, Netherlands, Germany and Spain. Gone are the mighty teams of previous World Cups. The French, Italians, Portuguese, Brazilians and English made their early exits from the 2010 episode of the World Cup.
There was an unprecedented sense of paradoxical excitement and sadness in Cape Town today. This was the last World Cup match that we were to stage. The local radio stations were urging the people of Cape Town who had not attended any of the matches to at least join the throngs to do the fan walk for the last time during this World Cup, I am certain that those who took up this invitation shall have very fond memories of the World Cup as far as the Cape Town experience is concerned.

Thousands of Cape Tonians turned out for their final walk of remembrance on the fan walk. The human energy that the walk exuded today was best felt by those who did the walk. The friendliness and goodwill shown towards all was very noticeable. A few Dutch fans were virtually begging to buy tickets to enable them to attend the match between their team and Uruguay. The match was scheduled to begin at 20h30 local time. The fan walk was teeming with people from about 13h00 today. The photo opportunities were endless and it was only the thought of missing the telecast that made me break away and head for home.

The Netherlands won this game 3-2, eventually slacking off to their consternation when Uruguay made their characteristic late attempt to wrest the game away. The Netherlands had once again made it into a World Cup final. They may well win this one with players like Robben and the most dedicated fan support base in this World Cup. The Dutch have come in their thousands to support their team. They have also attracted many South Africans into their camp given the heritage links between the Netherlands or Holland and South Africa.

The Netherlands are off to Soccer City, Johannesburg for the finals whilst the Uruguayans make the trek to Port Elizabeth for the third and fourth placed playoffs.

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