21 June 2010

The Portuguese have a strong fan base and following. Like the English, the Portuguese team has phenomenal support here in South Africa. Unlike the English, they are not as imposing. This fan base is characterised by their colourful attire that they wear on game days. They overwhelm by the sheer colour of their costumes. Red and green is a very distinctive combination.

The Portuguese arrived in Cape Town today for their afternoon match with North Korea. The team’s initial draw with the Ivory Coast had the pundits worried about this team’s progress in the World Cup. Of special concern was the poor goal scoring form of chief player, Ronaldo. There was considerable concern over this team.

For the first half of the game, Portugal had scored just one goal. The rain had threatened in Cape Town and it began belting down just before the start of the game. The first half was played in very wet conditions. Then the turnaround came in the second half. The Portuguese completely outplayed the North Koreans as goal after goal was scored. The final tally was 7-0 to the Portuguese. Portugal had arrived at the 2010 World Cup playoffs.

The fans celebrated in their measured way thereafter. The colours red and green dominated the landscape of Cape Town. The cold rainy weather began to lift and the sun appeared. The after party continued along the Cape Town fan walk, the fan fest and the Waterfront. Oh, and Ronaldo did score one of the seven goals as well.
South Africans were focussed on the prospects facing their own team. Tomorrow is the big day when we take on France. France was in the same boat. If they failed to beat South Africa, a scenario which most experts could not foresee, they were also out of the World Cup. More revelations about the French infighting came to light during the course of the day. It also became apparent that some of the regular French team members were refusing to play in their scheduled match in Bloemfontein.

In the other two matches today Chile beat Switzerland 1 nil and Spain beat the Honduras 2 nil. We await Tuesday’s matches with bated breath. 

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