We had been looking forward to March 5, 2014 for quite some time, as this was to be our first time watching a full international match live. South Africa, known for some reason as Bafana Bafana, were playing Brazil, one of the best teams in the world, at the 94,000 capacity FNB Stadium (Soccer City) in Soweto.
The only people who prepared more than us for the game were the players! Laleinia spent a day making amazing multicolored shirts. They were made of strips of T-shirts, each of the six colors of the South African flag, and each shirt had a South Africa flag and our traveling bird logo proudly displayed on the front. We also got hard hats, each different colors, and decorated them with stickers however we chose! We don’t know much about South African football, but one thing that we had seen on TV was that the fans go all out when it comes to what they wear. We would learn how true this was later.
Getting to the stadium was very stressful affair. Traffic in and around Johannesburg is absolutely horrendous, and more so when football is involved. It took us more than three hours to drive what would take 40 minutes without traffic. We had to accept that we weren’t going to get there an hour early like we thought, and gradually we realized that we would miss kick off, and began hoping that we would arrive before the second half! In the end, we got into the stadium having missed thirty minutes and the opening Brazil goal.
Half time was a blast. Some loud music came on and all of the Africans began dancing like it was a big party. OK, we thought, lets give it a go! It was the best half time ever. We looked like fools and we danced like fools, but it was so fun letting go. I wish we could have been on TV doing our awkward dancing while wearing our colorful T-shirts and hard hats!
On the football side of things, we witnessed what we knew we were going to witness. South Africa were absolutely torn apart by Brazil. We would have loved to have seen Bafana Bafana score, that would have been a great reaction from the crowd, but just about everyone there knew that Brazil would leave victorious. Neymar was absolutely unplayable. It was one of the best individual performances that Alastair has seen live. He scored a hat trick, and was everywhere, always moving and finding space. The crowd loved him, and cheered Brazil on like they were South Africans. They say there are no such things as friendly football matches, well there are.
After the game, there was a trophy presentation for the winners. I think it was just a way that the South African president could meet the players! A couple of people ran on to the pitch, including one kid who must have been about six or seven. The whole crowd booed as the security guards grabbed the kids, but Neymar ran over and picked the kid up, threw him in the air with the rest of the Brazil squad, and ended up posing for a selfie with him. It was a pretty classy move, and the crowd responded really well to it. I (Alastair) have always said that Neymar is decent, but have always disagreed when people have put him in the same bracket as Ronaldo or Messi. I think he might get there, but for now he has a ways to go. The game tonight turned me into a bit of a Neymar fan though, and I am excited to see him play for Barcelona when we get there in a few years.
So there it is, we’ve seen Beckham score a free kick, and we’ve seen Neymar score a hat trick. Not bad!