The first thing I purchased for this tournament were these tickets, over a year and a half ago. Tonight I got to use one.
I just got back from France vs. Mexico, the night game of the World Cup opening day doubleheader. The soccer was OK. It ended in a 0-0 draw, with lackadaisical play from France against a less-talented Uruguay team that ended the game with 10 men, due to a 2nd half red card.
The atmosphere, however, was incredible.
We didn't know we were walking to Cape Town's Green Point Stadium when we started. We thought we were walking to a free shuttle bus that would take us there. But when a police officer told us to just follow the crowd, and the crowd was a 2 mile block party towards the waterfront, we did as we were told. The crowd was already psyched by South Africa's 1-1 draw earlier in the day, and it doesn't take much for these people to get going.
The stadium was one of the most beautiful establishments I've ever been in – it felt like it had been built just for us. You could see its clear white light emanating from miles away, the architecture is spectacular, and the sight lines were great. The concessions prices were ridiculously reasonable ($2-$4 food, beers for $4.50). It also had bathrooms that could literally fit over a hundred people at a time – with a couple of long, glorious trough urinals. If a row of 50 men standing shoulder to shoulder to relieve themselves doesn't say “we're living in the future,” I don't know what does. Alexis was equally impressed with her facilities.
The halftime show wasn't anything like an American game. No marching bands, no concerts. Instead, you had 8 groundskeepers wearing stark white jumpsuits, armed with plastic sand pails and shovels. They proceeded to walk the field, meticulously replacing divots. Later, they apparently took the remaining seed to build a sandcastle.
And while Les Bleus didn't play so hot, you really did feel like you were sitting amongst football royalty. Seeing the faces that belong to the names I've heard of all these years – Thierry Henry, Franck Ribery, William Gallas, Cisse – 80 dollars and a 18 months were a small price to pay.
