So something really darling happens at the World Cup -- not only does everyone embrace the home country -- everyone except for Mexico fans was going crazy the other day when Bafana scored, and we'll all be cheering for South Africa tomorrow -- but South Africans begin adopting countries when their team isn't playing.
Nowhere was this more apparent yesterday than Green Point Stadium, where Italy was playing Paraguay. All day long, a huge influx of Italians was wandering the streets. Azzurri flags, hats, jerseys, custom-made vuvuzelas; the works. When I tried to talk to them about their trip to South Africa, they would shyly answer...in a South African accent.
One family was riding the train with us, faces painted red, white, and green. They were in no way Italianos, but hey -- this was their first World Cup game, and there was no way they weren't going all out for it. This was Mom's third time taking public transit in 30 years, Dad had led the face painting (he was the only one who got the colors in the right order, by the way), and while the daughter talked to us, her brother was blowing a vuvuzela out the train window.
"Give them another blow, dear," said Mum. "Get them woken up."
But Italy isn't the only country Africans are supporting. Everyone's got an English Premier League team (dating back to the country's British influence), and tons of cars are sporting the Portuguese flag. But by far, the country with the biggest following is Brazil. Every few minutes, you see a Brazil flag, or someone wearing a Brazil jersey. I can't tell if it's because of the style, of the Southern Hemisphere vibe, or maybe because it's one of the few non-European countries with stars of many colors -- Pele is black, Kaka is white, and all their stars in between have been a sort of Rainbow Nation.
Anyway, the Italy/Paraguay game was pretty intense. The game itself was good -- Paraguay scored first, which sent the fans into a tizzy and the Italian offense into overdrive. It's much more exciting to see a defensive-minded team like Italy need to score a goal.
The ferocity of the game, however, didn't hold a candle to the weather. The temps dipped to 40 degrees by game time, and just as we were starting a pretty sizable walk to the stadium from Cape Town's Waterfront district, a rainstorm started. Pretty soon, it was a hailstorm. Within a few minutes, it was a hailstorm blowing directly into our faces. We, and several fans, were left wondering if it was such a hot idea to have a Southern Hemisphere World Cup after all.
"That's Cape Town," a local told us. "We have four seasons in a day here."
