Monday 14th June

No shed action tonight, so I’m sitting on the deck area supping my local Ginger Beer (even I can have enough Diet Coke) and eating a bun from the local super market (still no signs of anywhere selling booze. I have found ‘Old Melville’ which is as the guide books say, a busy student street with book shops and bars, every one of which was showing the football. You can walk along the street listening to the same commentary. What is odd is that the streets around are totally deserted, with high walls and signs promising #armed response’. I worked out why people walk in the road: in most places there is no pavement as no one seems to walk anywhere. So Melville hardly exists as a place, all the houses turn their back on the road and when people go out they go out in their cars to a mall.




Soccer City, see below is a much better stadium than in Pretoria: built of proper concrete, with wide aisles and loads of walk ways. You can walk round the whole stadium at the back of the seats, with the pitch in view the whole time. While carrying a Bud, which is obligatory for all the Dutch. The Danes of yesterday seem to have completely disappeared; the stadium was about 76% Orange. Not sure how many were locals, I only realised half way through that people here would support the Dutch.

You’ll be wanting to know about the parking. I was in a bit of a state as I’d read in the paper that you had to pre-book parking, and you wouldn’t be allowed in without a ticket. Also that there was chaos at the first game and it took hours to get there. So I set off about three hours before kickoff, but as it happened the man slips you a 50 rand ticket as you go in as though it’s an eighth outside Brixton station. The Car Park is miles from the stadium so you join a long line of Orangers with their painted faces and horns and Buds, in a never ending river of - er - Dutchness and this is two hours before kickoff. Seats were better than yesterday, though too near the pitch: the stadium is miles high and would be good to get a view from higher up. .

The match was not much good: lots too many players in the Makelele role, and the Ditch’s tactic was to give the ball to Sniejder as often as possible: De Jong and van Bommel do nothing else all afternoon. Benner was playing though clearly half-fit, and in danger of turning into a Peter Crouch: gangling but ineffective.

I was walking back to my seat after a circumnavigation so almost missed the first own goal. So it was after three hours of football that I actually saw a proper goal from open play Took ages to get back what with hanging around in the station and in the massive car park, so I only got back about six.

Next match not until tomorrow evening, seems like ages away - God know how I’ll occupy myself.