Not So Fast My Friend

June 14 Day 5

Netherlands 2 Denmark 0 Soccer City

With fond Pretoria memories, we only departed about 2-1/2 hours before the 1:30pm match at Johannesburg Soccer City, the new 90,000+ seat stadium. Brian located a Park and Ride at "WITS" University in downtown Joburg. We arrived at the parking lot gates around noon, only to find a sign which indicated we needed to pay elsewhere first. There was no hint as to where we should pay. We tried another entrance, because we saw a sign. The entrance was closed but the sign was intact as if the gate were open. This vignette is a little hint of the mentality one often confronts in Africa.

We returned to the first entrance and drove in. A young female official asked for our "papers." "What papers? Where do we get them?" No intelligible response. Then she pulled a computer-printed paper from her pocket and said "Give me 50 rand [$6.50] quickly." We gladly paid and went on. Security officials waved us in without checking our "paper." I never looked at this "paper." Things can indeed get done in South Africa.

Parking attendants waved us around roads winding about buildings, deeper and deeper into the campus. At one point one attendant said, "What are you doing here?" I wanted to say "What the hell do you think we are doing here ,and where can we park because the kickoff is approaching?!" OK, I did not say that and we found a parking place.

The weather was more brisk than Sunday but still cloudless and pleasant, like mid-October. We walked more than 300 yards looking for the buses, which had been right there in Pretoria. We found a people line, more than 100 yards long. The line moved slowly.

Kick-off time was approaching. FIFA never gets that wrong. Parking? That is the fans' problem.

After maybe 30 minutes we boarded a bus. The bus slowly navigated the downtown streets. After more than 30 minutes we drove up to the stadium. The bus kept going, around the stadium to the rear. At one point people shouted, "Let us off!!," as the bus drove farther and farther beyond the stadium. Finally, the bus pulled into a field. Blustery winds kicked up dust.

We had less than 20 minutes to get to our seats.

We mostly walked quickly and jogged some. Our route circulated behind the stadium to a pedestrian bridge over the railroad tracks. South Africa World Cup organizers had planned for connecting trains from Sandton near our hotel to the stadium, but the newest train line is not finished. This,too, is South Africa.

We hustled through the stadium security gates, ran over the bridge and then through the ticket check point. Unfortunately our seats were on the other side of the stadium and near the top rows, adjacent to the press rows. Ironically we had been "upgraded" to Category 1, yes near the 30-yard line but way high. We arrived at our seats 12 minutes after the game started. No matter, the new stadium is very nice, with many spacious bathrooms and concession stands. FedEx Field take note!

There were thousands and thousands of orange-clad Holland fans, compared with a very few thousand Danes. Holland is a highly skilled team but was doing little until a Dane knocked the ball into his own goal. The Danes generated nothing offensively. A Dutch substitution in the last quarter livened their pace and they scored an actual goal. This goal was the only one from the field in the past two games we have attended. Only a FIFA official could be happy.

After the game, maybe 75,000 of the attending fans were funneled into crossing the pedestrian bridge behind the stadium. All told, we walked for 40 minutes to get to the dusty field. Thousands of people were herded into cattle chutes. After more than 30 minutes, we boarded a bus. That trip back to WITS took another 40 minutes.

All told, we spent three hours getting home after the game, maybe 10 miles distant. We had assumed after Pretoria that big city folks knew how to organize parking. "Not so fast, my friend."