Field of Nightmares

June 12 Day 3

USA 1 England 1 Rustenburg

We should have known the day would be filled with calamities, when we figured out over Botswana that the flight time was an hour longer than our booking agency told us. However, the flight proceeded smoothly into JNB, on time the hour later, touching down in bright sunshine.

We disembarked into our first experience with South African officialdom. Happily the immigration officials are as quick as one can see. Then we obtained our baggage without hassle, despite an information officer's initially giving us the wrong carousel number.

As in my experience the place to rent cell phones is the airport. I hoped I was right, because the process took an hour; the lines were long with other arriving fans.

Next we joined the long queue for the Europcar rental car. When we finally arrived at the head of the line, we were informed we were lucky enough to get a new BMW. OK, the bad news: We were foreigners and thought we might stand out in a new BMW, in a crime-plagued environment. Even worse, Europcar refused to give us our reservation price and proposed to charge us more than $2000 additional. We stalked out. We debated forgetting about a rental car, but fortunately as our future evolved, Brian found a South African company just next door, with no line.

As with the telephone people, the South African representatives were quite professional and pleasant. We drove out the parking garage into South Africa with a little, but pleasant Chevrolet, of course with right hand drive.

That was the next hurdle: driving on the left. With great concentration, I handled the reversal of 45+ years of right side driving. Actually one gets used to the change rather quickly, but can never fully relax.

We took a wrong turn but made it to our suburban Sandton hotel with little delay. However, by this time, it was approaching 4pm.

We decided how much more convenient would be bus travel to Rustenburg for the game, a far smaller town requiring travel over extensive 2-lane highways mostly after dark, not to mention our fatigue.

Brian made several travel agent calls. He learned that the bus had departed two hours earlier than he had previously been informed, about 20 minutes before we even arrived at the hotel.

Now we were so glad we rented an automobile. We had 3-1/2 hours to get to a stadium we had never visited in an unfamiliar rental car over strange foreign roads, in darkness. Also, we had not eaten since breakfast on the plane. We took the challenge. We obtained some routing advice from the hotel desk and then jumped into our little vehicle.

The road to Pretoria, about 30 miles, was a very nice expressway. Cars travel very fast here in South Africa and we tried to keep up, as we wanted to make the game. Things went very well, but about 20 miles beyond Pretoria, the road narrowed to two lanes. By that time the winter darkness had fully set in. We still had 50 miles to go to Rustenburg. Brian mentioned he thought he read that the stadium was not in the city, but beyond. Actually we had no real idea where the stadium was located around Rustenburg.

But, we were determined. We had come too far, and spent too much time and money to turn back.

The road was relatively deserted and the surrounding environs wide open and unpopulated. Even though I drove 75 MPH and faster, many local cars were passing, even on that two-lane road. Fortunately the road was good, half of a future expressway, and our car ran well.

The hotel staff told us we would be driving 2-1/2 to 3 hours to make Rustenburg. However, at the highway turnoff for Rustenburg, elapsed time was only 1:40, still almost two hours before the kick-off. We had been seeing signs for the stadium but no distance indication. We pushed on past Rustenburg, still having no firm idea where to find the facility. A few miles past Rustenburg we ran into a slow-moving vehicle line. We assumed that line led to the stadium. The line moved slowly for miles. We could see but few lights breaking the darkness.

However, we heard the vuvuzuelas in the distance. So, we figured something game-related was somewhere in the environs. However, we could still not see any stadium lights and the car line snaked on.

Finally, the line turned off the highway. At that point the way opened, traffic dissipated. We sped ahead on the stadium approach road, still unsure where it was. We saw groups of security people. Twice we pulled over and asked about parking. There was even a sign that told us to turn right for parking. Nevertheless, the security people insisted that we go straight.

We pushed on.

Just before 8:00pm and six miles off the highway, we noticed people pulling to the road side, parking and walking, some running, toward the stadium. Finally we could see the stadium lights. We decided to stop right there; we too found a nice roadside spot and parked. Shades of Korea!

We wondered whether someone would block us in but we could not worry about that. We started moving quickly on foot. Now we could see the stadium, but it was more than a mile distant. Fortunately we spotted some well-worn white buses, little better than school buses. We jumped aboard. Thankfully the bus took us close to the stadium.

We scrambled out, moving quickly. Game time was approaching. We were not only hungry but thirsty as well, as the air is very dry here. However, we had not time to do anything but rush the security perimeter. A female guard looked at my bag and asked if I had any drinks. "Oh no, no drinks," I said. We were allowed to pass without inspection.

Then there were two ticket checks. Brian was concerned that with the travel agency, Great Atlantic's, disorganization, the tickets might not be proper. They were fine. We hustled around the stadium as our seats were on the other side (of course)!

We dashed up the stairs. Fortunately the stadium is small, so we could get up quickly. We pushed carefully past the people in our row. There was little walking room, as the plastic seats do not fold up. We sat up in the corner, the right of the player benches. The seats would have been really good, but for the running track, the only South Africa World Cup stadium with a track. Further, just to set the tone for the stadium complex known as "Royal Bafokeng Sports Palace," the ugly-looking electronic scoreboard screens never functioned, except for a few lights operating for a few minutes. A World Cup game was set in a minor league facility. No one else but my favorite whipping boys, FIFA, would allow such a venue, especially for a high profile game, USA v England.

Nonetheless, finally, finally, after more than 8000 miles travel and almost 48 hours, we found our seats. The players were shaking hands, moments before the kickoff. Miraculously, we had made England v USA!!! England, along with Argentina, had been the only major world teams to escape my World Cup viewing. Now, there they were, in classic English white, Rooney, Lampard, Gerrard, et al, before me on the field!

Going into the tournament, the USA defense was suspect, not what a fan would want in a low-scoring environment. True to our worries, just four minutes in, Lampard slipped behind the American boys in all-blue, and scored. Most all the fans erupted in cheers. England has South African ties and seemingly every South African fan was behind England, not to mention the legions of loyal Englanders. Could we have a worse World Cup beginning?

However, fortunately the USA team defense came together. England had several good chances but our boys fought them off. As the game went on, the USA defense became stronger and stronger.

On the other end, the Americans developed scoring chances as well. Then Team USA received an incredibly lucky break. Surely people will long mention how Dempsey struck a simple bouncing shot from maybe 20 yards into the goalkeeper's hands. Somehow, as if demon-possessed, the ball bounced out of his hands and across the goal line. Since the play was at the other end, we hesitated, unsure. Then we saw the American team, managers and coaches waving arms on high and jumping up and down. It was indeed a goal, one of the biggest flukes in World Cup history!! We said, "Thanks, God," and accepted the gift. I felt sorry for the English goalkeeper, but nonetheless gleefully joined the USA fans around us in celebration.

The teams fought on, in a spirited game, but the half ended, still 1 - 1.

I went down the narrow staircase to the first level, seeking food or at least drink. The first level concourse is very narrow, the concession points few and and walking concession people not apparent. The lines were so long I went outside to the stadium perimeter area, and found a soft drink stand with a short line. I had to get something in my system., at least liquid. Buying even potato chips or a hot dog was an unattainable dream in that stadium.

I returned for the second half. The game continued to be well played and entertaining. Both teams had chances but neither could capitalize. Altidore had one great chance, coming around the right-side defender, and unleashing a wicked shot on which the goalkeeper did well to get a hand, but the shot hit the post. Oh, we were inches from a huge victory!!

As the game wound to a conclusion, it was evident Team USA was very happy with a draw against mighty England. On the other hand the English wanted the victory, and considered a tie a disappointment. Thus, at the final whistle, the Americans celebrated; the English walked off the pitch quietly, knowing they had the talent for more.

We American fans cheered the result as well. A draw against England? "Thank you, lads, we will take gladly it!" The English fans were grumbling in disappointment, as if tying the USA was some insult.

As we filed out of that small, plain stadium, our task was locating our car, since we had never been to the venue, and we were confused. We eschewed the white "school buses" as we could not be sure where they would drop us off.

The air was dusty. Not only was the humidity very low, but the stadium is located in a rural environment. There are vast open fields in the environs, while, curiously, along the new and mostly unused stadium approach road (buses, pedestrians and poo-bah vehicles only) there are scattered small masonry and stucco houses. The dwellings appeared mostly empty. I also saw a small building appearing to be a Christian church, as outside was a white wooden sign about 6-feet square, lauding Jesus Christ. Such sight did not seem to fit in the environment.

We were not sure we were walking in the right direction. However, we saw buses and some automobiles heading the same way, so we pushed on. Maybe 40 minutes after we left our seats, we found our little vehicle parked as we had left it, by the road, a most welcome sight.

We joined the line of cars snaking out the six miles to the highway. The highway itself was even more crowded. In addition to the mutual Pretoria/Johannesburg destination, we found the toll booths up the way significantly slowed traffic.

We settled down to a long, agonizing ride home. We had been traveling since Thursday evening in Atlanta. Surely FIFA types were in some of the many vehicles which sped by us with police escorts, which did not help our mood. One such procession caught our attention. At about 1:00am, still only about 40 miles from the stadium, a bus roared past us, with many surrounding police vehicles and two hovering helicopters. On the back, we read "USA." We surmised that bus must have carried our team, but we wondered why so late. No matter, I saluted the bus anyway, a good night for Team USA.

Ultimately, we arrived at our Sandton hotel around 2:30 am, more than four hours after the game concluded. We had not had a full night's sleep since the previous Wednesday. At last, the nightmare known as The Royal Bafokeng Sports Complex was over.