South Africa Adventure 10 - 13 July 2010 - Day 2

11 July 2010 - Pretoria to Johannesburg- World Cup 2010 Finals @ Soccer City Stadium

Not sure if it was because of the jet lag (FYI, SA is 6hrs behind our time)... we woke up damn early in the morning, bout 7?

Lazed around, watched cartoons (not much shows on the cable =( ) and head over to the restaurant for our breakfast...


Such a loonng cheese sausage...
Eggs!! *Slurps!*

According to the organisers, SONY requests for all guests to leave for their events 4 hours before it commences, thus, we had to prepare to set off early in the day...


Our match entrance tickets!
Our fellow travel mates were discussing about how much it would fetch on eBay...
Check out the bids for the hospitality pack!
Not the ones we have though...
Maybe we should try posting our ticket stubs on ebay =P

It was quite a long ride to the stadium...
A little jam on the tiny road leading in to the stadium but all worth it when we saw the stadium in person!

First glimpse of the Soccer City Stadium!
Everybody on the bus was excited and busy snapping away!



Police patrolling on horses!


Awesome!
As pointed out by NB, it looks like it's being superimposed against the landscape of SA.

A very impressive and grand piece of architecture they have there.
We really couldn't believe that we were at the place itself.
The stadium that millions around the world are setting their eyes on, on the very day itself =)

And of course, we can already hear the sounds of Vuvuzelas!


Our walk to the stadium/ hospitality tent.



We were ushered to the hospitality suite for some food and drinks (again), chilling out and mingling with other guests while we wait for the stadium gates to open.


Good food, free flow of drinks to fill our stomachs.


The desserts were really good!
Too full to finish the whole lot...



The night view was cool too!
With the lights and sounds of the famous African horns, we can feel the excitment brewing!


Proof that we were there... LOL

The atmosphere was amazing with supporters from both sides cheering, blowing and playing instruments in support of their favourite teams.


Netherlands supporters...


Spain supporters...


Interesting! Some funny signs spotted in the stadium:

Paul the octopus is seriously famous worldwide!
It seems like a common topic among people from all over the world that we've met...

We even watched a TV programme which calculated the amount of money which can be earned using 10 pounds to bet on Paul's prediction... Grand total of 9K pounds, about S$27K!
Claps for Paul!




10 mins to go before the start of the closing ceremony...


Lights, cameras and action!


After the closing ceremony and before the very much anticipated match!!





FIFA referees walking the field

The teams practicing, World cup trophy handed over to the stands by former WC champion, Italy's captain.

Interesting! Check out this video to catch something you didn't see on TV:

This came as a surprise as I merely wanted to zoom in on the trophy and he came into the picture.

Now, NB is saying I'm in cahoots with Jimmy Jump. =P

Start of the game to the roaring sounds of vuvuzelas.


Half time and the McDonald girls were out to entertain us...

Watching the match at the stadium was a whole new experience.
It was in a way, "quiet" as I was used to having a commentary to tell us a little something bout the players, their comments on the game... Basically, just, what exactly was happening on the field especially for novices like me :P
At the stadium, the only commentary I had was from the Holland guy beside me in a language which goes like this "this is F***ing #~!%&^*, off-side goal, F***ing foul, crap &*!#$"

I sat closer to NB the whole night...

And finally, thank goodness, at the 116 min
Spain scored the winning goal!!!

I thought I was going to be frozen in my seat cause it was a pathetic 1 deg celsius that night.
My hands were in my pocket most of the time and some video shots I took were damn shaky cause I was shivering.
A good way to burn my fats nevertheless!


All the celebration on the field!
Surprisingly, the place seemed to warm up a little when the match ended as everyone (except the guy beside me who left straight after the whistle went off) cheered and basked in the celebratory mood.

Oh, maybe the fireworks gave out some heat too =P


Yay! =D


Winning team at the podium with the trophy!

This is such an incredible experience! Loves!


I want to go to Brazil for the next world cup, so much!
NB, let's try out best for the next round again ya! =D
We can go see hot brazilian girls, wee woo weet!