The D-day finally arrived – our match day 27th June at Soccer City, Johannesburg. We opted for a “park and walk” ticket which turned out to be a smart decision. The walk to the stadium was a rush in itself. The most enthusiastic soccer crazy hawkers selling vuvuzelas (stadium horns), makarelas (hand-cut and hand-painted hard hats), Zakumi miniatures( Zakumi is the Offical Mascot for the 2010 FIFA World Cup, an anthropomorphized leopard with green hair), giant glasses and shields with team slogans, mufflers, badges, flags, jerseys, even nail art with your team’s colour. We were to watch the Argentina-Mexico match and Mandar being a devoted White and Sky Blue fan picked up his team’s merchandise. I was a neutral supporter so picked up the home country colours. As we reached the stadium, we were engulfed in the hysteria. Outrageously dressed fans with the craziest head gear made from feathers, cane and what not, big screens showing the previous match live, fans doing the diksi dance( a south-african way of celebrating soccer – all the football moves, minus the ball), soccer games, fans sharing stage with Zakumi and beer flowing. Not able to control our urge to be in the gigantic stadium, we made an early entry. Pictures followed. It was finally 8.00 pm, our first glimpse of our favourite players warming up. At quarter past eight, the flags were out, anthems followed while the vuvuzelas screeched as 84000 fans longed to watch their teams. Both the teams were high on energy and we got desperate to watch our first goal. And Tevez it was whose sheer energy on the field was transferred to you. We screamed laduma (a popular cheer at soccer matches literally meaning “it thunders” in Zulu). A fast-paced game and so much frenzy at the stadium, it seemed like the match ended too soon. A contrast of emotions followed, happy tears from the Argentina fans and a crest-fallen Mexican crowd. It was an adrenalin rush and we couldn’t wait to see our next match Argentina-Germany at Cape Town.
