South Africa is a warm country. However it is the middle of winter here. Snow has fallen on the mountains across our country plunging temperatures to freezing at night. The obligatory trek out to Ceres to see the snow might have to be put on hold with fervent Soccer Cup fever having taken over here. But there is snow closer to the city. Table Mountain rarely sees snow but we had snow fall there yesterday. Eish!
Today is Youth Day and a public holiday. Youth Day is when we commemorate the lives lost in the liberation struggle. Bafana Bafana take on Uruguay in Pretoria this evening.
The local papers are filled with the usual sports analysts bleating on endlessly about the nuances of the games. They are also on about the costs of the World Cup to a developing nation and the FIFA role in all of this. It makes me sad that the west will insist on viewing Africa as less than deserving of this Soccer Cup. Why can’t they be as happy as we are about this?
All I care about is supporting teams in the following order – Bafana Bafana, the African teams and the underdogs in any game. Supporting the underdog is only setting myself up to be disappointed but the North Korea vs. Brazil game lifted my spirits.
Photo courtesy of P Gillespie