Brazilian flair

I was sitting at Neighbourhood (again)contemplating how i was going to watch this game amongst all the drinking masses while sticking to my no booze plan – when H called with a different plan. So i left the party at the hood very prematurely and took a drive with the boys to Woodstock. We had been invited to watch the game at a friends place, and this i had to see.

In this apartment (where he has been for over a month now) R has a massive flat screen, plugged into his Playstation 3 (his girlfriend) and some very comfy couches (that the boys had to PULL up 3 stories through the balcony door one Saturday cause it was too big for the lift OR the stairway). And that’s about it. A few glasses and his clothes on the floor in the bedroom make up the complete picture. See – buying this TV to be able to play(station) was the 1st priority, eating and sleeping would come after that. Cutlery and crockery i believe is on the cards for month 3.

The boys are all rollerbladers, and before this world cup started i had never watched any sporting match with them (and I’ve known them for about 2 years...) so, i thought to myself, this invitation i could not pass up. I need to see these boys support a soccer match.

And the events that took place were close to miraculous. When we arrived they were watching something on the playstation, and i though it was only while we waited for kick off. But then we realised that the TV had never been plugged into an antenna, and had never been tuned into any station... But the dedication from a bunch of guys - who only ever watch ‘sport’ if it involves chris haffey doing some insane shit on street curbs and rails – to watch a game between two foreign countries was heart warming.

First two of them made the journey to the closest operating supermarket, to buy an extension that will allow us to get the tv plugged into the antenna outlet without moving the whole living room around, AND a little antenna, just in case that didn’t work... and then we spent a good 20minutes looking for SABC 1 and fine tuning the channel.

By the time we got good enough reception (although it still looked like we were watching a game from the 70s and all the little players looked the same, as they blurred across the screen chasing behind a white blob) there was about 15minutes left in the 1st half – and we were amazed to see that the Brazilians weren’t 2 – 0 up already.

So amongst discussions about the political state (or should i say POLICE state) of Korea we watched as those little red dots defended with their lives. And defend they did, as much as the yellow dots tried to show off their famous fancy footwork, there always seemed to be 5 Koreans around them.

The Maicon goal was pure magic though... no longer can anyone complain about the jubelani ball – swing too much? – this is the ball of the future, this ball you can curve into the net from an acute angle behind the back of North Korean goalkeeper ... and after that goal the South Americans were pumped up and ready to score. The individual flair of this team is as brilliant as ever and i would LOVE to see them play a strategic systematic team like the Germans. That well oiled Deutsche machine (its pure engineering and German perfection) has strategy and set plays down better than any team I’ve seen in a while, but it would be very interesting to see them play a charismatic team with the flair and individual brilliance such as the Brazilians.

I have to give it to the People of the Democratic Republic of Korea, as they played for their lives (perhaps literally we joked, you never know with these communists...) and it was an interesting concept to think about these Koreans, whose lives and views are so restricted by their government, being in South Africa, taking part in a World Cup and being exposed to the diversity of the world. It must be especially hard for them to concentrate on Soccer with so much new and strange going on around them.

Anyway, it was lovely to see the spirit of the world cup reaching even the most unlikely of characters, as H admitted to me that that was an interesting game... Tonight we head over to the Woodstock Industrial Centre to join in the Adidas 3 stories. They have some exciting things planned for the month(apparently the perfect mix between art and sport – sounds like my idea of fun) my friend does some live blogging for the events and H had been asked to submit art for an exhibition early in July so we have been meaning to go check it out. For more info visit facebook or pop in at 66/68 Albert Road, Woodstock.

The vuvuzelas have been going off again all morning, the anticipation is in the air as i see everyone has washed, ironed and put on their yellow bafana shirts...

Bring it ON Uruguay, lets see what you got...