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I had a once in a lifetime opportunity to watch a World Cup match in South African in June. I traveled half way round the world to reach Cape Town and spent 5 days in this wonderful lovely city.
There are enough things to do in Cape Town to keep once occupied for a good 5 days and I shall revisit my itinerary there and share with the readers.
Wineland tour
It is a given to visit the famous winelands of South Africa when you are there. It produces some of the world's famous red wines from the Paarl region. There are many ways to visit the Wineland either by group tour or self drive. I would recommend the former as the wineries are spread out across the land and driving between them will take up to 2 hours. It is also advisable to follow a group tour of not more than 8 as you can enjoy cheaper wine tasting sessions in groups.
The cost of a wineland tour costs an average of $650 rand where you will be chartered around in a mini-bus of 8-10 people. The tour usually starts around 8am in the morning and ends at 5pm in the afternoon. This is a full day tour and expect to visit up to 5 wineries and taste more than 10 wines including Cabernet Sauvignon, Merlot and champagne wines etc. Lunch is excluded from the cost but tourist are usually brought to winery for lunch coupled with more wine tasting.
V&A Waterfront
This is the most upmarket area of Cape town where the rich and famous will go partying during the world cup. Almost all the pubs will telecast the world cup matches and patrons have no lack of choices on where to catch the game with a beer in hand. There is also a public large screen at the amphitheater and you can join the large crowd there and the atmosphere is also as good as anywhere. I remembered catching the England-Algeria dull match there. There are shopping malls at the Waterfront where international renown brands have shopfronts. Tired from visiting the various tourist hotspots? Stop by any of the sea facing cafes and sip a cappuccino while admiring the table mountain at the back and the boats in the docks.
And so after a month of non stop soccer action in South Africa, we have finally reached the final match which shall decide the world soccer champion for the next 4 years. Come 11th July 2010, Netherlands and Spain will take to the field in the gorgeous Soccer City Stadium in Johannesburg for the decider.
Both teams have made it past the group stages and had their fair share of tough opponents. There are no teams fitter to be in the final than both of them.
Here is a short analysis of both of these teams and they they stack up against each other.
Netherlands:
For the Oranje army, this is their third final in their World Cup history and they will hope that it is third time lucky. They were convincing in their group stages and relatively easy second round opponents. However, they eliminated Brazil in the quarter-finals. If you can win Brazil, you deserve to be in the Final. Netherlands pride itself in play Total football, however, despite their threats in attacking, they fall short in their midfield and defence compared to Spain. This was badly exposed in the goal they conceded against Brazil. Van Bommel is not exactly a top notch holding midfielder compare to Xabi Alonso. Holland's defence is also porous and will switch off at times.
Though Holland have weaknesses in their backline, they have excellent attacking options in the fast Robben and the talented Sneijder. They were the match winners against Brazil and will pose the largest threat to Spain. If Spain wants any peace at the back, they must learn how to shackle both these players...well. Other than these two wingers, Van Persie is not much of a threat and has not lived up to his reputation in this tournament. His presence and speed can still be quite a threat but Huntelaar may be a better option as a starter.
Spain:
What more can we say when they are favorites in the first place. The European champions have been gaining strength and finding their team play as the tournament wore on. They are starting to string their passes together and opponents are left chasing air. The Germans experienced that first hand and were defeated one-nil. Germany became favorites overnight after thrashing Argentina, but their german locomotive were brought to a halt by the Spanish Armada. Put it simply, when you do not possess the ball, you cannot play football. Spain is master at keeping their possession and winning it back if they lose it. They have pass masters like Xavi, Iniesta and Alonso who make short incisive passes and keep the ball moving. The single man strike force of Villa has been very effective despite the disappointing Torres. In their last match, they play Pedro to good effect and he should be starting in the final. Their defence is rock solid with Pique and Puyol, backed by the safe hands of Casillas.
The only problem for them could come in set pieces where they lack the height to challenge the taller Dutch. Their flanks could come under pressure from Robben and Sneijder too.
This final is much anticipated as two teams with very different approach to soccer pitch against each other. Though Spain is the favorite, but the Dutch should not be written off easily. I do not expect this to be a one-sided affair but there should be end to end action. First half should be dull with both teams being conservative, but expect the second half to burst into life.
Finally, the curtain for the 2010 World Cup in South Africa will be coming down after tomorrow. All praise to South Africa for doing such a wonderful job and proved all the naysayers wrong. This has been a wonderful competition held in a wonderful country ran by wonderful people.
THANK YOU SOUTH AFRICA.........Y'ELLO!!!
After a month of world class soccer in the rainbow nation South Africa, 2 teams have emerged as the finalists to compete for the rights to be world champions and hold aloft the Jules Rimet trophy on the 11th July 2010 at Soccer City Stadium, Johannesburg.
Before we go to the analysis of the two finalists, let us analyze the tournament so far and find out how this Fifa soccer world has started slowly in the early group stages but burst into life from the second round onwards.
During the group stages, there were not many impressive teams who played to their reputation. In fact, out of the top seeded teams, only Brazil and Argentina were domineering in their displays. Germany, Spain and England all had non convincing victories and lost a match too. Nevertheless, they scraped through to group stages. I was most impressed with the Asian teams such as Japan and South Korea, who played really well and won much stronger teams. This is the first time they have recorded victories outside outside their home soil in 2002 and both made it to second round too.
If there are teams that are the most disappointing, it had to be the disgraceful French and the under performed Italians. Both were eliminated but in different fashions. The French had internal disputes and player unrest, they even boycott training much to the dismay of the coaches and the thousands of fans who flew thousands of kilometers only to be let down by their team. This is hugely disappointing and the main perpetrators should be heavily punished. The 1998 world champions is never a minute worthy of its proud soccer foundation. They deserve to go home to be questioned by their countrymen.....and fast.
Italy was the defending champion, but the only thing they were left to defend is the pride of the old guards in the team. They were clearly past their best and it hints of it were given when they simply cannot win minnows like New Zealand! Their weakness were severely exposed by the younger Slovenians who outplayed and outran them for 90 minutes. When you lose on these two fronts, you are guaranteed a losing game.
Of all the African teams, only Ghana shined in this tournament. Despite the Soccer World Cup being held for the first time in African soil, the African teams did not capitalize on home ground advantage. Nigeria, which was so promising in the start of this millennium has become a totally different team and was really poor in its game plays. Ivory Coast was in the group of death and cannot get past Brazil and Portugal. Algeria was average and will be remembered for their daring display against England. The host nation South Africa, is the first host that did not make it to the second round in history. They were in a group with the outstanding Uruguayans and Mexicans. At least they won the French. Ghana is the new darling of Africa as everyone now roots for the only African team through to the second round.
This year is Africa's year as it holds the prestigious Fifa World Cup, the first for the continent, in South Africa from June to July. As a ticket holder myself, I am proud to say that I will be right there in the thick of the action during the Fifa World Cup. However, I still have some traveling advice for soccer fanatics descending to South Africa to enjoy this football spectacle.
Accommodation is of course the top most priority when you visit a country during important events. Rest assured prices will be at least 150% the usual rates. Therefore, you can only book early to avoid being held to ransom by sky high room rates. Since my tickets are for the matches to be held in Johannesburg Soccer City, I shall start with some of my stories, horror ones, in trying to find an accommodation in Johannesburg
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Finding accommodation during South Africa 2010 World Cup will be a major challenge when you are there to watch soccer matches, let alone cheap ones. However, if you are to do enough research, there are ways for travelers of different pocket depths to experience a true blue African feeling while staying there.
Fifa has almost block booked most of the hotels in South Africa for their partners and sponsors, hence, you will have the least chance in searching for hotel stays. Even if you find them, be prepared to pay upwards of US$400 per night. On the average, accommodation during the Fifa World Cup period in June will cost between US$100 to US$300 for a safe and comfortable night. Accommodation in Johannesburg will be the hardest to get because this is the main city for the World Cup, hosting important visitors and delegates. It also holds 2 venues, Soccer City and Ellis Park Stadium, for the matches. You can expect a real crowded city during that period. So it is important to find accommodation here early. Other than Johannesburg, accommodation in other smaller cities should be easy to find and still available even if you book in 2010 a few months before the South Africa 2010 World Cup
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There will be a total of 10 stadiums hosting matches for the Fifa World Cup in South Africa 2010. Each of these stadiums aim to bring out the best South Africa can offer to the world with its characteristics and style.
Soccer City Johannesburg - The crown jewel of all the stadiums in South Africa 2010. This has a capacity of 94,000 and will host the opening and final match of the World Cup. This was redesigned to look like a traditional African earthenware pot. Though there are 15,000 parking lots available but the best way to reach there is by park and ride. There are various locations around the city where one can park his vehicle and take a shuttle to Soccer City stadium
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Fifa Soccer World Cup will be held for the first time in South Africa in 2010. This is the first time the world's biggest football spectacle is going to be held in South Africa and for the whole of June 2010, the world's attention will be on South Africa, the crown jewel of the African continent with the most developed economy.
After months of grueling qualifying matches, 32 teams have made it to South Africa 2010 for the coveted Juliet Rimes trophy. Europe has the largest contingent with 13 teams including Italy the defending champion and Spain, the current Euro cup holder. Europe has always provided the toughest and most exciting teams to light up the tournament.
The host continent has 6 teams and considering this is their home ground, rest assured all will put up a determined fight right till the end. Strong teams such as Ivory coast, Ghana, Nigeria and Cameroon should be leading the charge with the large base of overseas players
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