SPORTS> Off the Pitch
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SPORTS> Off the Pitch
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Watch out Germany, here I come
By George Dearnaley (news24.com)
Updated: 2006-06-06 14:46 As you read this I will be on my way to Germany, along with thousands of other football nuts, to go and watch the greatest sporting spectacle on Earth. Without sounding like a big head, but rather sounding like a little kid, this will be my third World Cup tournament and I can't wait! My first tournament was USA 1994 where I got to watch six games in Orlando, Florida and then headed to LA to watch the final between Brazil and Italy. Some say it was boring with the winners being decided by a penalty shootout, but no one who sat in the stadium in Pasadena, who watched the entire spectacle, will ever say it was anything other than fantastic. Just to be there! I still can't begin to explain or to even understand. I was there cheering on the Brazilians but feeling sorry for Baggio and Baresi - two Italian greats who did not deserve to miss their penalties. I then had dinner in Beverly Hills outside the Wiltshire Hotel (famous in the Pretty Woman movie) and finished my trip window shopping on Rodeo Drive (there was no way I could afford what they had to offer). It was a magnificent month of football in a country that mostly didn't give a toss. Four years later I was in France watching Bafana take on the host country, and eventual winners, in Marseille. It was great to be there, even if the 3-0 hiding did dampen our spirits. I travelled with three mates in a camper van and we drove from London, via a ferry, to Calais and then down to the coast. We spent a few days investigating the country before the next match against Denmark in Toulouse. Benni McCarthy scored a deserved equaliser for Bafana and our pride was restored with our first ever point in a World Cup finals tournament. We made the most of the night and celebrated as if we had won the tournament. The last thing I remember about France 1998 was dancing on a car roof in the main square of Toulouse chanting "Zizou" with thousands of my new best friends. It was a magnificent ten days of football in a country that went off its head. I missed out on Korea/Japan in 2002 although I watched almost every game on TV. |
