Release Date: 30/07/2010

Author: By Darren Veighey

WORLD Cup ‘Italia 90’, my introduction to the ‘Beautiful Game’. I was 10 years old, and for months beforehand I had been reading up on the 24 teams who were competing, and also trying to familiarize myself with each individual player through my Panini sticker collection.

Before the tournament began, I had been fascinated by television documentaries on previous World Cup winning teams, previous tournaments’ best ever players, notably Pele, Maradona, Eusabio, Johan Cryuff, Franz Bechenbaur,  The best matches - Brazil v Italy, Final 1970, England v West Germany, 1966 Final, Brazil v Sweden, 1958 Final, France v West Germany, 1982 semi-final, Brazil v Italy, 1982 Finals.

When the 1990 World Cup finally commenced, it couldn’t have started in better fashion with an unknown Cameroon team defeating the current World Champions Argentina 1-0.  Every day in school all I could think about was getting home to watch the next game.   From Scotland’s heartbreak at not progressing from the group stages to Jack Charlton’s Irish team surprising all by getting to the quarter-finals, from the 38-year-old Cameroon striker Roger Milla scoring for fun to the tears of Paul Gascoigne after receiving a yellow card in the semi-final against West Germany that would rule him out of a potential England final.  

From the disappointment of the usual strong teams like Spain, USSR, Holland, and Brazil by falling far short of their expectations to an Argentina team which seemed to grind out results to make the final and from a great West German team (which included legends Jurgen Klinsmann, Lothar Matthaus, Andreas Brehme, Rudi Voller and Thomas Hassler) to the Italian top scorer with six goals - Salvatore Schillaci, this World Cup was to leave an indelible print on my memory.

Every four years since, I have watched each World Cup with the same enthusiasm and excitement - USA 94, France 98, South Korea/Japan 2002 and Germany 2006 (which I attended with friends, taking in four games - two in Frankfurt, England v Paraguay and Togo v S. Korea, and two in Munich - Germany v Costa Rica and Saudi Arabia v Tunisia).

In the qualification stages for the 2010 World Cup, I was disappointed like many fans that Northern Ireland didn’t qualify, with Slovakia topping our group, and Slovenia getting through via a play-off with Russia.  However, I have hope for the future that we will qualify for a major tournament at some stage.

With the 2010 World Cup scheduled for the ‘Rainbow Nation’, South Africa, I contacted family I had in Johannesburg to see if it would be possible to stay with them, if I was lucky enough to get tickets for any matches.  I didn’t really know them, but they were more than happy to accommodate me with my request.  I applied for four matches in the group stages (Argentina v S. Korea, Holland v Japan, Brazil v Ivory Coast and Germany v Ghana) and was successful.

The flight from Heathrow to Joburg was the longest I had been on (10 ½ hours).  Towards the end of the flight, as we were coming down below the clouds I caught my first glimpse of South Africa.  From the air, it looked very much like desert.

My mum’s cousin Eileen collected me from the airport.  When we drove out of the airport onto the motorway, I was very impressed as the 32 teams national flags were flown on the main roads from the airport towards the city.  Eileen brought me to her mum and dad’s (Roy and Della) house, where I was to stay, in the suburbs.  They made me feel very welcome and I knew I was going to enjoy myself.  

Three of my games where in Joburg (Soccer City Stadium), with one in Durban.  The games at the Soccer City Stadium started off with a long walk from where the South African FA was based.   I must say I enjoyed the walk, and the excitement it brought with all fans, whether they were from Germany or Ghana, Argentina or South Korea, they could walk side by side soaking in the atmosphere, with no sign of any trouble.   Along the way, many people were selling vuvuzelas and ear plugs, along with scarves, hats and flags.

As we approached the stadium (which shape resembles a well known African pot used for drinking), we first of all had to empty our pockets of any coins, keyrings etc and go under a metal detector just like in any airport.  Once we got our tickets scanned and were inside the stadium, I tried to get photos with the different sets of fans.

As we walked up the steps into the stadium, we were surrounded by the orange seats that could potentially seat up to 90,000 soccer fans.  We were always in the ground for about 1 ½ hours before kick-off, but there was no chance of boredom setting in as the atmosphere was electric.  The South Africans seemed to be obsessed with the now famous vuvuzela.  The colour around the stadium including both sets of supporters, along with the Bafana Bafana shirts was great to see.  As the more people entered the stadiums, the louder the vuvuzelas became.  The noise was really overwhelming but very enjoyable.  Flags of many different nations were hung all around the stadium.  

The games themselves were very enjoyable.   In my first game Argentina looked unbeatable as they defeated South Korea convincingly 4-1.   It was great to see players in the flesh like Park Ji Sung, Lionel Messi, Carlos Tevez, Javier Mascherano, and Gabriel Heinze.  But the highlight was getting a glimpse of the Argentina manager Diego Maradona, once a pure football genius.

The Durban game (Holland v Japan) was played with a very slow tempo.  The Dutch had most possession throughout the game, passing the ball well, with the Japanese happy to sit back and invite any pressure on their defence.  Being an Arsenal fan it was great to see Robin Van Persie, alongside other well known names - Dirk Kuyt, Mark Van Bommel, Arjen Robben, and Wesley Sneijder who scored the game’s only goal.

Next stop, back at Soccer City for Brazil v Ivory Coast - a game which Brazil won comfortably, despite a few tasty tackles from the Ivory Coast team.  Brazil won 3-1 with goals from Fabiano (two) and Elano, with the one and only Didier Drogba scoring the consolation for the Ivory Coast.  Kaka was also harshly sent off near the end of the game to add to the drama.  But Brazil looked very strong in this game for which I thought they would be very hard to beat.

My final game was again at Soccer City, with the Germans playing the best African contender Ghana.   Germany won 1-0, with both teams proceeding to the round of 16.   It was a very businesslike performance from a fairly young German team, whose players never seemed to tire.   Mesut Ozil scored with a fine strike to send Germany through to play England.  The German of Turkish descent picked up a pass from just outside the penalty area and then placed his shot to the keeper’s right, into the net.

As my stay in South Africa drew to a close I felt I had been lucky to be one of the over three million fans who attended the games.  It is fairly obvious, when reading reports about the country that it continues to harbour many social problems with crime being rife.  Many people in the country have contracted the Aids virus, with poverty still evident in urban areas.  Unemployment is very high, with many people not possessing the education and skills which we at home take for granted in being taught in our many educational institutions.

However, from my experience, being there for a month, the South Africans were very friendly.  The nation was very proud to be holding a prestigious event such as the World Cup, and I am very pleased to say they proved a lot of critics wrong with their organisation of the tournament.

The stadiums were of the highest quality, security at the games was taken very seriously, the games were played on a fantastic surface, all general match organisational tasks were carried out with great professionalism and I have to admit I enjoyed 2010 more than 2006 in Germany.

So roll on the 2014 World Cup in Brazil.  Each new World Cup host undertakes the pressure of producing a better World Cup than the last.  I only hope I get there to see if they can.

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