Day 13/14

The only notable event of day 13 was the 7-0 shelling of N. Korea at the hand of Portugal...

The next day we visited an open air museum which shows what life was like before colonization. I saw the original cow dung huts and thatch roofs which the tribes inhabited, how they produced fire and the original vuvuzela. The horn which has filled world cup games was originally used as a horn to bring in the hunters from the field.

After a look into the past of Africa it was off to the fan park to watch South Africa take on France. With the whole country collectively holding their breath to see the host nation advance to the second round, they won the game but failed to advance. At the park, there was an miniature soccer field with inflatable boundaries that some of us found quite fun. The field turned into a huge dust bowl with the scuffling of feat, to the point that dust filled our lungs. The matches were short and competitive as we took on the locals of Polokwane.

Finally the night cap Argentina vs. Greece. Our professor Hugo is from Argentina and taught us several chants for the game including the correct pronunciation of the country, ar-hen-tina.
On a cold evening all of us were anticipating the electrifying play of the best player in the world, Lionel Messi of Argentina. He failed to score but surely didn't disappoint with several long runs deep into the Greece defense and one shot off of the post. The match was all even at 0-0 until the 77th minute when Argentina finally broke through with a goal. They added on one more, to celebrate the win the Argentina fans broke our into chants that lasted for an hour after the match. The celebration actually had to be stopped by stadium police who wanted them to leave.

The night only got worse as we travelled on the bus back to Pretoria we broke down on the highway and had to wait for a replacement. The night didn't end until 6 am, so class was canceled.