It cannot get more exciting than watching Brazil play live. After all, they’re said to play some of the most beautiful football. iSporter Pulasta Dhar was at Ellis Park watching the match.
It was freezing in Johannesburg on the 15th of June and it did take away a lot of excitement from me leading to the build-up. But as soon as the players were out for training, excitement took center stage from cold and it was soon Joga Bonito all over.
The whole stadium was packed with fans supporting Brazil, especially because North Korea is in a lot of trouble and has banned fans from travelling to SA from their country. Another pity s how they will not get broadcast of live matches since the satellite for broadcast is in South Korea. There was one group completely devoted to their team, maybe North Koreans from other parts of the world.
The loudest cheer was reserved for Kaka as the playmaker’s name was announced on the big screen and as he walked out to train with the rest of the team.
After all, he is the main stay of this comparatively less experienced and young team. Robinho was also cheered for after some lovely tricks in training. The freezing conditions in Ellis Park did not deter fans who came in weird attires, however cold it might be.
Ellis Park is not as sophisticated as the Soccer City, but the pitch looked terrific under lights even though the seats in Category 2 were too close to each other. The whole stadium was not connected like at Jo’Burg’s other elite stadium and thus I could not barge into the Category 1 seats like at the Holland game. Luckily, my was simply brilliant and I caught quite a few glimpses of Robinho’s tricks in the 1st half and Lucio’s unbelievable strength in the 2nd.
The fans were very noisy and vuvuzelas were at their loudest once Brazil broke the deadlock. North Korea, I must say were also sportingly cheered on by many supporters and they played a pretty good game to be fair to them.
Blankets were out in the 2nd half and the temperature was -3 Degrees Celsius, which made it impossible for me to even move a muscle, or else it might shiver too much. The most shocking part was how some of the fans seemed as if such cold was perfectly normal. Ah, how I missed the Indian sun.
The way Kaka and Michel Bastos ran was simply unbelievable at times. Bastos is quite new to the team and preferred by Dunga at left back and he paid some good dividends on the overlap. To see these Brazilians at their best was asking for Ronaldinho to come on, but sadly he is not even in the team which has travelled to South Africa.
I next travel to Soccer City for the game against Argentina and I would rather shut my computer down or else my fingers freeze!!
Subscribe to this comment's feed
Show/hide comments
Show/hide comment form
| < Prev | Next > |
|---|
