This ball is full of shit though, I haven't seen 1 on target free-kick, ball flying off to the moon on what looks like not even strong shots.
It kind of like when someone is playing a FIFA or PES for the first time. They keep blasting the ball over the goal as they haven't got a hang of the controls. In addition, one Cameroon player did give it a good whallop only for it to crack off the top bar. If that went in, we would have seen what this ball could potentially do. I'm still waiting for that classy free kick to go in.
What's with all the open seats? It looks half full... I know the games are in South Africa, and it's not the easiest thing to head down there financially, but damn. It seems like most of the matches have not been sold out, in comparaison to past events where practically every game was sold out.
One thing for sure is that most people were at work. The other thing you have already pointed out is the spending power of Africans. There is a mad passion for football this way but, spending to watch a game is a whole different story. They had ticket prices for South Africans, then ticket prices for the rest of Africa (and the world I hope). The prices have been restrictive but you'll notice the last match of the day, and weekend matches will have a higher attendance. The first two matches will normally have a number of charity organizations and local schools in attendance as part of the other crowd.
yea but i think the countries involved only have an allocation of 3000 tickets per team for each game. eveything else goes to the locals who probably cant afford the tickets because they are expensive.
Agreed.
Yeah, especially for the "lesser" matches theres not that much interst. Lots of empty places in the stadiums.
Talking of "lesser" matches I'm interested in seeing the attendance for the New Zealand/Slovakia game. What surprised me the most was that even during the opening match, there were empty seats. I mean, this is the home team and the largest stadium. Fill it up and get behind your team no matter what the cost is. A better number of South Africans can at least afford to watch 1 match at the stadium.
Apparently they can't ban them because they are part of the African culture.
South African culture my dear. Some Africans are truly surprised by the noise those things make. Finally our women have some competition in the noise making field
Did anyone see that incident today in the Netherland game where RVP was flagged offside but carried on playing, the ref ran over as if to book him but RVP pointed at his ears and then the crowd as if to say he couldn't hear the refs whistle.
I saw that but, I was thinking he'd say anything to get away from that Yellow card. He was out of sorts during that game. My guess was he had to see if he had what it takes to get the ball in the back of the net.
I actually like that the WC is in Africa, demographically speaking. Africans are least likely to be able to afford a long trip and skyhigh ticket prices. So yeah, cool, Africa.
But this tourney in SA brings with it a whole host of problems, an important one being security.
It's not like i begrudge the South Africans for it, but the decision where to host the tournament should never ever be at the expense of the tourney, in any way.
I really like the fact that it's in Africa. It was always one of those things we grew up thinking would never happen. For most Africans, even if your national team isn't in the tournament, you root for whichever African team is playing. Which explains a lot of gloominess after the Cameroon game. The security has really been beefed up by SA, a lot more than they have been given credit for. Unfortunately, most of the cases of crime being reported are because people are hanging out at the wrong places. Why leave money in your Hotel Room when you know you wouldn't do that anywhere else in the World? There was a lot of politics after it was announced that the tournament would come to Africa. A lot of people were pissed when the continental rotation was announced by FIFA. They did rescind it anyway. Safe to say, it won't come back to Africa again. SA is a lovely country and I think whoever has the opportunity to visit it should take it.
Blatter is just making this his little political game, and I want to punch him in the face.
Punch him for me as well. Mostly coz of how he screwed the people who spent millions perfecting goal-line technology.
I can't lie I barely even notice the horns cus I pay attention to the game...it's like white noise or something, barely notice it
Eventually, the vuvuzelas get filtered out the more games you watch.
