The Nightmare is over.

Thank goodness for that, now, hopefully i can enjoy the rest of the tournament.

In my own little world i had your back England…no matter what. You did not deserve it…again!

History will probably repeat itself in four years and i will be there for you again as i have been since before the 1966 tournament.
Right now though, i am sick and disgusted at our feeble pathetic performance. In truth it was our worst ever…we are going backwards.

It would be a valid argument that the disallowing of the second England goal affected the ebb and flow of the game to such an extent that we slumped and the germans moved up a gear but it is a meaningless argument really, we were well beaten and quite frankly we did not even deserve to be there, Slovenia should of been playing last night.

Sweeping changes have to happen within the English football scene. Based on our performances at the world cup for the past 10 tournaments or so i am now extremely worried about English football’s future on the world stage.

There are many aspects that need to be dealt with, from early education to the way they view the rest of the world as adults, their attitude is appalling. They are certainly not winners. Does this make them losers?…i don’t know…i think that ‘also rans’ is probably most relevant.

Superstars…my ass.

The English league must be a priority, how can our players possibly develop when some of our top teams do not have any English players playing…Saturday in and Saturday out. This is nonsense, and if money is the key factor regarding the premier players, rather pick the team from the second division.

The foreigners playing in the premiership are having fantastic tournaments for their relevant countries….

The English press also need to have a good look at themselves and the part they play, assuming that they are in fact English supporters in the first place. They build these boys up and then when it suits them they shoot them down again.

There are a multitude of factors which need addressing urgently.

However, the bottom line is that the players themselves have to take a good look at themselves, as athletes, as English players, as members of society.

John Terry, i appreciate your game and your passion when playing, but you, as captain, went out and shagged your teammates missus.

Sure, she was out there and is to blame as well, in truth you have probably done Wayne Bridge a huge favour, but your participation was and is totally unacceptable.

I firmly believe that now the tournament is over you should be exiled from the team immediately and forever, even if it does mean weakening the team…the message needs to be clear.

Actually you should resign, and will if you are anywhere near being the man you claim to be.

Wayne Rooney, you must of known what you were signing up for with the Nike ads which were released at the beginning of the tournament…are you kidding dude??…i hope you are suitably embarrassed, if you are not then you must have your head very far up your own ass ( no wonder you cannot see clearly anymore). Apart from doubling the pressure on yourself and the rest of the team you made all of us look like complete idiots.

Nike and the US team must be having a good chuckle, i reckon you’ve been had boy… but i won’t go there. Do you want to be a salesman for foreign products or do you want to be an English star player? Make a decision.

Joe Cole, i hear you are demanding 120,000 english pounds a week!!…do me a favour!! I love your game on a good day but you contributed absolutely nothing to this English team…nothing.

Matt Upson, i won’t climb into you, the fact is you should never have been there in the first place, you are not good enough…too slow, and you don’t read the game well enough to compensate your slow speed. Fabio Capello must be responsible for this one as indeed he must be responsible for taking crocks in the squad.

Having said that, i think FC is a strong and football wise man who i hope stays for the rest of his contract and works on rebuilding…everything, but with a view to integrating and bringing back an English manager in a couple of years. I do hope the FA don’t fire you and make you out to be the scapegoat. ( i can hardly believe i am saying that about an Italian who manages England)

David Beckham, you have provided us with some brilliant moments during your career, your service has been long and worthwhile, and long may you continue to work with and for english football, i have no doubt your contribution can be vast, particularly if you find your niche within the framework. However, the fact is that from a footballing point of view you never fulfilled your potential as a world footballer outside of your time with Man U.

So what were you doing there?

Were you teaching the players not to kick Argentinians and not throw tantrums? You are not a coach and you were not fit. Have you ever heard of the saying ‘too many cooks spoil the broth’?

I could go on but i won’t, i have made my point even though this scribbling is virtually spewing out.

Brazil would be the absolute best place in the world to go and take the cup, but to have even a remote chance of achieving that English football needs to take a good long hard look at itself. They are not champions, they are barely competitors,

mega stars?…more like mega woosies.

I would like to get my hands on the next bunch for week or two before they head off to Brazil…providing they qualify of course!!

Don’t panic England, all it means is that the knockout stage of the competition starts a game early for us…and that is a good thing.

This is a seven game tournament not a league. The fact is we are in a position where we control our own destiny still.

All credit has to go to Algeria, they fought like lions and played with passion, heart and spirit. They made their own luck, and they did it in a game which was essentially their cup final.

They hustled and bustled and played us out of the game.

Personally, assuming that England are the good team that we know they are, i think it is good news…much rather have two upsets at the beginning of the tournament than go out and cruise through these stages and enter the knockout stages thinking you are the business and untouchable.

As for the English ‘Dogs of Ink’…forget about them in the same manner that you would forget about what the press in Northern Siberia or Timbuctoo would have to say. Reading their pathetic headlines and moronic attempts to show they know what they are talking about will achieve nothing but discontent and confusion.

These dogs of ink are clearly not English supporters, all they are interested in is selling their rags.

I see that Franz Beckenbaur baited them a few days ago and typical of a pack of starving rabid dogs they bit…

Be Cool, Be Calm, Be Collected, play your game and apply the British Bulldog spirit…the Algerians taught us a lesson on how to rise to the occasion…if you can learn that we will go all the way.

I really feel like having a pop at Sky News, quite honestly i think they should be ashamed of themselves.

Fortunately, probably for me, Peter Davies has beaten me to it, and has written a great letter to you all that surpasses anything i could of put together on the subject. So i will cut and paste that here instead..

Before i do that let me just add a few of my own observations.

I saw Jeremy Thomson and his team last weekend at Melrose last friday and spent a couple of hours either watching them or standing right next to them to get a feel of what they were about, and as i may of already mentioned, the feeling i got was that they were only there looking for things to go wrong.

I am now convinced that is true…apart from anything else, why would one of their main anchors come here for just two days at the start of the tournament and fly off home.

On the Friday afternoon during the opening ceremony there was nothing but pure joy surrounding them, yet their grim faces stood out like sore thumbs as they all scanned the scene looking for something….what i wonder.

Later that night you seemed to have lightened up a bit….did you have a drink or was it because the host nation had only drawn their match? Whilst interviewing a group of black South Africans in the evening after the game you clenched your fist and shouted out “Amandla”…..did you think you were back in the times during the struggle?

It came across as ‘shit’ stirring to me….some people may even have seen it as incitement.

Do you know what it means? You may i suppose, and in fact the word is apt under the circumstances. However, if you knew what you were saying, and if that is your attitude, why do you and your people slag off the English teams the way you do, as opposed to getting behind them and giving them all the encouragement they need.

To digress slightly, Paul Parker the so called football pundit, whichever news agency you work for your little piece on why the English manager is out of his depth is possibly the biggest load of trash i have ever read…but the real point is that the timing of that being published is disgusting…i hope you don’t call yourself an English football supporter. At best you were a journeyman player and as a pundit/journalist you fall far short of that level. Perhaps you can get a job at Sky News.

Going back to the Sky coverage, there was a group of security workers who marched to express their unhappiness at the amount they were paid after one of the games in Durban. Sky news said there were riots…there was no rioting.

Apparently the guys had only been paid R150.00 when they were expecting more. I am not going to get into it, i don’t know the facts. I am certainly not going to defend a payment of R150.00, if that was for a full days work then it is not very good in my opinion.

However, you guys broadcast to the English nation and the world that they were only paid 15 english pounds. They were not paid 15 pounds, they were paid 150 rands.

For R150,00, i can feed myself very healthily for a week or more at home, i can buy petrol and go to the Lion park,spend a day with the animals before feeding myself in the restaurant there, i can buy half a dozen bottles of plonk, i can buy over 30 cans of good beer, i can pay my monthly electricity bill in winter, i can even take a girlfriend to the movies and have a couple of pizzas afterwards.

What can you do in England with 15 pounds.

Your broadcast was a misrepresentation at best.

Enough of my diatribe.
Peter Davies has said it perfectly in his open letter.

Open letter to our Foreign Media friends Dear World Cup visitors,

Now that you are safely in our country you are no doubt happily realising you are not in a war zone. This may be in stark contrast to what you have been bracing yourself for should you have listened to Uli Hoeness or are an avid reader of English tabloids, which as we all know are only good for wrapping fish ‘n chips and advancing the careers of large-chested teens on page three.

As you emerge blinking from your luxury hotel room into our big blue winter skies, you will surely realise you are far more likely to be killed by kindness than by a stray bullet. Remember that most of the media reports you have read, which have informed your views on South Africa, will have been penned by your colleagues. And you know what journos are like, what with their earnest two thousand word opuses on the op-ed pages designed to fix this country’s ills in a heartbeat. Based on exhaustive research over a three-day visit.

Funnily enough, we are well aware of the challenges we face as a nation and you will find that 95% of the population is singing from the same song-sheet in order to ensure we can live up to our own exacting expectations.

We are also here to look after you and show you a good time. Prepare to have your preconceived notions well and truly shattered.
For instance, you will find precious few rhinos loitering on street corners, we don’t know a guy in Cairo named Dave just because we live in Johannesburg, and our stadiums are magnificent, world-class works of art.

Which is obviously news to the Sky TV sports anchor who this week remarked that Soccer City looked ‘ a bit of a mess’. She didn’t realize the gaps in the calabash exterior are to allow in natural light and for illumination at night, and not the result of vandalism or negligence.

The fact that England, the nation which safely delivered Wembley Stadium two years past its due date, is prepared to offer us South Africans advice on stadium-readiness should not be surprising. The steadiest stream of World Cup misinformation has emanated from our mates the Brits over the past couple of years.

If it’s not man-eating snakes lurking in Rooney’s closet at the team’s (allegedly half-built) Royal Bafokeng training base, then it’s machete-wielding gangs roaming the suburbs in search of tattooed, overweight Dagenham dole-queuers to ransack and leave gurgling on the pavement.

In fact what you are entering is the world’s most fascinating country, in my opinion. I’m pretty sure you will find that it functions far more smoothly, is heaps more friendly and offers plenty more diversions than you could possibly have imagined.
In addition to which, the population actually acts like human beings, and not like they are being controlled by sinister forces from above which turns them into bureaucratically-manipulated robots.

Plus we have world’s most beautiful women. The best weather. Eight channels of SuperSport. Food and wine from the gods themselves. Wildlife galore. (Love the Dutch team’s bus slogan: “Don’t fear the Big 5; fear the Orange 11”).

Having said all that, Jo’burg is undoubtedly one of the world’s most dangerous cities. Just ask those Taiwanese tourists who got out of their hire car to take close-up snaps of tawny beasts at the Lion Park a few years back. Actually, ask what’s left of them. And did you know the chances of being felled by cardiac arrest from devouring a mountain of meat at one of our world class restaurants has been statistically proven to be 33.3% higher in Jozi than in any other major urban centre not built upon a significant waterway? It’s true. I swear. I read it in a British tabloid.

Having recently spent two years comfortably cocooned in small town America, I’m only too aware of how little much of the outside world knows about this country. The American channel I used to work for has a massive battalion of employees descending on World Cup country. It has also apparently issued a recommendation to its staff to stay in their hotels when not working.

Given that said corporation is headquartered in a small town which many say is “best viewed through the rear-view mirror”, I find the recommendation, if it’s true, to be utterly astounding. In fact I don’t believe it is true. Contrary to the global stereotype, the best Americans are some of the sharpest people in the world. The fact they have bought most tickets in this World Cup proves the point.

Of course I have only lived in Johannesburg, city of terror and dread, virtually all my life, so don’t have the in-depth knowledge of say, an English broadsheet journalist who has been in the country for the weekend, but nevertheless I will share some of my observations gleaned over the years.

Any foreign tourist or media representative who is worried about his safety in South Africa should have a word with the Lions rugby fans from last year, or the Barmy Army cricket supporters (lilywhite hecklers by day, slurring, lager-fuelled lobsters by night). They managed just fine, just like the hundreds of thousands of fans who have streamed into the country over the past fifteen years for various World Cups, Super 14 matches, TriNations tests and other international events. Negligible crime incidents involving said fans over said period of time.

Trivia question: which country has hosted the most global sporting events over the past decade and a half? You don’t need me to answer that, do you?

In addition. Don’t fret when you see a gaggle of freelance salesmen converge on your car at the traffic lights (or robots as we like to call them) festooned with products. You are not about to be hijacked. Here in Mzansi (nickname for SA) we do a lot of our purchasing at robots. Here you can stock up on flags, coat hangers, batteries, roses for the wife you forgot to kiss goodbye this morning and a whole host of useful merchandise.

Similarly, that guy who runs up as you park the rental car outside the pub intends no malice. He’s your car guard. Give him a buck or two and your vehicle will be safe while you refuel for hours on our cheap, splendid beer. Unless someone breaks into it, of course.

We drive on the left in this country. Exercise caution when crossing the road at a jog-trot with 15 kilograms of camera gear on your back. Exercise common sense full stop. Nothing more. Nothing less. If you want to leave wads of cash in your hotel room like our Colombian friends, don’t be surprised if it grows wings.

Bottomline. Get out there and breathe in great lusty lungfuls of this amazing nation. Tuck into our world-class food and wines. Disprove the adage that white men can’t dance at our throbbing, vibrant night-clubs. Learn to say hello in all eleven official languages. Watch at least one game in a township. You will not be robbed and shot. You will be welcomed like a lost family member and looked after as if you are royalty. Ask those Bulls rugby fans who journeyed to Soweto recently.

With a dollop of the right attitude, this country will change your life.

It’s Africa’s time. Vacate your hotel room. Join the party.

Waka waka eh eh.

Actually it is the morning after the morning after….but for us England fans it is the morning after…..

Sunday, the third day of the tournament, and this time i am definitely staying in to watch the three games playing today, rest up, and get ready for a bit of work tomorrow.

I had intended to stay in yesterday and focus on the games with the England and USA playing the finale for the day.
I could not do it though, it was such a beautiful morning yesterday that i just had to get out and about for a bit and mix with some people. I went down to Norwood where i lunched at a favourite Israeli Deli of mine before pumping myself up a touch with a couple of large esspressos’.

Once again it was quite lovely driving down the highway with all the flags everywhere fluttering gaily in the breeze with a blue blue sky as the backdrop and a warm sun. The streets were still busy with many restaurants busy, the occasional vuvuzela and multitudes of hawkers selling more flags.

The buzz and excitement was still in the air although i am quite sure there was a lot of babalas around this morning.

I called into a bar/ club i know in Houghton and settled to watch the Greece v Korea game. Chatting to a few South Africans it was clear they were disappointed with their opening result, but quite upbeat about their next two games. I pointed out that it was a pretty good result, especially as the other game in their group had ended 0-0 which gave SA and Mexico the advantage going into the next game on level terms.

I left at half time as i was finding the game a bit dull, apart from the Koreans seeming to be an exciting side, and headed home to get comfortable for the Nigeria Argentina game before cooking some supper and getting into England USA.

I saw many Argentina fans heading to Ellis Park waving their banners and blowing their adopted vuvuzelas. (I figure there is a big opportunity selling them around the world) and as i hit the highway a huge American cavalcade of black cars were on the move, although going in the wrong direction at the time i have no doubt they were on their way to Rustenburg.

It really is strange to be seeing the whole world in our back yard!!

Anyway, back to my own screen for the England game. I do enjoy watching games in front of public screens but when it is a game i am really into i much prefer to watch without distraction.

I think i must of slumped for a solid 5 minutes when we let the US equalise, yo yo yo…(as the Africans say)

I battled to remember my own words to The south African folk earlier in the day!!

Oh well, we did not lose. How many teams in the past have won the cup after losing or drawing their first game?..plenty i am sure, even England did in 1966.
The fact is, if we cannot beat Slovenia and Algeria in our next two games then we simply do not deserve to go through to the second round, no offence meant to either team.

So, we are now well and truly underway, now it is all about the football…for me anyway. I have no doubt there will continue to be parties all over the place for the next four weeks, and no doubt i shall pull into one or two of them.

No matter what happens in the tournament from now it will not affect the fact that South Africa has delivered…big time.

At last the day arrived and i have no doubt that everyone here woke with a huge smile on their face as they anticipated the day ahead.

I live in a fairly remote spot but was woken around 6am by the sound of the vuvuzelas!!…. i cannot believe i am saying this but even for me it was a nice way to start the day and i was immediately drawn into the excitement that is engulfing all of us here in SA. (i love the fact that SA has stamped its personality on the cup instantly with the vuvuzela, it will be an icon of the 2010 games that will never be forgotten), i also the love to watch all the people partying and blowing the damn things…but outside of getting into the spirit they drive me nutz!!…(chuckling)

I bounced out of bed and resolved to get out there and enjoy the moment with everyone, and before the morning was over i was parked up at Melrose Arch looking for a spot to lunch at.

Just the drive down the highway alone was brilliant, most of the cars were flying flags…mainly South African, but a mixture of many of the nations competing (not one iota of aggravation i might add). Flags and banners adorned the centre aisles all the way and the offramps were heavily decorated, every car was filled with huge smiles. It was impossible not to sense the excitement and jubilation, you could hear it, feel it, you could almost touch it!!

I don’t think much work was done in this country yesterday!!

I walked around soaking up the atmosphere…words fail me…it was like Christmas and new years eve rolled into one and magnified considerably…and it was only midday!!

There was a pretty wild party with an accompanying concert going on in one piazza so i walked down to Vuyo’s restaurant in the main square to eat, where it was equally as busy and colourful but not quite so hectic!. The outfits were wonderful with some people having gone to serious effort and expense. Although it was mainly South African supporters present there many of the other nations supporters around and it was just lovely to see and feel the harmony.

After lunch, seated in the sun outside Vuyo’s ,i walked around a bit more before finding myself a nice spot with a clear view of the big screen to watch the opening ceremony.

I found myself standing next to a crew from Sky News with the anchor Jeremy Thompson, and being an avid watcher of several news channels including Sky i found it very strange to be standing next to this guy as he spoke out to the world when i normally see him every day from my own home. As i type this i have Sky on in the background and it is even stranger to be sitting here watching the guy broadcasting from where i was this afternoon.

I was standing next to them for a while, at least an hour as the tournament was opened by the dancers and singers…i hope i am wrong but i could not help but get the feeling that although they were doing their job they were sitting there like vultures waiting for something to go awry. I have heard him harping on about massive police presence every time he sees a copper chopper or hears a siren, but not once did i hear him say that for all the wild parties going on in every piazza, and for all the drinking that was taking place there was virtually no police presence at all….and nothing went wrong…nothing.

The opening ceremony was just perfect in my opinion…it was all about the people, the Nation and Africa herself. Not too long, and no sense of trying to top other opening ceremonies from the past. It was our opening ceremony. Ke nako!

After the ceremony was done i decided to head off to Monte Casino to watch the SA Mexico game.
Monte is a huge complex, indoors and outdoors that is purely for entertainment. Dozens of restaurants with every variety of food surround the casino and the whole of the indoors is built to replicate a Tuscany town, ‘cobbled streets and all, with the ceilings painted, and lighting arranged in a way to make it seem like it is permanently evening. The outdoor piazza , bordered by more restaurants, wine bars and coffee shops has a huge screen, maybe 10x 5 metres, and has an atmosphere that matches the stadiums.

The vibe was brilliant and i thoroughly enjoyed the opening game with the bafana bafana supporters who were going wild at every shot by the team and every save by their own goalie. I hope that England do not have to play the Bafana bafana unless they meet in the final which would be absolutely amazingly incredible.

Miracles do happen though…indeed as we are witnessing.

Desmond Tutu summed it up the other night when he stood before the opening concert crowds and said “I am dreaming”…he is not though, its here, its happening and it is how it is meant to be.

WELCOME to South Africa…we are having a party and everyone is invited.

The football World Cup has come around again and i doubt if any nation in the past has ever been so proud, so excited, so festive and so loud in their celebrations as the people here in South Africa.

The vibe and spirit is absolutely brilliant, the crescendo has been building for months already, flags are everywhere, music, dancing, drumming, the vuvuzelas are blaring and yesterday it all burst out onto the streets in joyous celebration with thousands and thousands…probably millions across the country…of people coming out onto the streets to make some noise for the boys to send them off to their opening game against Mexico tomorrow straight after the opening ceremony.

The skies are clear and blue, the sun is bright and warm and the people are even warmer, the wine is fine, the beer is cold, the stage is set and South Africa as one are ready.

So, come on down for what will be one of the best ever World Cups…African style!!

The party has started…let the football begin!!

PS as much as i love my home, Johannesburg, and as much as i truly want Bafana Bafana to do well i have to say…”Come on you England!!!”