Among our group were a man and his wife from Seattle and a girl and her co-worker from California. The girl was very bossy and rude to our driver, we tried not to talk to them (the guy was friendly, felt bad for him having to travel with her). But more on the rude girl later! =)
We arrived near the stadium and walked the last few blocks in. Was surprised to see about 1/3 Algerians and 2/3 US fans, which was more Algerians than we expected. They were singing their songs and here and there you would hear "Ah-MAY-dicans" - wonder what they were saying about us...
Arriving at our seats we were in the 3rd row of the upper deck near mid-field. Sweet! The US started off slowly yet again, with Algeria clanking a shot off the crossbar early in the match. As things progressed the US got stronger and stronger but just couldn't find the net. Finishing practice anyone??
Our hopes were starting to fade, as the score in the other match was 1-0 to England, which meant the US was going home in 5 more minutes. Then... a break by Donovan, passes outside to Altidore... who fires a cross/shot into the path of Dempsey who directs it on goal... saved by the Algerian keep, but a rebound trickles out just beyond the 6-yard box. In comes Donovan, who slams the rebound into the lower left corner!!! Pandemonium breaks out in the stands as all the US fans go absolutely crazy! Fans jumping everywhere and beer raining down from the sky. After the final whistle blew, Donovan blasted the ball up into the crowd toward us, just missing the first row of the upper deck in front of us by a few feet. The players celebrating on the field, jumping and hugging, Altidore on the ground with tears streaming down his face. A great moment was seeing all the players on the field, arms around each other, watching the match highlights on the big screen with all the fans. Then after the players saluted all the fans they headed into their dressing room. As we finally began to depart the stadium, we noticed that my chair was broken sometime in the celebrations.
We filed out of the stadium, taking in the celebratory atmosphere with all the US fans singing and dancing and the Algerian fans looking at the ground and shaking their heads.
We arrived back at our car with the driver and couple from Seattle already there. The driver was on the phone with the tour company - the other 2 people were missing. The couple told us that the bossy girl and her co-worker had been arrested before the match for trying to sell tickets to the match right in front of the stadium (big FIFA no-no!!). The were taken away to prison, didn't get to see any of the match, and were likely facing deportation in the morning. Can't say we feel bad for the annoying bossy girl, but too bad for the guy she was with. I'm sure she yelled at the police like she did our nice driver. So anyways we left them for the tour company to deal with and headed back to the hotel in Johannesburg, all the way talking about possible round of 16 matchups and going over highlights of the great spectacle we had just witnessed. Upon arrival at the hotel we checked in, dropped a few things in the room, and headed down to the bar to celebrate with the other US fans we were seeing all over the hotel. Got some dinner (and just a few adult beverages) and watched the group D matches in the hotel bar, then to sleep, exhausted from all the events of the day.
We arrived back at our car with the driver and couple from Seattle already there. The driver was on the phone with the tour company - the other 2 people were missing. The couple told us that the bossy girl and her co-worker had been arrested before the match for trying to sell tickets to the match right in front of the stadium (big FIFA no-no!!). The were taken away to prison, didn't get to see any of the match, and were likely facing deportation in the morning. Can't say we feel bad for the annoying bossy girl, but too bad for the guy she was with. I'm sure she yelled at the police like she did our nice driver. So anyways we left them for the tour company to deal with and headed back to the hotel in Johannesburg, all the way talking about possible round of 16 matchups and going over highlights of the great spectacle we had just witnessed. Upon arrival at the hotel we checked in, dropped a few things in the room, and headed down to the bar to celebrate with the other US fans we were seeing all over the hotel. Got some dinner (and just a few adult beverages) and watched the group D matches in the hotel bar, then to sleep, exhausted from all the events of the day.
