Review: Egypt 1-0 Italy

As promised here it is; rather late than never!

The excitement could not be contained as we arrived at the stadium a -somewhat three hours prior to kickoff - there were a handful of Italians and a group of Egyptians. The gates had not been opened yet so we were subjected to stand and wait as we eyed our opponents out. Each set of fans looked at each other giving a subtle smile but weary that they would be our rivals that tonight. It was like Apartheid all over again... segregation occurred as if it were the norm; the Italians stood on the one side and the Egyptians the other.

The Egyptians were in good spirits as one of them had a huge flag, he continued to wave it while his fellow Pharaoh supporter blew on the much criticised Vuvuzela as they huddled and discussed the game.

Us Italians kept to our own as we occasionally stood up to take some photo’s, flags, scarves, shirts the works, the Azzurri support dressed up to the max. The Pharaoh’s saw the photo opportunity and pounced. They came to us, shook our hands, and we exchanged flags as the group of us gathered: Egypt and Italy united for those brief minutes.

Entering into the stadium was easy enough provided one got their early. There had been complaints that should you arrive an hour or an hour and a half before the game you could quite possibly miss kickoff so it's best to rather get there a good few hours before and enjoy the fan parks. The fan park consisted of eateries, dancing competitions, Sony promotions, Football Trivia competitions, and several Official Fan Shops which added to the buzzing atmosphere.

The vibe in the stadium was buzzing and quite literally so, the Vuvuzela's were in full force as the locals found every opportunity to blow the buzzing trumpet whenever Egypt had possession. South Africans generally favour the winning team but when the underdog wins, they tend to adopt that team as their second nation. A prime example was a man that kept on shouting "Gattuso! Gattuso! Gattuso you are the best!" and once Egypt scored he did a typical South African style and did a three-sixty and started cheering on Egypt.

In the second half "Egypt! Egypt!" echoed around the stadium as the Italian supporters remained shut. Boos towards De Rossi were not held back as he was surprisingly found to be the most unliked Italian player despite the raving reviews coming into the competition.

Upon exiting the stadium it was chaotic as it was practically a stampede to get out, but once on the streets one could not get anywhere fast as the thousands of fans had to wait for their relative buses to take us back to the park-and-ride. Fans were pushing and shoving as the lack of transport saw thousands of people still waiting for two to three hours after the game to be transported.

All in all it was an amazing experience despite the loss. South Africa still has a lot of work to do in terms of jacking up the transport system, getting the fans through the gates at a steady pace before kickoff, and improving the city as a whole. Moreover, the stadium is in good condition and is definitely prepared to host the World Cup games. The stewards in the actual stadium are extremely helpful in finding one's seats despite it all being well signposted and in general everything went well with just a few minor glitches.

Pictures will be posted up next week or so...