The Best Stadium on Planet Earth?

HOME. And Paraguay SCORES! The first audible screams of the tournament from our living room echo off the TV! If a football fan screams in an empty flat when a goal is scored, does it make a sound? Bitterness remains after Italy’s hollow victory in 2006. 

The disappointment that accompanied Zidane’s red card and Italy’s eventual penalty roulette win still stings. 

The sooner the Italians are dethroned, the better it will be for the evolution, the growth, of international football. 

Please, not another anti-football Mourinho-esque cantor to the final.

Paraguayan joy in the Cape of Storms. Against the Robben Island backdrop, another set piece goal is well taken by Alcaraz (escape from?) in the ’39th minute.

Paraguay’s first effort on target. Shoo, Cape Town looks miserably cold, wet and windy tonight. Its getting brisk in Joburg but dry enough to go heavy on the moisturizer, a stark contrast from the humid Sunday afternoon in Durban where the Germans braaied kangaroo, dried it and made biltong! 

I think many South Africans took a perverse anti-Australian pleasure in seeing the hiding dealt by the Huns to their antipodal rivals....

Let me hang my colours to the mast. Not exactly black, gold and green, but the Moses Mahbida Stadium in Durban is the best stadium I have ever had the pleasure of visiting, superior from an objective spectator perspective (from my R140 cheap seats) to Old Trafford and Soccer City. I realize different experiences, different emotions, but there is something quite special about this venue including the long promenade that leads into the open south side of the ground. I anticipate great matches to come from Durban before the final draws on July 11th.

Moses Mahbida, the Durban Stadium's namesake was born in Thornville near Pietermaritzburg on 14 October 1923. Mahbida was a trade union activist and ANC and SACP liberation struggle leader. In November 1979, he was elected general secretary of the South African Communist Party, replacing Moses Kotane. In his eulogy of Mahbida, after his death from a stroke and heart attack in 1986, Oliver Tambo observed that Mabhida had been educated in "the stern university of mass struggle.... It is rarely given to a people that they should produce a single person who epitomises their hopes and expresses their common resolve as Moses Mabhida did. In simple language he could convey the aspirations of all our people in their magnificent variety, explain the fears and prejudices of the unorganised, and sense the feelings of even the most humble among our people."

Please see Omar Badsha’s utterly brilliant SA On-line website by clicking here.

6 hours back from the East coast to Joburg following the fortunes of Oranje and the Indomitable Lions on Radio 2000. Maybe time for a rename – Radio 2010? Normal service resumes for the Dutch and disappointment for Cameroon and Africa. I remain cautiously supportive, since I can remember, of the Dutch. I come from the wij houden van Oranje school of total football and reminisce about the defeated 1974 and 1978 teams - those under achieving finalists, Johan Neeskans and Cryuff, not to mention the Rijkaard, Guillet and van Basten generation of the 1990s. I hope the Dutch progress far.

Still in front of the TV… and Italy equalizes. It reminds me of the Mexican goal on Friday. It’s a fickle game and its even stopped raining in Cape Town. 10 minutes to go and Paraguay look like they are just about holding on for the draw.

Tomorrow its Brazil v the People’s Republic of Korea (North) at Ellis Park. North Korea? With both Koreas and Slovenia and Slovakia, New Zealand and Australia, this is a peculiar set of qualifyers. No preview for the New Zealand v Slovakia, needless to say, its a bit tricky to support a team whose moniker is the All Whites... sounds like a bad 70's punk band.

Having never seen the greatest footballing nation, Brazil play in the flesh in a World Cup, for me, tomorrow is another historic day. As family arrives from New York tomorrow for a 3 week footballing extravaganza starting with Spain v Switzerland back at Moses Mahbida, 11 matches in and the tournament is unfolding with heightened anticipation of what comes next?

Thus far it is somewhat ominous following Africa’s solitary victory (go Black Stars), Bafana’s heart palpitations, Germany’s socceroo roast and Italy’s perseverance.

The pick of tomorrow has to be Portugal v Ivory Coast. A returning World Cup finals participant, a survivor from Germany 2006, Ivory Coast under former English boss Sven Goren Ericksson should be sufficiently professional and seasoned not to be over-awed with the occasion. Portugal, coached by Carlos Queiroz former Bafana-Bafana-Real Madrid head and Manchester United assistant coach, with Cristano Ronaldo have arguably the best player in the world. The former world player of the year along with the Ivorian Didier Drogba are truly the mega-stars of the tournament. With no free kick goals yet in the tournament, I look forward to seeing what Ronaldo can do with the supposedly treacherous Jabulani ball. If Ronaldo or Drogba can match the endeavor and entertainment of Messi’s display on Saturday, finished hopefully by a goal or two, then this fixture will provide a marker for how the tournament progresses.

Portugal defeated by a Zidane inspired France in the 2006 semi-final are seeking to move beyond that final hurdle. Given Queiroz’s track record as a head coach, I doubt Portugal’s pedigree. With Mourinho and Ronaldo, Portugal may be a different story one day. As for Ivory Coast, Sven knows what it takes to coach a quarter finalist hopeful in England. May Ivory Coast emulate Ghana and cause the first real shock to the tournament. All eyes on the Friendly City tomorrow afternoon 16.00 local time.