The Fever Starts - The South Africa 2010 FIFA World Cup Finally Kicks Off

World Cup 2010

Only a few weeks after the Tungurahua Volcano decided it was time to blow its top, far away on another continent, events were about to begin that would reunite the entire world. It was of course, the World Cup.

I cant believe that it has already been 4 years since the last one passed us by. I went out to Germany then, to soak up the atmosphere and enjoy the party that only the World Cup knows how to ignite. This time I would watch the drama unfold in Ecuador. Unfortunately, Ecuador had not made the tournament. By all accounts they were pretty unlucky and narrowly missed out on making the biggest stage in football. Locals here however, told me that they would support all their South American neighbours, of which Brasil, Argentina, Uruguay, Paraguay and Chile had made it. They did also say that out of them all, Argentina would get the least support, as apparently the nation is a little bit arrogant when it comes to sporting events, and especially football.

For me though, there was no need to support anyone but my home nation of England. With a team full of so called superstars and one of the best players in the world, Mr Wayne Rooney fronting our line, how could I not be anything but hopefull. I watched the first ever World Cup match take place on African soil. It was brilliant. Finally the World Cup had arrived.

It didnt take long for my dreams and hopes to slowly fade away. I watched the first game in a local bar here in Quito. A miserable 1-1 draw with the USA, which was partly a result of disasterous goalkeeping that Harry Redknapp´s wife, Im sure, would have done better in keeping the ball out!!!. It was an interesting experience though. Four years ago, in Germany, me and a group of friends were filmed on TV, dressed in all our England gear, and which eventually made it onto the BBC news. This time, me and my group of friends decided to get painted up. I had huge England flags plastered onto my face. So maybe I shouldn´t have been suprised when halfway through the game, a film-crew burst through the bar door and started to film and interview us. It was for an Ecuadorian news broadcast. I got interviewed, although it was mostly given in English, before they then decided to just hold the camera onto my face and record my facial reactions during the whole of the second half of the match.

During the next game against Algeria, my misery continued after perhaps one of the worst England display´s I have ever had to endure. It ended 0-0. Again I watched this game in a bar, with the only consolation being that at half time, the bar (called The Coffee Tree) provided a free raffle of which I won first prize. I had won the World Cup football, The Jabulani, which I was delighted about, as it had caused so much controversy during this World Cup. I have had a kick about with and cant really see what all the fuss is about to be honest.

England´s last group game provided a better performance (although not totally convincing) as we beat Slovenia 1-0. I watched the game at work. the tech boys had set up a projector and a large screen to see all the World Cup games. It was brilliant. The result was enough to put us through to the knock-out stages. We were still in, just, yet our poor performances meant that we would have to face the Group D Winners and that just happened to be Germany.

It was the old enemies. Another match with the Germans would probably end up resulting in some sort of cardiac arrest for me, but nevertheless, I would still go into this game with hope and pride..........as I didnt have much else to go in with. Before that crucial game arrived though, I would have to go through something far worse than an England Vs Germany World cup knock-out game. I had become complacent in Quito and as I would soon find out, that was a bad thing to do...........................