Best and Worst of the World Cup

Since I've returned from South Africa, many people have been asking me about the best and worst parts of my experience.  While the trip was fantastic overall, there were definitely specific events that stuck out, either for being particularly great or particularly frustrating. With the World Cup coming to a close this Sunday, I wanted to take an opportunity to chronicle these moments before Americans stop paying attention to soccer until 2014.

VENUE
Best: While Green Point Stadium in Cape Town was modern and conveniently located near the waterfront, Soccer City in Johannesburg was incredible.  The unique clay pot facade was great during the day and even more impressive at night (when the lights glowing inside made the stadium look like it was filled with fire), and the sheer size of the venue made Soccer City the most "World Cup worthy."

Worst: Rustenberg, hands down.  My friends and I approximated that the USA has at least 100-150 stadiums nicer than Royal Bafokeng Stadium in Rustenberg.  I just kept thinking back to a trip I took to Camp Randall Stadium in Madison, Wisconsin (home of the University of Wisconsin Badgers football team) this past fall; that venue was way more impressive and modern than Royal Bafokeng, and Camp Randall doesn't hold a candle to a place like the new Meadowlands Stadium or FedEx Field (or Soccer City, for that matter).  The fact that Rustenberg hosted World Cup games was kind of a joke, and it was particularly unfortunate that the USA had to play there twice (against England and Ghana, though I was only in attendance for the latter).

SPORTS CITY
Best: Cape Town had a great downtown, a fun waterfront area, and convenient transportation between the city center and the suburbs.  Fans could easily take the train into the city, grab food or drinks at tons of area restaurants and bars, and then easily walk to Green Point Stadium for the games.  Cape Town's Fan Fest was also within walking distance of the main part of the city, which was rare for this World Cup.
Worst: Rustenberg.  Again, I can't believe this was a World Cup host city.  I wasn't a huge fan of Pretoria, either, and Bloemfontein was more or less a farm town, but Rustenberg had absolutely nothing to offer fans.  The dilapidated stadium wasn't even located conveniently; we had to use the Park and Ride to get to it.

AFRICAN CULTURAL ELEMENT

Best: The yellow South African "Bafana Bafana" jerseys.  We saw them everywhere; native South Africans wore them with pride, and it was great to see how excited the people were not only about their team, but also about being the World Cup hosts.  The bright yellow jerseys made it easy to spot the locals, all of whom were friendly, helpful and knowledgable about their soccer.

Worst: When I first heard that FIFA wasn't going to ban vuvuzelas from World Cup games, I was glad; I didn't want soccer's organizers to rob South Africa of a piece of its culture.  After two weeks in South Africa, though, I can honestly say that I hate those horns.  They weren't too bad at the games; soccer matches are supposed to be loud, so I give the constant buzz inside the stadiums a pass.  I had people blowing vuvuzelas within inches of my ears while at restaurants, public restrooms and at gas stations, though, which was particularly annoying and made my blood boil after hearing it for two straight weeks.

MOMENT
Best: Obviously, this was the game winning goal against Algeria by Landon Donovan.  The eruption of the crowd after the goal was unlike anything else I've been a part of, and it's certainly a sports moment that I'll never forget.  Getting to run down to the edge of the field and greet the USA team, complete with getting to rub Jozy Altidore's head as he dove into the crowd, was the icing on the cake.
Worst: Slovenia's second goal of the first half, putting the USA in an early 2-0 hole in my personal first USA game of the World Cup.  Though the USA would come back and tie the game 2-2 (and should have won 3-2 if not for a bad call), at the time of the 2-0 deficit I was devastated.  I saw all hopes of the USA advancing to the Round of 16 flying out the window, and was already thinking about how unexcited I was about the prospect of attending a meaningless USA versus Algeria game.  While the deficit made the comeback especially sweet, that first half was the low point emotionally for me - even lower than the loss versus Ghana.

GAME
Best: While the USA win over Algeria was phenomenal in the end, the first 90 minutes of the contest were actually very frustrating.  My favorite game from start to finish was Germany's second round victory over England in Bloemfontein.  It was a warm day (I actually felt comfortable in a t-shirt the entire game, which is rare for the winter in South Africa) with the sun shining, it was high scoring (Germany won 4-1, though it should to be 4-2), and both teams played at a fast pace.  I wasn't expecting to be so entertained by soccer the afternoon after the USA's elimination at the hands of Ghana, but our final game was probably my favorite from start to finish.
Worst: USA's loss to Ghana.  I already talked about how much I disliked Rustenberg and Royal Bafokeng Stadium, but it's worth mentioning that the game was rough, too.  Ghana scored early to frustrate everyone, and even when the USA tied the game on Landon Donovan's penalty kick, it always felt as if Ghana had all the momentum.  After Ghana scored in the overtime period to take a 2-1 lead, and followed that up with faking injury after injury to waste time, the game became especially frustrating.  It was definitely a tough pill to swallow, both for USA fans and fans of good, clean soccer.

This (likely) concludes my World Cup-related posts for the foreseeable future.  I hope to make it to an MLS game later this summer, which will of course be post-worthy, but other than that we'll take an indefinite break from soccer starting now.  Next up, expect my thoughts on tomorrow night's LeBron James live press conference by the end of this week, and something about the MLB All Star Game early next week.