During this last month of 2010 FIFA World Cup themed posts I have already done a post featuring the Soccer Ball Light Structures outside the airport and although I don't think they will change the feature much after the event, I thought that I want to post another one just in case they do.
Can you believe it? The opening game of the 2010 FIFA World Cup between South Africa and Mexico took place four weeks ago and there are only two days left before its all over. People got together at pubs, offices, public viewing areas and homes to watch the big game and that continued throughout the tournament. I have a feeling there are a few folk out there that may just suffer from withdrawal symptoms after the tournament ends.
Although the official theme song for the 2010 FIFA World Cup is Shakira's Waka Waka, the song that have grabbed the imagination of the people is K'naan's Wavin' Flag. The song was chosen by Coca Cola, one of the official global sponsors of the event, to be their theme song for the World Cup. K'naan performed at the FIFA Fan Fest last Friday and drew in thousands of people wanting to hear him sing "the" song. In his own words, "I would never have thought while sitting in a little room in my house and writing this song that it would get so out of control. It's even been translated into Chinese!"
The giant puppets from a project called The Giant Match made a stop at the FIFA Fan Fest straight from their run at the Grahamstown National Arts Festival. I was amazed by how well the puppeteers handled the figures and how they interacted with the people around them.
Brazil went into an early lead and was 1-0 up at half time before 2 goals in the second half by the Dutch sent their supporters into hysteria. The Dutch now meet Uruguay in the one semi final while Germany and Spain fight it out in the other one. The two losers head back to Port Elizabeth to play in the 3/4 playoff game on Saturday 10 July 2010.
Every FIFA World Cup has its own mascot decided on by the country hosting the event. The mascot for the 2010 FIFA World Cup is a green haired leopard called Zakumi. His names comes from "ZA" which is the international abbreviation for South Africa and the "kumi" which means "10" in several African languages and refer to 2010. On Saturday we visited Greenacres Shopping Centre here in Port Elizabeth and found a Zakumi figure at each entrance. Drama Princess just loves him and I had to get a pic of her with him.
GOAL!!!
My apologies. I know this is a re post of a photo posted earlier in the year (but its sticking to the FIFA World Cup theme), but I am having internet problems at home. I will be back with something new tomorrow.
A thumbs up and peace sign for a 2010 FIFA World Cup which is going very well so far
There is a development soccer tournament being run alongside the 2010 FIFA World Cup on the B field at the Port Elizabeth Fan Fest at St Georges Park. The tournament is organised along the same lines as the World Cup with local club and school teams (male and female age group and open teams) representing the countries playing in the tournament. The competition is also into the knockout stages now some have gone to penalty shootouts.
