The party was at the Lombardy boutique hotel. A nice setting. Old farmhouse transformed into restaurant and wedding venue, and extra bits built on as hotel with lovely, large rooms.
The wedding was traditional but not pompous and kept reasonably small and straight forward. A nice formula. Good food too. Great atmosphere. And it didn’t rain despite gathering dark clouds. Met some people I hadn’t seen for some years. One thing that the hotel really should change with a matter of some urgency (also, but not only, because of 2010) is that its directions still mention the N1 to Pietersburg. As we all know, Pietersburg changed a while ago to Polokwane. And since the ANC gathering there at the end of 2007 which lead to Zuma’s ascend, the provincial capital gained extra name-recognition.
Oh and the same day we got a message from a friend who was counting down one year to 10/10/10 when she is getting married. 2010 Will clearly not be just another year.
Speaking of 2010. Last weekend was world cup qualification madness around the globe. And some of the bigger football countries that recently looked like they were about to stay home next year, have come closer to buying their air tickets.
So the USA, who surprised us at this year’s Confederations Cup, will be back. They got their qualification in the bag. Same for their southern neighbours Mexico. Chile too is now a confirmed attendee. Down in South America Argentina is not qualified yet but a step closer. A world cup without coach Maradona won’t be the same. Brazil and Paraguay were already qualified some weeks ago.
From Europe already The Netherlands, England and Spain had bought travel guides to SA. They will now be joined by Germany, Denmark, Italy and Serbia. Ronaldo’s Portugal are back optimistic after clinching 2nd spot in group A. Slovakia and Switzerland look set to win their group too later this week. And then it’s the final do-or-die phase in Europe. The eight best second placed will be drawn to sweat it out in play-offs (home/away), from which the four winners will come to SA too. Those eight teams fighting it out will likely be France, Bosnia-Herzegovina, Russia, Slovenia, Portugal, Greece, Republic of Ireland and then Ukraine or Croatia.
In Asia and Oceania we already had Japan, Australia and both (!!) Koreas qualified. They will be joined by either New Zealand or Bahrain who are battling it out on Wednesday.
And finally here in Africa there are still lots of qualifying to do. Host Bafana Bafana is obviously already qualified, as was Ghana. Now Didier Drogba’s Ivory Coast, probably Africa’s best team, has joined the flight o SA too. Cameroon is reasonably hopeful, as is Tunisia. Nigeria on the other hand is likely to stay home. But the big African qualifying clash this week will be Egypt against Algeria in Cairo. Egypt needs to beat Algeria with plenty of goals to jump to first spot in group C and book their tickets to SA. It looks like African giants Egypt might well miss the 2010 circus in South Africa.
Meanwhile South Africans themselves are wondering if their Brazilian coach Santana will survive the end of the week after another defeat. This time Norway beat Bafana Bafana 1-0. On Tuesday SA plays a friendly in and against Iceland. There have been confusing sounds coming out of SA’s football community (players, media, SAFA,...) regarding Santana’s faith. One thing is for sure, Bafana Bafana’s track record is a scary thing as we are counting down to be the host to football paradise.
There will be plenty of more football drama this week.
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