A day of emotions

(Originally published June 19 on freep.com)

JOHANNESBURG, South Africa -- In just one day at the World Cup, your emotions can swing like a pendulum.

On Thursday night, we arrived back in Johannesburg. We didn’t want to leave Cape Town. It was an oasis; a beautiful, friendly city that’s so compact and easy to get around. Great restaurants on every corner, unique shops, a stunning waterfront -- it felt like we were in Europe or San Francisco.

Johannesburg is huge, a bit scary and tough to get around. It seems like we are on the bus forever whenever we head anywhere. So, we were already disappointed to be heading back across the country.

On Friday, we headed off to Ellis Park, the famous rugby stadium where South Africa won the 1995 World Cup. (It’s featured in the movie “Invictus.”)

The area around the stadium was as depressed an urban environment as you will ever see. Imagine the worst areas of Detroit, but crowded with people. Skinny, hungry day laborers waiting along the side of the road looking for any sort of the work.

The closer we got the stadium, people were selling anything -- anything. Used gloves, old fruit, counterfeit soccer merchandise. Our local bus drivers couldn’t find us an official lot. So, we parked along a street and marched six blocks through the poverty toward the stadium. Still, we were greeted mostly with smiles and an occasional U-S-A chant. A few members of our group from Columbus, Ohio, stopped to get a picture with a local boy wearing a beat up Ohio State sweatshirt. But the degree of poverty was overwhelming and depressing. We were so close to the stadium, but the World Cup seemed so far away.

We turned toward Ellis Park, walking under a bridge where a few unfortunate souls were living, and ran straight into a shiny new McDonald’s. Surrounded by a high security fence, it was sparkling. We stopped there to grab a quick bite, figuring it was slightly better than stadium food.

At the McDonald’s, a South African TV crew was interviewing Americans. We were wearing our jerseys with HONEYMOON on the back, so they grabbed us for a few quick sound bites.

Once inside Ellis Park, we met up with a few friends from Virginia for beers. The sun was out. In fact, when we left our hotel, it was only 35 degrees. Now, it must have been 60. All seemed right with the world. Again, there were Americans everywhere --- and a few folks here and there from Slovenia.

If you are reading this blog, we’re going to assume you watch the game or at least know what happened.

Our emotions went something like this:

NERVOUS OPTIMISM: At kickoff, we knew a win would put us in great position.

DÉJÀ VU: Another early goal, puts us behind.

HORROR! Two goals down!

DESPAIR: At halftime, our vacation still had six days to go, but it seemed like our World Cup was over.

HOPE: Landon Donovan’s early goal put us back into the game.

TENSION: Will we get the second goal? We keep carving out chances, but time is ticketing away.

GOOOOOOAAAAL! Michael Bradley ties the game!

NO GOAL!!! After a moment of pure joy, we learn that Maurice Edu’s would-be winning goal is disallowed.

RELIEF: The game is over, but our World Cup is not. Our team is still alive.

After the game, it was dark, but we had to trek back through the streets around Ellis. The faces greeting us seemed less friendly. But our group stuck together and safely made our way back to our buses.

Later that night, we watched England-Algeria at an Irish pub near our hotel. A group of eight of us ate (and drank) for under $100. The game finished 0-0, putting the USA into second place in our group.

All we need to do now is beat Algeria. It’s going to be a long wait until Wednesday.