Watching the World Cup in 3D at Nu Metro – don’t waste your time

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Posted on 19 June 2010 Personal

Numetro 3D glassesWith all the buzz in and around the World Cup, I’m trying to soak up as much of the experience as possible. So when I heard about Nu Metro showing some of the games in 3D I was pretty excited to go and watch!

The 3D soccer experience at Nu Metro is a complete letdown and here is why

Firstly we arrived 10 minutes early for the game and after waiting in line for 15 minutes for their 1 cashier to help everyone, we eventually got into the cinema 5 minutes after the game had started. Strike 1.

Secondly, I’m paying R100 a ticket to watch the game. I would expect at that price the 3D glasses to be free but you have to buy them for R5. They have these signs up that says you saving the planet by bringing your own but I don’t buy that.

I think tickets should be R100 and if you bring your own 3D glasses you should get R10 – R15 discount. Also, perfectly timed, they only started implementing this rule from the 18th of June – the day they started showing the games in 3D. Strike 2.

Lastly and probably the most important part of the entire 3D experience – there is no commentary! You won’t believe the difference commentary makes to sport. No matter how entertaining a game is, without commentary you lose at least 40% of the fun. My wife loves soccer as much as I do, but she actually left at half time to rather go shop than watch the rest of the Netherlands vs Japan game. Strike 3.

So if you planning on going to watch a game in 3D at Nu Metro, rather find one of the Sony 3D exhibition stands during the World Cup and catch a few minutes of that experience. Don’t waste R100 to watch a game without commentary and where you walk out feeling ripped off.

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Round 1 of the group stages wrapped up

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Posted on 17 June 2010 South Africa Sport

All 32 teams at the 2010 FIFA World Cup have all played their opening fixtures and are swiftly moving on to their 2nd games. It hasn’t been the most entertaining World Cup, but trust me, the great games and goals are all yet to come. When you playing to progress to the next round and you have nothing to lose, that’s when games get really exciting!

Some stats and observations from the opening round of fixtures

  • 25 goals in 16 games. Less than 2 goals a game!
  • 4 red cards
  • Biggest win was by Germany. 4-0 thumping of Australia
  • Upset of the tournament so far: Switzerland beating the favourites Spain 1-0!
  • Goal of the 1st round: It’s a toss up between Tshabalala’s break away goal against Mexico and Maicon’s goal for Brazil

Germany are looking really good after their win, alongside Brazil, Argentina and Holland who also racked up early wins. It’s still early days and the only team struggling is Spain. No team has ever lost their opening fixture and gone onto win the World Cup.

Expect more goals in the 2nd round of fixtures as teams try to make up for their earlier mistakes if they made any in hope of progressing to the last 16!

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Africa’s first win and Ze Germans – Day 3

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Posted on 14 June 2010 South Africa Sport

Day 3 definitely belonged to the Germans. Sure the Australians were rubbish, but the way the Germans ran the show with crisp passing and goal scoring currently puts them as the strongest team that we have seen play in the 2010 World Cup.

Australian keeper getting beaten. Again.

Australian keeper getting beaten. Again.

Second to that, Ghana beat Serbia 1-0 with a well taken penalty to give Africa its first win of the tournament! One thing to note in this game was the way to ref and linesman communicated to give the handball penalty. The ref never saw it, but with the intervention of the linesman over their walkie-talkie system, he was able to get the call correct.

Lastly, Slovenia beat Algeria 1-0 with another goalkeeping mistake. Looks like Group C is the group where the goalies are taking the spotlight for all the wrong reasons. One thing I must say is both Algeria and Slovenia look pretty ordinary and shouldn’t pose much of a threat to England. England just need to get their ducks in a row!

So that’s it for Day 3. Not too much excitement other than the 4 goal blitz of the Socceroos by Ze Germans.

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Ninjas, Messi and the BP oil spill – Day 2 of the 2010 World Cup

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Posted on 13 June 2010 South Africa Sport

I’ll do this post as a bunch of lists. Maybe make it easier for everyone to read?

So here is Day 2 of the 2010 World Cup as experienced by me:

South Korea vs Greece

  • The South Korean’s, now called ninjas by myself, looked pretty impressive.
  • That being said, Greece are useless, so maybe the ninjas still need to prove themselves.
  • How bad are Greece? Still haven’t scored a goal in a World Cup.

Final score: 2-0 to the ninjas!

I didn’t catch much of the match as I had one eye on the rugby, with South Africa totally destroying France at Newlands in Cape Town.

Argentina vs Nigeria

  • Messi has officially turned up at the World Cup. He, like Ronaldo, usually under perform when playing for their country, but today Messi was wearing his Barcelona boots.
  • The Nigerian keeper, Enyeama, had a great game. It looked like the Messi vs Enyeama show and the winner on the night? Enyeama. How he managed to keep Messi from scoring only the footballing gods will know.
  • How awesome is it to have the legendary Maradona at this World Cup? I’m telling you now he is wearing an Argentinian kit underneath his suit and if his team are down a goal with 5 minutes to play, I wouldn’t bet against him whipping off his suit Superman style and taking the field!
  • Argentina are officially my 2nd favourite team to take the World Cup.
  • Nigeria are a solid side, but I don’t see them offering much at this World Cup. I think the likes of Cameroon or Ivory Coast will have the best showing of an African nation.

Final score: Argentina 1 – 0 Nigeria

England vs USA

This was going to be a huge match for me. It’s the opening of England’s World Cup campaign and will be the only group match that I won’t be watching England live. The yanks look a decent side and definitely worthy of pulling of an upset in this World Cup.

We headed down to the V&A Waterfront to catch the game with throngs of US and English supporters at the make-shift Dubliner pub. The atmosphere inside was awesome and the English definitely know how to shut up the opposition supporters in song.

  • England had their chances to win the game, but with the number of mistakes made (not only at the back) a draw seemed a fair result.
  • Capello made some tough selection calls that back-fired. Milner was clearly not feeling well and subbed after 30min and King can’t finish 90 minutes of football. As a defender, that is a prerequisite!
  • BP have actually employed Robert Green to plug the oil spill in the gulf. See how swimmingly well that is going?!
  • Gerrard should of been made captain long time ago. He was all over the park, making tackles, attacking and even scored after 5 minutes.
  • Heskey had a decent game, but once again has shown what a blunt pencil in front of goal he is. We need goalscorers up front. Why not play Rooney up front with Gerrard just off him?
  • I love the England football supporters. So much pride and history instilled in all of them. I wish SA had more of a history in sport – although we busy creating it we speak!

Final score: England 1 – 1 USA.

One last thing. Do you wonder why Americans have this preconceived misconceptions about Africa and that animals roam wild in our streets and back yards? Blame idiots that tweet things like this:

“Thirty minutes before departure the police are going to check the route of the team bus to make sure it is clear of elephants.” – This was tweeted by the official US Soccer Twitter account. Unbelievable.

So day 2 was pretty action packed and with Sunday’s big game only being Germany vs Australia, I’ll make the next post short and sweet. :)

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The 2010 World Cup Opening – What a day!

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Posted on 12 June 2010 Events South Africa Sport

I’m going to try and blog my thoughts on matches and festivities during the course of the World Cup, just so I can have some sort of an archive of my experiences.

I’m not the best writer, so I’m going to struggle to express how I felt on the opening day of the World Cup, but I’ll try anyway. Cape Town honestly felt like another planet – I don’t think SA will ever experience such comradery, ‘gees’ and happiness like we did on the 11th of June 2010. It surely can’t be topped?! Streets lined with thousands of people singing, dancing and blowing vuvuzelas. Everyone was on such a buzz – me included!

I headed down to the V&A Waterfront to watch the opening ceremony and both games. The opening ceremony was a little bit of a let down, but I guess having it during the day meant you couldn’t make use of any lighting, which is one of the things that really makes them special. Not too worry though, Bafana definitely made up for it on their opening fixture against Mexico.

Bafana Bafana vs Mexico

SA almost had the perfect start to the World Cup with Tshabalala firing SA into the lead with what can only be called a spectacular goal! South Africans across the country erupted when that goal went in – I couldn’t contain the excitement!

With Mexico enjoying the lions share of the possession during the game, I knew that we would have to minimise our mistakes to hold on for the win and unfortunately a defensive lapse by our captain, Mokoena let the Mexican’s equalise. So 1-1 the game ended and out of the 4 teams in group A, Bafana are looking the strongest to go through!

Moment of the match: Our ninja goalkeeper, Khune, making that diving save minutes after we had scored. He is going to be the difference between us qualifying for the 2nd round. Mark my words!

Uruguay vs France

I knew quite a few people that went to go and watch this game live at Greenpoint Stadium. It finished a dull 0-0 draw with both sides having a couple of half chances to score. France, having qualified for the World Cup solely on luck, don’t look like posing any threat. They have a number of world class players, but can’t seem to find to play well as a team together.

Uruguay also don’t look that impressive either. One thing they will go into the record books for is picking up the first red card at the 2010 World Cup.

Moment of the match: Thierry Henry trying to claim a handball from the Uruguay defense. Pretty rich coming from him considering how his blatant handball that was the difference between France and Ireland qualifying for the World Cup!

So there you have it, my short and sweet experience of the opening day of the 2010 Soccer World Cup in South Africa!

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