World Cup 2022 ended and Norzu reminisces the time she got to watch a couple of games live at the stadium in 2010. It was an experience of a lifetime

I first visited this beautiful city of Cape Town in 2003. In 2010, I was so excited to board my flight from London because it meant that I truly was going to watch the World Cup match between Argentina and Germany.

The first thing my friend Idlan and I did after passing through Immigration and Customs process was to pick up the tickets for the match.  The tickets were under Idlan’s name so she made the pickup.  

I think I had a silly grin on my face after that, until we got to our base for the next week in Durbanville.  We were staying with the Kocks – Adlina and Benito.

Both of them have been to Green Point Stadium to watch two games in the group stage so they told us what to expect on match day.  

The next few days went by in a blur for me, until the evening the four of us watched Ghana play Uruguay on television in between bites of braai (barbeque) meat. We were all rooting for Ghana, obviously. Alas, it was not meant to be for the last African team in the tournament. 

Uruguay won on penalties but the team incurred the wrath of many Africans due to a controversial hand ball later dubbed “the hand of the devil”.

On Saturday, the Kocks dropped us off in town where we met with two more friends from Malaysia who had arrived earlier – Amin and Nell.  We joined thousands of people doing the Fan Walk to the stadium, and it was amazing.

The colourful supporters, the music, the whole atmosphere, even the weather cooperated and it felt like a warm summer’s day instead of mid-winter.  Everyone was smiling and seemed to be enjoying themselves.  The sound of vuvuzelas filled the air and surprisingly, I didn’t find them too annoying. 

The journey was smooth and we arrived at Green Point Stadium less than an hour before kick off. There was just enough time to take photos, find our seats and go wild for five minutes before the players went on the field.

I had tears in my eyes at that moment.  I wish Malaysia had qualified for the World Cup.  It would have been a fabulous experience to cheer our own players on instead of adopting a team to support.  But I digress.

Argentina vs. Germany.  It was a great day to be German fans as their team won big over Diego Maradona’s La Albiceleste.  Lionel Messi, voted Fifa’s best player of the year, went out of the tournament without scoring a single goal.  It was heartbreaking for me as I was rooting for him and his teammates to go all the way to the finals.

Once during the match, I saw Nell sitting quiet for a few minutes with hands clasped under her chin, as if she was praying that Germany will stop scoring goals and for Argentina to fight back.  The German supporters around us were overjoyed with the victory, as they should be.

After that game, I was looking forward to the next quarterfinal match but was disappointed once again as Brazil lost to the Dutch.  Idlan however was ecstatic because it meant that the semi-final match we were watching on Tuesday would be between Holland and Uruguay.

You see, we somehow managed to score a couple of tickets to the semi-final in Cape Town, compliments of my former boss, Datuk Zainul Arifin.  And we got great seats, too.  We saw the first Dutch goal by Giovanni van Bronkhorst (did you know that he has Indonesian blood?) and what a beauty it was.

Idlan was delirious with happiness because Holland beat Uruguay to go into the final, where they will meet Spain.

Green Point Stadium was overwhelmingly orange on Tuesday night and I don’t think many Dutch supporters went to sleep before midnight that day.  

Wednesday morning came when I realised that the World Cup was ending.  I refuse to think of what to do next when it was time for me to go home and pick up where I had left off. For now, I just want to enjoy the rest of my stay in this beautiful city and not to think of things beyond the final match on July 11. Oh, and making sure people get their vuvuzelas they ordered.

Norzu is a communicator and sailor. Her current day job for the Navy had her sail to many seas including the Pacific Ocean and writing about it. She also takes part in competitive sailing with the Navy and the all-female MY Gadis team.