It all started with Liberia being
unable to host the AFCON 2013 tournament... and since we had the facilities,
South Africa was chosen to be a host nation for the tournament. This raised
brows whether or not we’d host without playing. But as always we managed to
qualify for AFCON 2013 because we were the host nation.
So, I chose to be full-time
Bafana supporter and purchased tickets for the opening match which was played
at the National Stadium on the 19th January. What really broke my
heart was the fact that most South-Africans were so negative and anticipated
bafana bafana to fail. Most didn’t even have faith that we could win the
opening match or make it past the group stages.
But, as a soccer freak, it didn’t
bother me because I believed in the dream team and I also believed in our
national coach Gordon Igesund’s vision. However, it wasn’t easy because we
failed to win one of the warm-up matches against Niger and Tunisia
I was excited about the opening
which was South-Africa v Cape Verde, I remember looking for my soccer jersey
and sweater but the weather was everyone’s biggest worry because the weather
man had predicted it would rain the whole weekend with an 80% chance. However,
this didn’t for one second kills the excitement that build-up to the actual event.
Seeing everyone wearing their Bafana T-shirts, waving their flags and blowing
the VUVUZELA was phenomenal. The emotions that we evoked were simply over-whelming.
Getting to the National stadium
the atmosphere of togetherness amongst other South-Africans and other African country’s
was amazing, there’s wasn’t for a moment a sense of division. Doing the Mexican
wave, singing Shosholoza and sharing opinions about the game at hand were just
priceless. Everyone was so united and I
have to say it felt really good and will go down as one of the most memorable
moments of 2013 in my books.
But, I wasn’t alone; I have to
give props to Omphemetse and Katlego for being the coolest soccer freaks. The
way they danced whilst blowing the vuvuzela shared a sense of togetherness and
thinking about it now hmmmmmmmm, it was funny. I guess it’s one of those
moments when you think about them, you just instantly ask yourself “what the
hell was I doing??” Whilst that smile creeps in. Thank you guys for sharing the
experience with me and most importantly taking very good care of me, really
appreciate it.
The desired beauty of the African
flavour by other continents was what we as Africans were supposed to experience
out of this great AFCON’13 tournament. And if you are African and didn’t
experience the beat at your feet then sorry for you, I guess you haven’t lived!
I felt the beat at feet and I wouldn’t trade the awesome memory for anything!
And lastly, Congratulations to Nigeria for being crowned the Kings of African football at this years AFCON. To Burikino Faso, well-done on coming second, you guys showed determination, dedication and passion!
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