World Cup Diary June 22

From Sukhdev in South Africa....

So I've just arrived in Cape Town. While I was on the plane, the pilot gave us updates on the progress of the Group A games. Though most of the flight was not full of South Africans, the demise of the French team at the hands of the South Africans was greeted with huge cheers. The other game hardly registered. As a result Cape Town is definitely a party town tonight.

At the airport I was met by a Cameroonian taxi driver. He had hardly seen any games, but was quite happy for the work the world cup was bringing. As he put it, he would rather work now, as there will be nothing to do after the football is over. After a lively debate about his views on how women should be for producing offspring only and how I couldn't be of pure Indian heritage, we arrived at the hostel.

As normal, the hostel is full of a number of nationalities. I quickly made friends with a group of Norwegians with an impressive knowledge of the game. Inevitably they all supported one of the big English teams.

We watched both games intermittently. The South Korea vs Nigeria game produced some drama, and there was certainly a good level of support for the Nigerians from the crowd.

Anyway, after the long journey, I am going to turn in. Tomorrow is my first game - England vs Slovenia. Can't wait.