On Friday evening I went to the Ghana v Uruguay match and like most South Africans I certainly hoped that Uruguay would be knocked out of the tournament by Holland. It is simply unacceptable that a player can stand on the line, and save a certain goal and then is penalised with a penalty where the conversion rate was typically about 80%.

In other words, a 100% certainty of a goal turns into an 80% chance of a goal and I think that spoils the sport compared to say rugby, where the referee is entitled to apply his mind and award a penalty try which certainly should have been done in the Ghana game. It becomes a laugh if a sport that is designed around people kicking the ball with their feet turns into netball or basket ball in the goal area with deliberate hand balls.

I caught the train to and from the game from Park Station in Johannesburg and while the train station was clean and the overall experience was good, particularly the spirit on the train, although a vuvuzela being blown by a child in your ear in an enclosed space in a train is not always exciting, but the trains are far too slow. The train there took 35 minutes to get to the ground, which I would imagine is only a few kilometres south of Johannesburg and on the way back, at 11:40, it was a little bit faster but still took 25 minutes to the station. Obviously, the advantage is that once you arrive at the station, you are in Braamfontein and downtown Johannesburg, and have easy access to all of the highways without any congestion, although it does appear that the entire northern suburbs and Pretoria are at the games, because the highway is the busiest you will ever see it at midnight!