getwokingham - Reading Evening Post

We arrived in Bloemfontein three hours before kickoff for what was to be England’s last 2010 World Cup match with some hope that the three lions would actually start to play football. But rather unsurprisingly we were utterly obliterated by Germany.

Their tactical prowess was stunning. Germany displayed all the attributes I had longed for England to bring to the game; pace, movement, cunning and killer instinct in front of goal. England on the other hand, as we all know, were utterly dreadful.

As I write this blog me and the two friends who have stayed out in South Africa for the whole tournament are driving from Beaufort West to Bloemfontein where the Free State Stadium awaits us for the massive clash between England and our old rivals Germany.

As I look to the left there are open plains of nothingness, bush, scrub and savannah that stretch as far as the eye can see. To the right there are huge towering mountains which have surrounded us on South Africa’s N1 motorway ever since we left Cape Town. Dead ahead are endless straight roads that cut right through the heart of South Africa taking us to our destination.

The dream is still alive for England fans after a much better performance against Slovenia. The score line of 1-0 somewhat flattered Slovenia in my opinion. England for the first time in this world cup put in a very good performance, even with Rooney, dubbed to be our star player at this world cup, again underperforming.

The scene was set perfectly at the Nelson Mandela Stadium in Port Elizabeth for England to get their world cup campaign back on track.

If the unspeakable happens and England play as poorly as they did against Algeria, who should we turn to? If England fail to make it through to the next stage of the competition there are many teams to choose from.

As I am in Africa my thoughts initially turned to a home nation, but the prospects of an African nation progressing to the later stages of the competition are dwindling, particularly after Portugal's drubbing of North Korea this morning, meaning the Ivory Coast need to win their last game by 9 goals to have a chance of qualifying.

I was somewhat astounded after the England Algeria game.

The sheer amount of fans that turned out at green point stadium was immense and for the team to put in such a torrid, tired, one-dimensional performance was quite utterly disgraceful.

Being on the South West Cape of an entire continent has its downsides as I have discussed with the freak climate this slither of mountainous land provides as weather fronts what it has in compensation is what only can be described as jaw dropping and awe inspiring scenery.

Over the last couple of days I have driven around the Cape of Good Hope down to Cape Point. It is described as must see in all the guide books, and boy it lives up to its reputation!

Welcome to a superb blue-sky Friday in Cape Town!

As I await England’s clash with Algeria at the Green Point Stadium the weather is great.

We flew into Cape Town earlier on this week and it has been a roller coaster ride ever since we arrived.

As soon as we touched down next to the famous table mountain we knew we were in a special place. Cape Town is a tourist’s paradise, surrounded by mountains, blue seas and white beaches as far as the eye can see.

My South African World Cup adventure is not just about watching world class football, but a cultural and historical voyage of discovery. Being 20 km away from the Pilansburg game park it would have been rude not to take advantage of the possibility of seeing Africa’s big 5.

The reserve we visited is 550 km in diameter made up by a volcano – the second biggest geological formation of its kind in the world and is centred with a large lake – we were picked up by our local ranger, Kirsty, who took us through the south gates and drove us North West for a spot of lunch before continuing on for an afternoon and evening safari drive.

Okay, okay the result and performance was far from what we wanted. But the first of the games to be played in Rustenburg was brilliant. For many there was animosity surrounding the clash between England and USA, with the game being dubbed as a security risk. But after we went through fairly rigorous security scanners to get into the stadium the atmosphere was electric.

Thousands of Americans and English were packed in the beer squares outside the stadium enjoying the festivities with lots of mockery and banter taking place between the two sets of fans. By the time the anthems were being played we couldn’t wait to get our world cup campaign started and to follow England all the way to the final.

Exhausted but happy after a 23 hour journey we are now in the heart of the action! My travelling chums and I ignored the calls of exhaustion and swept straight into Sun City this morning , near Rustenburg, and within seconds met up with the favoured African team of The World Cup – Ghana!

The Ghanaians were at the Sun city hotel, I persuaded one member of the team to have his pictures taken with me and guess who it was...

I was hit in the arrival lounge at Johannesburg airport by the buzz of the vuvuzela horns that you will have heard if you have watched any of the World Cup action so far – after 11 hours in the air it was a shock to the system, but it meant that I was finally in South Africa!

The travel was not over yet – it was another 2 and a half hour coach transfer to our bush game lodge, just kilometres away from England’s World Cup base and the stadium in Rustenburg where the three lions should put a few past the USA!