December 1, 2009
THE MAN IN THE CAPE -- DAY 1
So far, so good, but draw week is young

By Michael Lewis
BigAppleSoccer.com Editor

CAPE TOWN, South Africa -- For someone who has bounced around the globe and then some over the last three decades, I keep surprising myself.

When British Airways flight 59 landed here earlier Tuesday, I set a personal record -- four cities in four countries in three continents over 36 hours.

I started in New York City (United States), flew to Brussels, Belgium, then to London, England and finally to South Africa.

I even got some sleep on the 10- or 11-hour trip down, which was no mean feat when you're in economy class. But then again, the seats on a BA 747 are much larger than any on American Airlines and seemingly can go back a bit further, which could mean the difference of staying awake or getting 20 out of 40 winks.

In my one and only trip to this very fair city with the City University of New York Athletic Conference select soccer team in August, 2006, I fell in love with the urban area and its environs, including the Cape of Good Hope (instead of expounding the virtues of the Cape again, I will refer you to a sidebar with this story that I had written a little more than three years ago).

Had no trouble getting through immigration. I was allowed to stand on the FIFA line because I had a media accreditation. While waiting for the bus to take me downtown, I ran into and befriended a pair of Honduran journalists. Even though my Spanish is pretty bad and their England was limited, we managed to speak about the great U.S.-Honduras World Cup qualifier in San Pedro Sula in October (which the Americans won, 3-2, although Honduras had a few great late opportunities to equalize and even win).

They brought up Jonathan Bornstein, who has become something of a national hero in the Central American country after his tying goal in stoppage time gave the U.S. a 2-2 draw with Costa Rica and boosted Honduras into its first World Cup in 28 years several days after the U.S.-Honduras encounter.

How big was Bornstein's goal? One journalist said someone had pasted a picture of the Chivas USA defender on a Honduras Lempira bill.

I told them I knew Honduran international midfielder Amado Guevara fairly well because I had covered him with the MetroStars and Red Bulls.

Just outside the airport, it was difficult not to notice a township, a reminder of that horrible apartheid era, which will take years, if not decades, to right.

As we passed a hosptial, the driver of our van noted it was where Dr. Christian Bernard made history some four decades ago, performing the very first heart transplant.

He also pointed out all of the construction going on at the airport and in the city, noting that at least 10 new hotels had been built for the World Cup. That included mine -- the swank Holiday Inn Express. OK, I am being a bit sarcastic when I say swank. I couldn't afford $400 or $250 a night at the recommended FIFA media hotels, so I decided to opt for $111. It is adequate. It has a shower that works (I took a nice, long one after being in the same clothes for 36-plus hours; man I must have stunk, although no one told me), non-smoking rooms and wireless internet, although you have to pay through the nose for it.

It's located in St. Georges Mall, an area where people can walk. So, the traffic is more pedestrian than automobile. The hotel -- one of the new ones here -- might be in restored area because I noticed several empty stores for rent adjacent to it.

The Cape Times had a big front-page story on this week's events, with the headline:

City gears up for 2010 World festivities

Officials are expecting some 15,000 people to watch Friday's World Cup final draw on Long Street.

"We are preparing to be very busy," Jan Davids told the Times. Davids is the owners of the Marvel bar.

"We don't really know what we are in for," he added. "Long Street has never had a party this big, but we are preparing for a lot of people."

As I left the Cape Town Convention Centre at 7:15 p.m. local time, the streets certainly were not packed. But it was difficult not to notice how light it was. The sun hadn't gone down yet.

Ah, light at 7:15 p.m. in December! That's what you get when you're in the southern-most point in the southern hemisphere, where it is presently summer. Anyone who will be in South Africa in June will see the other side of the coin when winter takes over for the World Cup.

Interesting World Cup factoid of the day (from FIFA)

Had it had qualified for South Africa 2010, Bahrain would have become the smallest country to reach soccer's promised land. The Middle Eastern country has a population of 730,000, according to the World Cup final draw media guide. Bahrain had come close, losing to New England and Red Bulls defender Andy Boyens in a special playoff total-goals series, 1-0. The smallest country to participate in the WC? Trinidad & Tobago, with 1.3 million people. The Soca Warriors qualified for the 2006 competition.

Michael Lewis would like to hear from you. If you have a comment, drop him a line at email.