World Cup Predictions

Since the World Cup is coming up this Friday, I figure I'd post my predictions. These are not based on any deep knowledge of soccer, of football as they call it here.

Round of 16 Qualifiers (top 2 in each group in the group stages):

Group A: Mexico, France

Group B: Argentina, South Korea

Group C: England, USA

Group D: Germany, Serbia

Group E: Netherlands, Denmark

Group F: Italy, Paraguay

Group G: Brazil, Ivory Coast

Group H: Spain, Chile

Round of 16 Matches:

Mexico d. South Korea

Argentina d. France

England d. Serbia

USA d. Germany (upset pick!)

Netherlands d. Paraguay

Italy d. Denmark

Brazil d. Chile

Spain d. Ivory Coast

Quarterfinals:

England d. Mexico

Brazil d. Netherlands

Spain d. Italy

Argentina d. USA

Semifinals:

Brazil d. England

Spain d. Argentina

Final:

Spain 3-2 Brazil

On a related note, I will be going to the USA-Slovenia game on the 18th of June at Ellis Park Stadium in Johannesburg, which should be a ton of fun. I've never been a soccer fan in particular, but the World Cup is by far the largest sporting event in the World. Many of the people I've met here are crazy excited that the first World Cup ever held in Africa is going to be right in their backyard this summer. I felt like I had to take the opportunity to go to a game, and it would be very cool to see the USA shake its reputation as a soccer lightweight in the coming weeks.

Update: Well, my predictions were pretty bad, although I did correctly pick Spain to win it all. The USA played some good games (and had a bit of help from Robert Green), but could've done better against Ghana. Unfortunately, my World Cup ticket never made it to me (though my folks sent it 4 weeks before the game), so I did not make it to the USA-Slovenia game. Oh well, I'll just have to go to Brazil in 2014.

Rugby

Rugby is a popular sport in South Africa. In many ways, it is similar to American football. The goal is to score a "tries" by getting the ball on the ground in the end zone. Each try is worth 5 points, and the conversion kick is worth 2 points. 15 players constitute a side in rugby. Unlike American football, gameplay is continuous in rugby. The clock does not stop after tackles; instead, the ball is simply picked up out of the tackle and play continues. A game consists of two 40-minute halves. Also, the players wear minimal padding, which makes a full-tackle sport such as rugby somewhat dangerous. It is not uncommon to see a number of injuries each game. Some of the other features of rugby include line-outs (where players pick up their teammates in an attempt to catch a ball thrown in from the sidelines), as well as scrums (similar to football's offensive and defensive lines, except that the ball is placed between them and it becomes an 8-on-8 fight for the ball).

Since I got here back in April, I have been assisting fellow intern and alumnus Michael Bryant in the coaching of the St. Martin's Under-14 side. The team practices three days a week and has fixtures (matches) on Wednesdays and Saturdays. So far the Under-14 side has been the most successful side at the school, having won every match since they lost their first match, the first rugby game the boys had ever played. I've had to learn the game itself as I go, but I've been able to help improve the boys' fitness and get them motivated as a team. It has been a lot of fun to coach them and we're looking forward to some more strong matches before we close out the season, just in time for the World Cup holiday.

The professional rugby league in South Africa is called the Super 14. The Super 14 consists of 5 South African teams, 5 New Zealand teams, and 4 Australian teams. It is considered to be the best rugby in the Southern Hemisphere, and the national sides from these countries are always competitive in the Rugby World Cup, held once every four years. South Africa is the current Rugby World Cup champion; the next World Cup will be held in New Zealand in 2011.

Since I've been here, I have been able to see two of these Super 14 Rugby matches. The first match I saw the second weekend I was here was the first time I had ever seen a rugby match. The match was between the Durban (South Africa) Sharks and the Johannesburg (also SA) Lions. The Sharks beat the Lions 32-28 in what ended up being a close game. The Lions ended up losing every single game in the Super 14 regular season; no word on if they are connected in any way to the NFL's Detroit Lions. The other match I saw a few weeks ago was between two Super-14 powerhouses, the Pretoria (SA) Bulls and the Canterbury (NZ) Crusaders. The Crusaders have won the Super 14 more times than any other team, and the Bulls are the current league champions. Each of the last 5 Super 14 titles have gone to the Bulls or the Crusaders, so I was lucky enough to see some of rugby's best teams play that evening at Loftus Versfeld Stadium. The game ended being a fantastic back and forth fight, and the Bulls won a come-from-behind victory in the last minute of the game. This week, the Pretoria Bulls beat the Crusaders again in the league semifinal, and the Cape Town (SA) Stormers beat the New South Wales (AUS) Waratahs in the other semifinal, which means that an all-South-Africa final is in store for next weekend. I'm definitely looking forward to it.

Update: The favorite Bulls won the Super 14 League for the third time in four years, defeating the Stormers 25-17.

Update 4-27-10

Hey everyone, thanks for keeping up with the blog thus far. Today is Freedom Day in South Africa, which commemorates the first post-apartheid elections elections held in SA. Since school is off today, I finally have some time to post something besides pictures.

A little over two weeks ago, I was on my way here watching Up in the Air on that little TV screen on the airplane. Seemed to me like a fitting movie. Also, the plane was a 747 and only about a fifth full, so everyone had plenty of room to spread out. After nearly 24 hours in airports and on airplanes, I was nevertheless relieved to land and get to the house of Jim and Carol Welsh, who were generous enough to let me stay in their guest room for the duration of my trip. Mr. Welsh is also the headmaster of St. Martin's, the school where I am interning for the summer (which is South Africa's winter). It took a grueling few days of sleep and higher altitude adjustment, but eventually I settled in and began interning at St. Martin's.

St. Martin's is, to put it simply, a good school in a bad area. The school is split up into two campuses, the prep school (pre-K through 7th) and the high school (8th through 12th), both of which are pretty and very secure. In Johannesburg, everything has to be very secure. All the houses have brick walls and barbed wire around them, electronic security systems, and at least 1 or 2 gates to go through to get into the house. The suburb that we are in, Rosettenville, has problems with violence and prostitution, and so it is not the kind of place where you can just walk around, particularly not at night. That being said, the campus and the Welsh residence (which is right across the road from the high school) feel safe.

Despite the school being in a bad area, the school itself is very good, and parent pay around 70,000 rand a year (about $10,000) to send their kids there. The school has about 250 kids are 30 or so faculty, as well as a few other interns. There are classes in math, geography, english, business, 3 languages, woodworking, and chess, among many others.

Some things I've noticed about South Africa thus far:

- Everyone drives manual transmission on the opposite side of the road. I don't have a clue how to drive manual transmission.

- Rugby, cricket, field hockey, and soccer are the major sports. I went and saw a pro rugby game with Mr. Welsh (see pics), and it's a pretty intense sport. Similar to football, but they don't wear pads and can't pass the ball forward.

- The malls in South Africa look just like the malls at home. Stores like Levi's, Guess, and Gap are here, as well as McDonalds and KFC. Coca-cola is also very popular. Instead of Diet Coke, they call it Coke Lite because of anorexia problems or something.

- Smoking is very popular here. Besides myself and the Welshes, it seems like everyone smokes. Even though the cigarette packs have even less subtle warnings on them, such as SMOKING WILL KILL YOU. Hookah is very popular too, although they call it "hubbly bubbly."

- If the USA is a melting pot, South Africa is a giant fruit salad. With 11 official languages and every color person imaginable, South Africa is incredibly diverse. The most popular languages are Zulu, Afrikaans, and English. Sometimes I can't tell whether someone is speaking Afrikaans or is just speaking English with a really heavy accent. Either way I can't tell what they're saying.

- A massive chunk of South African pop culture is imported courtesy of the USA. I haven't decided if this is a good or bad thing. I've had kids ask me whether or not there are "jocks" and if they always date the head cheerleaders. Also, they've asked if all the cool kids sit at one table at lunch and if the nerds all sit at another table, and so on. One 8th grader even asked me if I "had ever kissed a guy so that you could see two girls make out." For the older folk in today's reading audience, this question's inspiration comes right out of a scene in the movie American Pie. And the answer to that question, mom, is no. In case you were wondering.

That's about it for now. I'll post sometime soon about how teaching is going at the school. Hope everything is going well back at home.

Ben