{"id":10016,"date":"2010-07-04T11:34:38","date_gmt":"2010-07-04T09:34:38","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.whalecottage.com\/blog\/?p=10016"},"modified":"2010-07-07T01:00:32","modified_gmt":"2010-07-06T23:00:32","slug":"cape-town-wins-world-cup-quarter-final","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.chrisvonulmenstein.com\/blog\/cape-town\/cape-town-wins-world-cup-quarter-final\/","title":{"rendered":"Cape Town wins World Cup Quarter Final!"},"content":{"rendered":"

\"\"<\/a>Yesterday Cape Town scored 100 % in being the Host City in which the Quarter Final between Germany and Argentina was played, and will be remembered by fans from around the world, both in Cape Town and those watching in their homes, pubs or Fan Parks, for excellent soccer between two giants in this sport.\u00a0 But Cape Town had its best marketing ever, with more-than-perfect winter weather at 22 C, and the world’s VIP’s present and sharing their love for Cape Town and South Africa.<\/p>\n

What was a magnificent start to the soccer Saturday was the Fan Walk from the city center to the Stadium.\u00a0 So many Capetonians I spoke to told me that they were so disappointed to not have bought tickets for the matches, but that they wanted to walk the Fan Walk to get the feeling of its fantastic spirit, which they had heard about from others and seen reported in newspapers.\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0 Thus they made their way along the Fan Walk with their families, in the afternoon, enjoying the happiness and goodwill amongst walkers from around the world.\u00a0\u00a0EyewitnessNews <\/strong>reported that 200 000 persons walked the Fan Walk yesterday, a record number.\u00a0 It was an incredible sight – Argentinian fans wore blue, or blue and white wigs, and proudly had their flag around them as\u00a0a cape.\u00a0 The German fans were a little more conservative, but wore their team’s Adidas T-shirt, some had German flag colours painted on their cheeks, and some had even adopted the hardhats with Deutschland on them.\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0 The pavement outside shu and Doppio Zero in Green Point was completely jam-packed about two hours before kick-off.\u00a0 A massive German flag had been put up on Signal Hill.<\/p>\n

The atmosphere inside Cape Town Stadium was electric, from the time the ticket holders arrived.\u00a0 The early arrivals had the comedy of seeing South African President Jacob Zuma get into his soccer togs and play in a Special Olympics Unity Cup, in aid of the diasbled, game at 14h00, a funny sight to behold.\u00a0\u00a0 I did duty as a volunteer behind a German block of about 200, and they had the most unbelievable “gees”, all dressed the same, all being led in singing throughout the match, all receiving a Deutschland scarf which they held up at the start of the match and which caught the TV cameras and was filmed.\u00a0\u00a0 They were so visible, standing for a large part of the match (but not blocking the view of anyone\u00a0behind them) that the German undercover police filmed them (from behind) to have their behaviour on record as evidence of potential hooliganism just 10 minutes before the game ended!\u00a0<\/p>\n

The 4-0 result was testimony to an amazing match played by the German team, and Argentina just could not crack a goal, disappointing their many fans, who had by far the most flags hanging over the sides of the stadium.\u00a0\u00a0 The first goal was scored in a\u00a0record of 8 minutes after the start, and three goals were scored in the second half, the last coming just before the end of the match.\u00a0\u00a0 It was\u00a0a fantastic match, and well worth\u00a0any money\u00a0that soccer fans had paid to be there.<\/p>\n

But it was the VIP presence at the match, outclassing that of the England – Algeria game in terms of VIP attendance, that was the highlight for Cape Town yesterday.\u00a0\u00a0 FIFA President Sepp Blatter was present at the stadium for the first time, attending this\u00a0seventh Cape Town match, as was President Zuma attending his first Cape Town match.\u00a0 Leonardo DiCaprio was there (he had been seen eating at Nobu at the One&Only the night before), as were what was reported to be Orlando Bloom but in fact was Prince Carl Philip\u00a0of Sweden, sitting next to an unglamorous-looking\u00a0Charlize Theron (who stayed at the Table Bay Hotel).\u00a0\u00a0 Germany’s Chancellor Angela Merkel came to support her team, and could not stop beaming.\u00a0 Her boys gave her a “Luftkuss” to thank her for coming to support them when they did their victors’ walk around the stadium.\u00a0\u00a0 Western Cape Premier Helen Zille was there, having fetched Merkel from the airport, taken her to see Khayelitsha (the Violence Prevention through Urban Upgrading Centre, and visited children from the Youth Development through Football programme ‘Soccer 4 Hope’) prior to the match, \u00a0and hosting her for dinner after the match.\u00a0\u00a0<\/p>\n

Previous German team captain Michael Ballack was there, the first match he has been seen to attend, having been on holiday while he recovers from his injury, which led him to not be selected for this World Cup.\u00a0\u00a0 He almost seemed unhappy that his team was doing so well without him,\u00a0but he did have a huge smile when the fourth goal was scored.\u00a0\u00a0 Soccer star Lothar Matthaus sat with Ballack – he has been tipped as the new German\u00a0coach if Joachim Loew’s contract is not renewed after the World Cup, but\u00a0his team’s performance to date make it unlikely that it will not be renewed.\u00a0\u00a0 Mick Jagger was there, and he, Leonardo DiCaprio and socialite Paris Hilton were\u00a0seen to be partying at The Fez (above Vaudeville) last night.\u00a0\u00a0 Homegrown billionaire and second space tourist Mark Shuttleworth was there, having attended the previous Cape Town match as well, very low key and not appearing to have VIP status as far as seating went – he was with his dad at the previous match, dressed as a soccer fan in South African colours.\u00a0\u00a0<\/p>\n

Twitter crashed a number of times during the match, not being able to handle the volume of Tweets everytime Germany scored.\u00a0 Paris Hilton is an avid Twitterer with more than 2 million followers, and despite her Port Elizabeth publicity, she raved about the city (“Cape Town Rocks!”, “Went to Cape of Good Hope. So beautiful. Saw the cutest penguins and ostriches.\u00a0 Having an amazing dinner in Cape Town now.\u00a0 Love the food here”).\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0These\u00a0are priceless endorsements.\u00a0<\/p>\n

Last night Cape Town erupted, and restaurants were experiencing trade like they had hoped for throughout the World Cup.\u00a0\u00a0 Accommodation in Camps Bay was sold out – this date had been booked out for months ahead, sadly the only one for the World Cup period, but Tuesday will also be sold out for the Semi-Final between Netherlands and Uruguay.<\/p>\n

Yesterday will be the day long remembered by soccer fans for a good game, but also for the fantastic comments made about Cape Town and its beauty by TV commentators.\u00a0 The endorsement of the city by them reaches millions of viewers, and is extremely powerful in the marketing of the city.\u00a0\u00a0 Yesterday Cape Town won the Quarter Final for soccer fans in the city, the country and around the world!\u00a0 She was the most perfect of a Mother City!<\/p>\n

Chris von Ulmenstein, Whale Cottage Portfolio:\u00a0 www.whalecottage.com<\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Yesterday Cape Town scored 100 % in being the Host City in which the Quarter Final between Germany and Argentina was played, and will be remembered by fans from around the world, both in Cape Town and those watching in their homes, pubs or Fan Parks, for excellent soccer between two giants in this sport.\u00a0 […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":3,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":"","_jetpack_memberships_contains_paid_content":false},"categories":[3,124,22,21,11],"tags":[5578,5149,32367,8,2454,3513,3512,32370,32366,32397,3017,5577,2901,5571,722,5588,3518,532,5240,18,3703,5421,560,5470,3006,5594,5065,5575,5581,5576,5586,347,5580,5583,188,5261,509,503,1761,5573,339,5570,5359,5598,880,5353,13,5082,411,32389,5593,1322,5574,5585,5569,5584,5587,1588,1587,5572,3469,3040,5591,3718,5248,430,5579,5568,5592],"aioseo_notices":[],"aioseo_head":"\n\t\t\n\t\n\t\n\t\n\t\n\t\n\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t