Off-the-field comments from South Africa

…….Hmmm?   I really, really want Chile to win tonight, because I always support the ‘under-dog team’…especially when my own team from South Africa is not playing.  LOL!

But hey? Sorry, Chile.  Not this time. 

I believe that BRAZIL will samba in Johannesburg tonight and millions around the world will rock to the result!  

So – I have to predict a 3-1 win for BRAZIL. 

And my reason is simple…in the last 10 years, Brazil has beaten Chile 8 times, drawn once and lost once.  Chile lost the last 2 matches between these great South American football playing nations, 1-4 and 2-4.  

Sorry, Chilean supporters, but the big, big team of this World Cup has B-I-G plans.  They wanna win, and win BIG time!    (After all, they are the HOST NATION for the FIFA World Cup in 2014.)

They want to be there because they are the “defending nation” and NOT because they are the “host nation”.

A young South African friend of mine was born in Chile and he lived there for most of his young life. (Now he lives in Cape Town.)   As I write, he is tweeting madly and chatting on Facebook with all his buddies in Chile.  They all have such high hopes and I feel for them. 

Gawd! I wish their dreams could come true, so I dare not phone him to wish him luck.  I think he’ll slam the phone down on me! 

I know what it’s like, because we shouted so hard and dreamed so high for South Africa, but – it was not to be!

So – my special parting words to Chile are this:
Thank you for coming to South Africa.  Thank you for playing with heart and soul. And I’m sorry, that in this knock-out stage, 2 wonderful teams from beautiful South America have to enter the football bull-ring against each other.

I hope to see Chile in Brazil in 4 years time!

Meantime…Viva BRAZIL.  Viva 2014!  And I hope you give the world as spectacular a football tournament then, as we think we have done now, here in sunny Mzansi *.
(*South Africans all call our wonderful country by this special name, informally – it refers to “the south”, and we are from “the south” of Africa!)

(Brian – in Durban, South Africa.)