Key events
Preamble
Being a footballer is the greatest thing in the world, right? We all spend our lives doing something, and how wonderful it must be for that something to be something we love, surfing extremes of emotion with teammates who become family.
But there’s a debt to pleasure, paid by players and those close to them, with childhoods sacrificed, relationships compromised and time disappeared; the game consumes everything, its indigestion somehow passed on to those being eaten. Nights like tonight, though, are what make it all worthwhile, two countries contesting a World Cup knockout for the first time and a moment none who are part of it would have dared dream possible.
There’s a Yiddish word, naches, that roughly translates as deep pride and joy in the achievements of people to whom you’re close; it’s one of the greatest feelings known to humankind, and sometimes, in extreme cases, those of us with no connection to its protagonists, are lucky enough to experience the love. When the teams walk out tonight, we will know it.
Both of them are fortunate to be involved. South Africa were unfathomably dreadful in the opening game and scarcely better in their second, then somehow found enough in their third to snaffle a win, while Canada were also disappointing , a draw with Bosnia & Herzegovina and a defeat against Switzerland bookending a convincing win over a miserable Qatar. That is one way of looking at things.
Another, though, is to say that Bafana Bafana come into this game on a buzz, feeling great about themselves and ready to attack a chance they can’t have expected. Canada, meantime, fired by hosting vibes, have been handed a winnable tie, knowing they’ve enough going forward to exploit it. And for both, this is the opportunity of several lifetimes, the question how, fully cognisant of all it’s taken for them to reach this point, they find, then balance, the composure and devil it’ll take to do it and themselves justice; to launch those already soaring into another dimension.
Chances are, this isn’t the best or most meaningful match we enjoy this week, but goodness me, not many will be as special.
Kick-off: 3pm EDT, 8pm BST, 5am (Monday) AEST
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