On my recent travels through Sweden with my good friends Gustav and Kiki, we found a lovely little restaurant in Valdermarsvik called Melke’s that served up some excellent pizza.
To my nerdish footballing delight, one of their specialties was “The Zlatan”, named after Barcelona striker Zlatan Imbrahimovic.
Inevitably, I couldn’t turn down the opportunity to try it.
The final verdict: you will struggle to find a meatier pizza anywhere in the world.
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What were our favourite places in Europe?
Who were our favourite World Cup players?
What were our favourite documentary moments?
Those questions (and many more) are answered by Andy and Patrick in Football Nomad’s World Cup 2010 Review.
Enjoy and as always, let us know what you think by leaving a comment.
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You’ve seen it before.
A good friend’s team loses an important sporting match.
They are inconsolable, their expression betraying a mind furiously debating what went wrong and why it had to happen to them.
They wonder, “Why me? Why my team? What did we do to deserve this?”
Only in this case it wasn’t a good friend, it was an entire nation of 16 million people.
And it wasn’t an important sporting match, it was the World Cup final.
Congratulations to Spain for their first World Cup win.
Commiserations to The Netherlands for a third World Cup final defeat.
It was a day to remember, if only for the wrong reasons.
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Holland’s shock win over Brazil meant a short train north to Amsterdam, rather than a much longer flight to Spain, for the semi-final stage of the 2010 World Cup.
Amsterdam was a fantastic venue to watch Holland’s sensational win over Uruguay.
The streets were coloured orange, traditional football music blared from cafes and bars all over the city and the locals created an amazing atmosphere before, during and after the game.
Holland’s result was matched by Spain against Germany and means that both nations will be fighting to win their first World Cup.
It should be a superb final and I think it will be great to see a new champion crowned.
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For almost the entire Football Nomad trip, Patrick and I were able to evade the lure of cheap European beer and subsequently maintain our dignity as civilised football culture observers.
(Un)fortunately, that all changed in Veldhoven, The Netherlands. Veldhoven is small village of 40,000 people just outside the much larger city of Eindhoven, home to one of Holland’s best known football clubs (PSV Eindhoven) and some of the most passionate supporters in the country.
Our good friend Lennart played host and it just so happened on the weekend that we showed up, Veldhoven was hosting its annual three-day Beach Party Event, complete with DJs, booze and both beach volleyball and football.
It was hard to resist the charm of the insurmountable Bavaria beers that came our way and subsequently it was also the first time I became physically unwell since the trip began*.
In this edition of FN2010 Patrick and I enjoy Holland’s wonderful quarter-final victory over Brazil, show off the grittier side of travel and enjoy some unbelievably tasty milkshakes at the local snack bar. Who said we don’t know how to have fun?
* You’ll be happy to know I’m all better now
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I have to apologize for the lack of an update over the past week or so.
I picked up a nasty cold on my way back from South Africa that has forced me to spend most of my spare time – which I use for editing and collating the content – resting up and trying (in vain, it seems) to get better.
Despite feeling quite poorly over the past week I’ve still managed to get quite a bit done since posting the video from Durban, as you can see below:
Meanwhile…
The quarter-finals of the World Cup served up some real suprises with both Brazil and Argentina, the two sides I expected to contest the final, eliminated.
The results mean that we will likely be traveling to Amsterdam for the first semi-final between Uruguay and Holland before a short trip to Dusseldorf in Germany to see the Germans play Spain.
Where we will be for the final is anyone’s guess.
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While the rest of South Africa shivered through freezing-cold nights and blustery days, Durban produced perfect World Cup weather.
A more compact city than Johannesburg and home to a tremendously modern stadium, Durban played host to what appeared to be, on paper, the most eye-catching game of the first stage: World Cup favourites Brazil versus Cristiano Ronaldo’s Portugal.
And while the game didn’t live up to the billing – finishing 0-0 – the atmosphere in the sweltering coastal city was fantastic.
Brazilian fans gave us a taste of what the 2014 tournament will be like with their carnival atmosphere while the Portuguese supporters, most of whom were locals that moved south from Mozambique and Angola during the Portuguese Colonial War in the 60s and 70s, created a sea of red and green that clashed vividly with the Brazilian yellow.
All in all it was a superb few days of Brazilian, Portuguese and South African football culture and you check it all out in Part 5 of the FN2010 documentary.
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I really feel this part of the documentary, shot over a single day in Johannesburg, speaks for itself.
My first time in Africa, my first World Cup game ever and my first time playing with lion cubs.
What more is there to say?
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Last night I saw my very first World Cup game: Germany v Ghana at Johannesburg’s Soccer City stadium.
It was a special moment for me, a personal milestone.
As such I kept my filming to a minimum and left my camera at home to allow myself to be carried away with the special atmosphere created by 83,000 vuvuzela-blowing football fans.
Thankfully my good friend, Ryu Voelkel, an independent photographer who has been frenetically (and fabulously) covering the tournament in South Africa, captured the moment for me with the following, very special, image.
It was a night I will not quickly forget.
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