17-11-2010 Commonwealth Games round up
The Commonwealth Games have now come and gone, and I reflect back on the tournament which I had prepared for many months. There is no denying the disappointment of our 5th place finish out of the ten competing teams. Here are the final standings:

1) Australia 2) India 3) New Zealand 4) England 5) South Africa 6) Pakistan 7) Canada 8) Malaysia 9) Scotland 10) Trinidad & Tobago
	Vuvuzela crazy at the Opening Ceremony!

So why am I disappointed with 5th place?
Although finishing 5th in tournament places us above Pakistan and Canada, who are currently ranked 8th and 10th in the world respectively, I am disappointed for the simple reason that I believed we should have made the semi finals and given ourselves a chance to play for a medal which we so badly wanted.

Where did it go wrong for us?
We started well, beating Canada comfortably 4-1. At the start of the tournament we knew our second game against New Zealand was going to be crucial. With England in our pool, we had targeted New Zealand as a must win game, despite their higher ranking. I'm still not sure what it was but we slumped badly, especially in the midfield, and gifted them three goals. Before we knew it we were out of it, and lost 4-2. Our following game didn't yield anything great, we needed to beat Trinidad & Tobago and we did, 5-3.
The final pool game against England meant we had to win and rely on other results in order to make the semi's. We played incredibly well, missed a few opportunities but really had the upper hand in the game. It was only until the dying minutes whilst trying to push for the winner that England scored their second goal for the 2-1 win. This result meant we would play for 5th and 6th against Pakistan.

What was positive?
Beating Pakistan for the second time in history, as we did on the same pitch back in March at the World Cup was encouraging. We came from 2-0 down to win 3-2 in extra time, now that is what I call true South African spirit!

The Village and Commonwealth Games as an experience?
Well I have uploaded some pictures of the village and the surroundings so you can decide for yourself. I think India let themselves down. They had a great opportunity, and were so close to producing a really magnificent event but stumbled at the final hurdle. All that was lacking was the final touch, which was evident most with our accommodation which needed a lot of cleaning and touching up to make it habitable as some reporters had described it. What they lacked in finish they made up for in friendliness, kindness and enthusiasm. This is why I said it was such a pity; because as a nation they received a great deal of negative press about the village.
The stadia that I attended were great, the Opening Ceremony was spectacular. I particularly enjoyed being a part of it compared to the Beijing Olympics, where the athletes could only watch on a screen outside the stadium until we entered at the end.

Where to now?
I'm back in the Netherlands playing for my club side Den Bosch until December where I head to England for the Indoor League and a bit of rest over the festive season.

Finally I would like to thank all those who supported myself and the team so enthusiastically. We were incredibly lucky to have a number of special supporters who came all the way out to India to watch the games, to all of you I am especially grateful! To those who sent me personal and team emails, everyone on the SA Facebook group and all the calls and texts I received, to all of you a huge thank you as well!

Here are some of the special people I mentioned (unfortunately some extra special supporters had to leave early)