Went to team training day prior to the Australia friendly. Session was at Pilditch Stadium, which is not a side of Pretoria one would find in most tourist recommendations. The U.S. security had all media wait in the parking lot, and this is where security screenings took place, both visual of our equipment, then a group of about four sniffer dogs with their handlers went over all the gear, and cars, in the area.. The instructions were; 'stand back, these dogs will also bite'.
The U.S. team was about 20 minutes late, and media access was only the first 15 minutes of the session. The guys didn't do much, and what they did do was on the far side of the field, so the photo ops were minimal. Nonetheless, it was a good experience for more of the same, from a security standpoint, on a much larger scale, come match days.
Due to the small gathering of media, it was a good chance to get to speak briefly with the security team, and U.S. Soccer media officers, just to get some face recognition for down the road. Once in the venue, the main purpose of this whole trip was brought to bear by a simple visual.
On the way back from training, another simple visual reminder of what's around the corner. And among the stops on the way back, we also stopped at the Union Building, which houses the administrative offices of the South African government. It is a stately old building, and familiar from the recent viewing, on the plane over, of Invictus. Oh, and speaking of the plane, yes, my luggage did find its own way to Pretoria 32 hours after I did. Yahoo!
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