Shocked and in awe

Martin Tyler finds the locals delightful but the electrics dangerous as he kicks off his World Cup diary...

Part I - The shocks start early and Rooney gets going

This is the 11th World Cup I have worked on and while some host countries have taken their time to warm to the tournament that is certainly not the case with South Africa. As soon as I landed in Johannesburg at 8am on Friday it was quite clear the World Cup was here. Everyone in the terminal was wearing shirts of different nationalities plus, I arrived around the same time as a party of Brazilian fans - and they always help get the party started! Electric was not quite the word I would use for the atmosphere in Arrivals, but little did I know the shock awaiting me once I had picked up my luggage, would be just that - literally. Bags in hand, I had to go downstairs to get to my car, so marched straight through to the lifts, pressed the call button and lo and behold, goodness knows how many volts shot through my arm. It was not just a slight electric shock either, it almost took me off my feet. Had jetlag been an issue, it would've been the perfect cure and in hindsight, I did wonder why there was no queue! Once I'd gathered myself, flattened down my hair and checked in at the hotel, it was straight to work. I am working for ESPN USA and the reason I arrived on the Friday was because USA were playing Australia in a warm-up game in Roodeport on the Saturday. So I was driven (thankfully I am not relying on Alan Smith for my navigation as I was at the Euro Under-21 Championships last summer) to Pretoria to see the USA train. That meant some familiar faces around, although the big news was that former Hull City striker Jose Altidore was, as the Americans say, "benched for practice". Landon Donovan, Tim Howard and Clint Dempsey are all players I know from the Premier League and it was nice to catch up with some of them. Saturday morning began with a call from Grant Best, a former colleague at Sky Sports and now my boss out here. Did I want the bad news or the very bad news? Well, I went for the worst option first and found out that the commentary position at what was a community stadium in Roodepoort was level with the penalty area. Not an an ideal place for a commentator to kick off his World Cup, but there was nothing that could be done. The game itself was full of Premier League match-ups; Tim Cahill putting one past Tim Howard and Dempsey being denied at the other end by a brilliant stop from Mark Schwarzer. Tim actually picked up a bang on the head which, given his aerial ability was a worry, but assured me afterwards when I caught up with him and Lucas Neill, that it wouldn't be a problem. I have to say the crowd at the game was wonderful. It was limited to 7,000 or so and the interest and excitement was quite clear. One particular face stood out though, that of David Beckham, who was at the game with Franco Baldini, to run the rule over England's Group C opponents and the Socceroos, who they could face in the knockout stage. I also had a good chat with the USA coach Bob Bradley who has worked wonders with that side and assured him that while I may be an Englishman, I am a commentator first and impartiality is the name of my game - no matter who is playing. On Sunday I got a call from Gary Hughes, who is producing out here for Sky Sports News to see if I was able to work on the coverage of England's final warm-up game with Platinum Stars the following day. My bosses kindly gave me permission and myself and my ESPN analysts, Roberto Martinez, Robbie Mustoe and Ally McCoist all got in the car on Monday morning to head to Rustenburg. My driver for the tournament is a young lad called Kaasie who, for those who remember the World Cups of '74 and '78 is a dead ringer for Holland's Ruud Kroll. Kroll was known from his unerring accuracy from long distance, but as yet Kaasie hasn't quite managed that - if only because he was adamant that we would follow his sat nav every inch of the way! Three hours later we arrived in Rustenburg - which is in the middle of nowhere - saw these huge floodlight pylons and knew we had found our destination. The sat nav said otherwise though and as we approached the ground it told us to turn left, away from it, and despite our polite protestations, Kaasie did just that. Well eventually we persuaded him to stop and ask some local children where the ground was and you didn't need to understand Afrikaans to work out their bemusement as they turned round and pointed to said floodlights, which were still no more than 200 yards away! Had we not stopped, I fear we might still have been driving! The game itself was as expected, but it was nice to see Wayne Rooney get back on the goal trail with the third. It was not my usual commentary, more conversational coverage and I have to say I was surprised to find out Sky Sports News were the only people taking the game live. The crowd was again fantastic and we were all pleased to see them come in without incident on the back of the stampede that had hit the headlines over the weekend. I have to say that was only down to over-exuberance and if there are any problems out here, then I am sure that will be the sole reason. The warmth of the people here has been amazing already and it has been wonderful to see how much South Africa has come on in the seven years since I covered England's friendly in Durban. Without getting too into the politics, it is particularly pleasing to see what you might call the once-downtrodden South Africans really embracing this tournament and it really is quite humbling to see so many smiling faces at this World Cup. It is important to look at the bigger picture in this tournament and you get the sense that life will be even better for these youngsters' children and grandchildren further down the line. I understand flight prices are dropping and I would urge you, if you can, to try and get out here to sample the atmosphere. Yes, there are dangers - as with anywhere in the world - and yes, it is going to be tough travelling everywhere by road, but I have to say, I think I am going to really enjoy the people as much as the football. I have to say I don't even mind the vuvuzelas. I know a lot of people have had a moan about them, but thankfully they aren't too highly-pitched and are no different to the noises we are used to. Let the South Africans blow their own trumpets... from what I have seen already, they deserve to.

Tyler's Teaser

Every day throughout the tournament me and my back-up team will be testing your World Cup knowledge with a daily teaser... Click here to see today's!