Oranje 3, Uruguay 2, we're in the final [July 6, 2010]

There was a kind of odd still over the city before the match kicked off. A few souls were scurrying home, but it was definitely lull before the storm.

And while the match was in progress, it was so, so quiet. The main street at the end of our road had just the occasional car or bus and lost cyclist. In the packed window of the bar opposite, one character in a massive orange afro wig was sitting stock still.

From next door, the shrieks from a teenage girl reverberated around the block. You can follow the game by the sighs and the roars and the celebratory cheers - or the oooh and stunned silence when Uruguay scores.

Then it is all over, and there is a lot of cheering and shouting and blowing of vuvuzelas and it all goes quiet again. For just a few moments. Then suddenly the city is on the move. Everywhere. The bar bursts into life, the afro wig is dancing. The streets are full of cars with hooting horns, like a Turkish wedding. Grown men are on the streets hugging each other.

According to AT5, some 40,000 football fans had packed on to the Museumplein to watch the game on giant screens. They will be back again on Sunday. Will it be Germany or Spain?

Picture lifted from AT5 website, where it had no credit