It was a big day of football, a day that was to decide the destinies of two nations and the travel plans of two very excited, but nervous, FFT employees.

The chances of Australia and England making the Round of 16 were very much alive, and with England topping their group and Australia coming second in theirs, the dream match-up in Rustenburg - where we had tickets for - was still on the cards.

The day began with a five-hour coach trip to the town of Nelspruit, the jump-off point for the world famous Kruger National Park.

There was a knot in my stomach on the journey and not just because of the football about to be played. We'd been warned in advance that the road to Nelspruit was extremely dangerous, with the highest incidence of vehicular fatalities in the country. The coaches were definitely driving slower than we had in past trips but it didn't ease the tension.

 Arriving alive in Nelspruit was a bonus and our reward was a front row seat at the News Café for the England vs Slovenia game. With tickets to the Round of 16 clash in Rustenburg, an England win was not enough for us - the Three Lions needed to better the USA's result if they were to top the group.

 The game was a tense affair with Andy keeping one eye on the twitter feed for news of the USA vs Algeria game. England settled the nerves with a strike from Jermain Defoe but couldn't unlock the stubborn Slovenians for the all-important second that Andy and I needed to feel secure. Luckily the Algerians were holding the Yanks at bay.

The final whistle blew and Jacko and I were dancing around the table, believing we were off to see England in our final game of the World Cup.

 Landon Donovan had other ideas.

 'DONOVAAAAAAAAAN' was the Twitter entry Andy showed me as we finished up our second rendition of Michael Flatley's Riverdance jig. The USA had scored in additional time and thrown the plans of thousands of fans into disarray. We now had tickets to USA vs Ghana. Joy...

 However, there was no time to mope. The end of the first round of matches signalled time for the coaches to fire up and take the 450-odd fans on the Green and Gold Army tour to the Mbombela Stadium.

 The atmosphere was strangely party-like considering the stakes, with lots of locals blowing vuvuzelas and chanting support for the Aussies. I traded beanies with a local as he taught us how to cheer the Socceroos in his native tongue. It was a great laugh and eased the tension for the 90 minutes ahead.

 Perched up high in one corner of the stadium, we had great seats for the match. Our view allowed us to see Pim's formation perfectly, one that the boys played with great discipline in hardly giving the Serbs a sniff for the first 45.

 At halftime, we spied a few empty seats behind the goal Australia were to attack, so we headed down for a better view. I was happy for another reason after sitting next to one of those 'know it all' A-holes who booed Pim when he was introduced and criticised players for not playing the way he wanted them to. In my imagination, I punched him in the face as a touching farewell as we moved on.

The second half was fantastic and the reason why we as football fans travel around the globe in support of our country. The Aussie lads bossed the Serbs for long periods of time and were duly rewarded with two great goals from Cahill and Holman, with Brett's worthy of contender for goal of the tournament so far. (Who'd of thought those words would ever have been typed...?)

However, the goal swing for Australia to get through to the knockout stages was too much, especially when a German goal against Ghana meant we needed four more goals to make up the goal difference.

It became academic when Serbia hit a consolation with not long left, but it didn't dampen our spirits on what was a great night and a great win.

Football can be a cruel mistress, and for the FFT Insider boys at the 2010 World Cup, our ladies teased us with some enjoyable fourplay before cruelly exiting before we could seal the deal.