Today is the day the USA will take the field in an
incredibly important match against Ghana.
All of the talk about tactics and formations could be meaningless of the
rain doesn’t stop in Natal. Before that
happens, Germany and Portugal will face off and Iran will take on Nigeria. For the BISERGS, that is a lot of first picks
in action. Dawn and Rick picked Portugal
first and Evan, Rodrigo, Brian Glenney and Krista all used their first picks on
Germany. Annika was patriotic when she
selected the USA and Katee got Ghana in the first.
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| Clint Dempsey against Ghana in 2010 heartbreaker. |
Argentina picked up some points for their owners yesterday,
but they failed to really impress even though Messi scored a goal. France produced the biggest result with a 3-0 win over the Honduras wrestling team. Switzerland
scored a late goal in a dramatic finish against Ecuador to win the match.
Yesterday’s results didn’t dislodge Sharleen or Matt from
the top two spots of the leaderboard, but Ivan was joined in a third place tie by
Irma/Byron and Rick. Carol, Gray, Greg and Andrew all broke into the top ten yesterday with Andrew finding himself in a tie for
tenth.
I’m going out at 2 am local time to watch the USA play at the du Forum in Abu Dhabi. I hope all of you get a chance to enjoy the match.
I’m going out at 2 am local time to watch the USA play at the du Forum in Abu Dhabi. I hope all of you get a chance to enjoy the match.
Wrestling team is right! Honduras is a poor country with one of the highest crime rates in the hemisphere, so I usually cheer for them as underdogs, but after that performance yesterday, my feelings about the country don't carry over to this particular team.
ReplyDeleteWe were at Texas Roadhouse for the second half of the USA-Ghana game. Can you believe that in a crowded restaurant, I was the ONLY one watching the game. I groaned when Ghana made their goal in minute 82 to tie the game. Then the USA made a goal in minute 86--I am bouncing in my seat, trying to swallow my "GOAL!" de júbilo. I suffer through the next 9 minutes every time Ghana has the ball. The whistle blows, the USA is declared the winner. Still NO REACTION from anyone else in the restaurant! If it had been Guatemala winning a game in the World Cup (or in any competition), there would have been fireworks, people shooting guns into the air, people all on their feet shouting! What a let down to be in Cheyenne and no one with whom to celebrate.
ReplyDeleteThat is too bad and very surprising. I wonder if it was just the restaurant or if that is really the attitude of the whole city. I talked three friends into waking up and watching with me and I'm glad it was such an exciting match with a good outcome for the stars and stripes. Hopefully you'll find some location where fans gather. There may also be a big band wagon effect now that the US has won a game. At least they had the game on. In 1998, Sharleen and I had to convince a restaurant to switch over from NASCAR to watch the World Cup Final between France and Brazil on just one TV at breakfast time.
DeleteYour experience was worse than mine, then. A World Cup Final and they didn't know or care that it was on. I have found only a handful of people here who care about soccer--one young guy at the Y, one young lady at church. Actually, those are the only two I can think of. I kept telling James--your team is playing. He wasn't watching the game, but he was watching my face and smiling at all my emotions and comments. Maybe he'll get infected yet. Two of my New Mexico friends spending a month in San Miguel went crazy with excitement, and the San Miguel friends were enjoying the game with them, and all of them were planning on going out to celebrate. Several of my friends in New Mexico are into soccer.
ReplyDeletePS Your experience in 1998 was like mine in 2002. We were in a hotel in Orlando, FL, and the hotel had made NO provisions to show the World Cup final--it wasn't being shown are their cable on any channel. I was surprised that would be the case in Florida.
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