Saturday, June 26, 2010
World Cup fever strikes out
The USA team lost today to Ghana 2-1 and exited the World Cup finals. That is the same scoreline that Ghana won by in 2006 to send the USA home then. The bar was packed, the emotions were high, but the US could not respond to the overtime goal by Ghana. If psychic energy counted for anything, the US would have scored two goals in overtime to win the game and advance to the quarterfinals. But no such luck. The US has to move away from playing X’s and O’s and play more on instinct in order to win on the international level. This is not a wait till next year proposition. We have to wait till 2014 when the next World Cup final is held in Brazil.
Friday, June 25, 2010
World Cup fever strikes
As most of you know, your Center City Correspondent is an avid soccer fan. He follows the English Premier League most of the time which runs from August till May. But this summer soccer fans get a month-long smorgasbord of games, namely the World Cup. 32 national teams have qualified to play in the WC finals being held this year in South Africa. The United States is one of those teams, and I’ve seen a huge surge in interest in the US team who have done well so far. In the first couple of games the US sort of putzed around and came up with two ties, meaning they needed to win their third game in order to advance to the next round. They waited until very late in the game to score the winning goal which catapulted them into the next round. It was a moment of rapture and high-fives all around. They play Ghana on Saturday at 2:30 PM. From now on it’s win or go home. The US must have payback on their minds because in the last WC, Ghana beat them 2-1 to send them home early.
All these games are on TV, most of them on ESPN or ESPN2, so you could sit at home and watch them. But the real fun is going to a bar to watch the games with fellow fans and newcomers. During the long stretches of time when not much is going on, it’s fun to chat up the other patrons. Once in a while you find another fan and the conversation can go on for a long time. But most of the time the questions from the new fans come flying at you, especially when there’s a bogus call by the referee, which seems to happen a lot. These new fans are starting to understand the passion as well as the frustration that the sport engenders. When you are emotionally engaged with a team, the game is a lot of fun. It’s just a shame that their passion will end when the US gets knocked out.
So get out to a bar in your neighborhood on Saturday afternoon and enjoy the atmosphere and the game.
Go USA and Go Phillies.
PS. Why did I write this whole post in the third person?
All these games are on TV, most of them on ESPN or ESPN2, so you could sit at home and watch them. But the real fun is going to a bar to watch the games with fellow fans and newcomers. During the long stretches of time when not much is going on, it’s fun to chat up the other patrons. Once in a while you find another fan and the conversation can go on for a long time. But most of the time the questions from the new fans come flying at you, especially when there’s a bogus call by the referee, which seems to happen a lot. These new fans are starting to understand the passion as well as the frustration that the sport engenders. When you are emotionally engaged with a team, the game is a lot of fun. It’s just a shame that their passion will end when the US gets knocked out.
So get out to a bar in your neighborhood on Saturday afternoon and enjoy the atmosphere and the game.
Go USA and Go Phillies.
PS. Why did I write this whole post in the third person?
Subscribe to:
Comments (Atom)
