World Cup Fever

From his sister's home in Germany, Stefan will be able to watch the Fifa World Cup final group G match between powerful Germany versus up and coming United States as both teams would appear to make it to the next round of 16.

In their first group match, the U.S. beat Ghana in a vengeance match as payback for the latter's rousting of the Americans at the 2010 event in South Africa, and the Americans came very close to besting Cristiano Ronaldo's Portugal side last Monday (Tuesday morning at 5.00 a.m. Thai time).

I was able to watch most of that match while readying myself for a visa run to the Thai-Burmese border.   The American side at first were unable to answer the early goal by Portugal's Nani as the match broke for halftime.  But American  midfielder Jermaine Jones evened things up with a goal in the 64th minute.

In the 84th minute, forward Clint Dempsey put the U.S. ahead with a beautiful goal that had me screaming at my TV at 6.40 a.m.  I thought, all you guys have to do is hold on for this victory!

Unfortunately, I was screaming again 11 minutes later when, in the 90th minute plus 5 minutes injury time, Silvester Varela evened the score 2-2, barely a minute before the referee whistled the match to a close.  It was quite a disappointing end to a match that featured a very strong American team.

There have been surprises galore in this year's World Cup finals as some of the "beautiful game's" biggest contenders have been eliminated from the tournament, including former world champions Spain, Italy's famed Azzuri, and now Portugal as well.

Poor England, a perpetual also-ran since it won the World Cup final it hosted in 1966, was shut out of the final 16 with a miserable draw and two losses in group D.

Meanwhile, some of the "minnows" of the sport have delivered major happiness to their supporters with their stunning upsets and ferociously determined play.  These teams include Costa Rica at the top of group D, Chile second in group B,  Algeria also in second in group H, and Greece in second in group C.

Colombian fans are thrilled to see their team topping group C with their best World Cup performance in history.

And Uruguay surprised some with their second place in group D as they eliminated Italy in their final group match.  Unfortunately the celebration was marred by Luis Suarez's biting of Giorgio Chiellini's left shoulder.  It was the third biting incident in Suarez's checkered career, and Fifa has banned him for four months which means he will miss Uruguay's next nine games.

All this--the thrilling matches, the heartbreak, the controversy--is personally reminiscent of the
2010 World Cup which I was able to watch during my seven week tour of Central America in June and July of that year.

And I am reminded also of my experience in 1994 when the United States hosted the World Cup for the first time.

At that time I was living and working in Bangkok, and often I would stay up late--at times until 3.00 or 5.00 a.m.--and go out to watch the matches at the Malaysia Hotel, near my room in the Soi Ngam Dupli neighborhood.

I discovered then that I enjoy watching this level of "soccer" play, even though I was never a huge sports fan.  There is something really compelling about the World Cup.  It's similar to the excitement generated by the Olympics, but I think it's more exciting than the Olympics, and I'm not sure I can explain why.

In 1994 I was proud, too, to see the U.S. make such a good international impression with its outstanding hosting of the event.  That year, the world famous Brazilians came out on top against Roberto Baggio's Italy in an overtime penalty shootout.

This year, the Brazilians are the hosts and they are also the favorites to win their sixth World Cup.

I'm just thrilled to see the U.S. make the top 16 with Germany in their group G.  Can the Americans advance to the next round?

Argentina & Brazil Sent Home By Germany & Holland

Frankly I was rooting for South American powerhouse teams Argentina and Brazil in their losing battles with European bigshots Germany and Holland, so it wasn't much fun to see both teams whipped by large margins this morning and yesterday.

However I wasn't really rooting for Argentina coach Diego Maradona,he of  the notorious "hand of God" who scored a critical goal against England way back when that many said was a handball.

If memory serves me, Maradona also was sent home from the 1994 World Cup in disgrace after testing positive for cocaine.  The press, then and now, seems to eat him up because he's always good for some juicy ridiculous comment.

Another player from 1994, Dunga of Brazil, is now his team's coach as well.  As I recall he was certainly a lot less controversial than Maradona, serving brilliantly as goalie and captain of the team that year.  And if I remember correctly Dunga was the "old man" of his team--in his thirties--and his World Cup appearances marked the end of his playing career.

World Cup Fever

Nicaragua's national pasttime is baseball, but like most of the rest of the world they're crazy about futbol, too.  With daily matches in South Africa at around 5.00 a.m., 8.00 a.m. and 1.00 p.m., I find myself getting into World Cup fever like everyone else.

The last time I was in a country that cared about the World Cup (yes, this is a barely veiled criticism of Americans who see "soccer" as a kids' game that otherwise is reeally booring on TV) was in 1994, the year the U.S. hosted the event for the first time.

I was in my fourth year of "exile" in Thailand, at that time living in Bangkok and in a work situation that was making me increasingly unhappy.  Therefore, I welcomed the distraction of the month-long tournament, and I felt more than just a little pride that my country turned out to be such a fine host.  (The U.S. team didn't do too badly, either, as I recall, making the semi-finals.)

So I'd head out to the bars and cafes in my neighborhood to watch the matches with other fans, Thais and Westerners alike.  Only problem was these matches were on Thai TV at 2.00 a.m. until 7.00 or 9.00 a.m. daily.  Everyone in Thailand, indeed everyone across East Asia, was going sleep-deprived.

But it was that month that I discovered World Cup football isn't always as boring as some of us say.  Yes, sometimes on TV it's just a wide shot of 22 guys kicking a tiny ball around that you can barely see.  And yes, a 0-0 draw usually ain't much of a game.

But once you get your mind set fixed on what's happening, you begin to see how exciting it can be at times, even when it's 1-1 at the half and no sign of either team pulling ahead.

If you don't believe me, I suggest patience, my friend!  Crack open another beer, enjoy the fact that they don't interrupt this 45 minute half with commericals, and wait for the next score.  Then check out the slow motion replays.  If you don't get hooked on what these amazing athletes are doing by watching all the angles of every score, then I'll eat my hat.

I watched a couple 1-1 draws this morning and yesterday.  If I don't have any skin in the game, I´ll root for the underdog.  Yesterday the underdog was Ghana matched up with Australia. While Ghana is having an excellent year, winning its first match against Serbia, and Australia was expected to be very strong, the Aussies have been struggling with their game while one of their best players was suspended with a red card in the 24th minute.  They barely managed to hold Ghana to the draw.

Then today Italy was the powerhouse vs lowly New Zealand.  It was thrilling to see the New Zealanders take the early lead, but the best they could do by the 90th minute was hold tight to that 1-1 "lead." Italy has won 44 World Cup matches while New Zealand has won none.

Meanwhile "underdog" United States managed to hold former World Cup champs England to a 1-1 draw in their first match.  Go U.S.A.!

Perhaps many Central Americans will show their support for Honduras, which is the only representative from the region, and which lost its first match against Chile.  Tomorrow the Hondurans face Spain.

Even if I go for the underdog, I gotta admit it was fun to watch Brazil kick some North Korean butt 2-1 last week.  Today the bigshot Brazilians are in the prime time 1.00 p.m. match against Ivory Coast.  Don't miss it 'cause the Brazilian fans put on a great show, too!