World Cup post

Greetings from Cologne, Germany, where I am just starting to recover from the most gallant performance I think Ive ever seen from the U.S. national team. It was something I can say with certainty I will never forget.

The tradeoff for us getting World Cup tickets with ease was we agreed to take far from the best seats, which this time meant way up in the endzone corner, with the opposing corner obscured from view. But it didnt matter one bit. I was in Germany, watching the U.S. play Italy. My world almost never gets this good.

Even before kickoff there was an energy which was missing from the pasting we took from the Czechs. Kaiserslautern, where the Italy game was played, is basically an American Army base with a few streets built around it. Packing that many fairly crazy people in such a tight spot made for a chaotic but very fun party.

But, of course, onto the game. I think it is the American spirit to be optimistic even in the face of ridiculous odds, and Im as guilty of this as anyone. I truly believed we could hang with those diving Italians, even after an early Azurri goal showed my folly.

This was a different American team, however, from the one that barely showed up against the Czechs. They bounced back almost instantly to tie it up at 1-1, even after the referee forgot he isnt the star of the game. I never want to blame the refs for the outcome of the match, but when its so bad that we have 10 Italians vs. 9 Americans for much of the match, you kind of have to. And the Italians, who are blessed with a natural talent on the field, play a spineless, unprincipled game of football, diving at every opportunity to delay the match as much as they can.

But though the ref tried to take this night away from us, he couldnt. The beauty of being cheap is that, every once in a while, you also get lucky, and I wouldnt have wanted to be anywhere else in the world than behind Kasey Keller as he repelled volley after volley on his way to his well-earned distinction of Man of the Match. The last 15 minutes were the most intense time Ive experienced at a live sporting event. I know Im in the vast minority, at least in the Peach State, but for me, it puts any Georgia Bulldog football game to shame.

As the final whistle blew, our undermanned squad had managed to hold on for the tie and, with a victory over the Ghanians and a little luck, a birth in the second round. I couldnt leave my seat for about 30 minutes, so we just soaked it all in as the U.S. squad came by to thank us for braying like idiots for two hours. Even from a half-mile above, I still sometimes give in to the delusion that theyre applauding just for me, and this was definitely one of those times.

Our motley crew of 10 or so (we seem to pick up a couple of more people and maybe lose one every few days) is now gearing for the Ghana match in Nuremberg later this week. For me, however, its all about the soccer, so Im off to Dortmund tomorrow to try and scalp a fairly cheap ticket to watch Togo play Switzerland. The Africans play the game with seemingly endless energy, so it should be a blast.

And, oh yeah, I have seen one movie, while in Amsterdam. It was Sofia Coppolas "Marie Antionette," which was truly odd but more than a little disappointing.

A review, however, is not on my agenda now, however, so Ill give the full dirt when it comes to the U.S. this fall. In the meantime, I have a rather big party to get back to, so, peace out.