[ecstatic enthusiam for the sport of soccer]
I am so excited about this year's soccer world cup! Admittedly, I always get excited about the soccer world cup. This time has been especially exciting though, because Germany and the USA were both in the same group (Group G), which was considered the "Group of Death" during this year's tournament. Of course, I am rooting for Germany, but I have long been a supporter of the US team as well. They have been the underdog for quite a while and it seems they improve a bit with every world cup. I love seeing an underdog team becoming more and more successful and getting more attention.
Now, that the US are my home, I root for them even more. I was thrilled that they made it into the Round of 16 alongside Germany, even though we beat them in the group game. ;-)
For the longest, soccer has not received much attention here in the US, aside from being a popular team sport for school age kids (mostly girls). Funny, because in Germany soccer is considered quite a manly sport, if not the sport of men. Anyway, the US men's national team and the soccer world cup as a whole seem to have received more attention than usual. I like that. I like soccer.
I love the world cup and how it brings all kinds of people from all kinds of countries and all walks of life together.
I also like basketball and have become a San Antonio Spurs fan. How do you not love this team? They really play as a team and I love that they are such a great mix of players from all over the world. This year they finally won their fifth NBA championship. The Spurs have a pretty solid fan base here in San Antonio and this city went crazy during the finals. So much fun!
I might enjoy baseball and even American football one day, provided someone explains these sports to me (I am clueless).
Back to the soccer world cup. Unfortunately, I was only able to watch one game live so far (Germany vs. Ghana), because all the other games were usually played while I was at work. I had a live feed on my computer though and my coworker Rob and I got a little crazy during the US vs. Germany game. I was working on a report, not paying attention to the live feed when Germany made their 1-0 goal. I heard Rob in his office next to me exclaiming, "Nooooooooooooooooo..." when I realized what happened. So I walked to his office, saying, "Yeeeeeeeeeeeeesssssssss!" to "rub it in" and tease him a little but also to let him know that Portugal was not making enough goals to beat the US in terms of goal difference meaning the US would advance alongside Germany. So the Teuton (me) and the Texan (Rob) were both happy.
Too bad that the US lost against Belgium yesterday. They should have put Julian Green on the field sooner; I think he could have made more goals had he been given more time to play. Tim Howard did an outstanding job of course. I believe the US national team will continue to improve and hope they will advance at least one more level in the 2018 world cup!
I am really happy that the quarter finals game Germany vs. France is on July 4th and the semi finals and final match are on weekends, so I can actually watch them.
What are your plans for July 4th? Will you watch the quarter finals? My American friends, will you celebrate Independence Day at home or will you go somewhere?
