It's Over ... It's Never Over

Echoing Andrew's post from last evening, the World Cup is over for us, it continues for others and it is certainly alive in our hearts. This has been an amazing journey and one that perhaps has only further laid the foundation of Americans who travel, a wonderful group of friends, and forever loyalty to the Red, White and Blue.

The emotions are complex. Luckily, we were not England, blown off the world stage by a hated rival. But then again, these are the same arguments people use to reduce all First World suffering; "Remember, there are starving children in Africa ...," turned to, "Hey, you could be England, France, Italy, Ireland, etc." Well, last night was uniquely and especially miserable, but fear is also the heart of love.

There is no glory without pain and no cheer without misery. Hopefully US fans can remember these facts and this team. We were not disgraced; we just lost. We will be in Brazil in 2014. We will continue to love these team and all these people. This was a wonderful ride. Thank you South Africa, all our friends, all the strangers we met and shared time with and all the football fans the world over. To everyone here and those carried in our hearts, our thanks, our commitment and our promise to return. USAmerica.

The Video You've Been Waiting For

USA - Algeria from Andrew Silver on Vimeo.

USA-Algeria: Before and After

It was a big day.

Game on kids, Game on

I knew there was a reason I'm coming to the Algeria game. Here's the shakeup:

SLO-4
USA-2
ENG-2
ALG-1

If we lose to Algeria, we're out.

If we tie Algeria and Slovenia wins, we're in (2nd).

If we tie Algeria and England wins, we're out.

If we tie Algeria and England and Slovenia tie, it gets interesting. Slovenia would be through and we'd be tied with England on points. We'd also be tied on GD, which means it would come down to goals scored, in which case we're at a huge advantage: we've scored 3, they've scored 1. So as long as our we keep our tie within one goal of theirs (i.e., we tie 1-1, they tie 2-2), we're in. However, if they manage to tie us in goals scored it goes to a random drawing. Yikes. (If we get through we'd be 2nd.)

If we beat Algeria and Slovenia wins, we're in (2nd).

If we beat Algeria and Slovenia and England tie, we're in. (Could be first if we beat Algeria by more than one goal.)

If we beat Algeria and England wins, we're in (1st and 2nd are up for grabs based on goal differential).

TO RECAP: WIN AND WE'RE IN. TIE AND WE'VE GOT A SHOT.

Holy Crap.

Day 6 Recap

CHI-HON. Watched at Mara's homemade over beignets, cafe au lait and fried green tomatoes. Food was excellent. Pretty good game. I definitely enjoy the South American teams (see below).

ESP-SUI. Watched at my apartment. Wow. Upset of the tournament so far. Wild goal got the win for the Swiss. Spain couldn't do much. I bet Spain rebounds.

RSA-URU. Watched at Nate's apartment and my apartment. I feel bad for South Africa, but they had nothing in this game. I really like Forlan and his first goal was pretty sweet. I can get behind this South American teams (see above). I do think the penalty that probably ruined South Africa's tournament was a tough call, but I'm not sure the ref had much choice.

Pool leader: Andrew (again, again). Hell yes.

Also, Nate and Geoff are on their way. Holy hell boys. Great work.

"Andrew Gets a Jersey" or "Cotton and Weird"

We Ain't Afraid Of No Hijackers

Happy Birthday Jeremy