The World Cup

I love the World Cup! I like soccer, but don't follow the European leagues and it is difficult to follow the Brazilian league from the US. But, I love the World Cup! I have fond memories of watching Brazil play when I was a child. I remember the tears of losing in penalty kicks to France in '86 (Platini - if that means anything to you), the joy of the recent years ('94 and '02) when Brazil won the World Cup for the first time in my lifetime. In 2002 when the World Cup was in Korea/Japan, I remember waking up alone in the middle of the night to watch the matches and walking Bill up telling him we had won. He really appreciated those moments!

Most Americans can't understand how important futebol and the World Cup are to the Brazilians. Everything stops, stores will close, no one on the streets (unless they are staring at a big screen TV), no one is working or expected to work, and the stock exchange will close or stop trading for the games. It is a matter of national pride and it unites a whole nation. And everyone has an opinion of how the coach should be doing his job (which players to put in, pull out, made the list, got cut, European vs. Brazilian style of playing, etc), making the Brazilian national team coach's job the hardest job in the country. The only way to stop the critics is to win!

I got my co-workers together (one of them is Brazilian) for the first game against North Korea at the local Gordon Biersch. They had nice big monitors, and the game being on mute was ok with me since I can't stand the vuvuzelas. We watched the second game at home with my Mom and Dad, who were over for Father's Day. I have the time blocked on my calendar for this Friday morning, so I don't get scheduled any meetings :-). So far so good with 2 wins, even with the BS call from the French referee that caused KaKa to get a red card.

Here is Mason cheering Brazil on. Ole Ole Ole Ola, Brasil, Brasil.... (but no vuvuzelas)