Yesterday was the first day where I could finally watch all of the world cup games... and it was glorious. In the morning, I woke up and met up with some friends for lunch. Sarah and I then scoured the grounds looking for a stray, hooked up television on which we could watch the South Korea - Greece game. Having no luck (and even resorting to my laptop for a bit), we headed over the The Globe pub and got some drinks and settled in to enjoy football and Londoners on the big screens there. After South Korea won to Sarah's excitement, I stayed at the pub and talked to other football (yes that's its real name) fans from around London and even the world, actually. It turns out that sitting right next to us was a recently graduated former 4th year from UVA who was in London on a long layover. She was in town for a few hours and then was flying to Cape Town for the World Cup. I confessed to her my sincere jealousy and then felt the feeling of a really small world when I found out we were both dear Wahoos.
After she left, I talked to a couple of recent college graduates (which in England means they finished high school and are going on to University) who told me that while England was going to "batter" the US, that they'd still be nice to me and that our keeper was the best in the EPL. Little did they know just how right they were. We talked for a while about football and music and compared England to America. They definitely laughed at me when they saw how much ketchup I drenched my chips (fries) in and when I expressed amusement at the trough-style urinals (these are commonplace in London).
After the Argentina-Nigeria game ended, I went back to Regent's and met up with several friends in the courtyard where we played pick up football. Pretty quickly, a family from Middleborough in south central England came up and their two sons asked if they could join in with us. What started out as a friendly passing game quickly escalated to a nationalistic preview of US v. England. The two young boys, probably aged 7 and 9, and their father took on Paul, Tyler and me. The score was not promising.... we lost 11-5. But we had a really good time and got to know the family during our several (beverage) breaks.
They were very, very nice people who were at Regent's because the wife was performing in a show at a benefit concert on the grounds. They'd taken the train up early, early in the morning and then were going to spend the rest of the day in London and were looking for a place to watch the game. The father was really nice and the rest of the family was great. His two kids were adorable and quite good at football though he confessed that they'd been playing organized English football for some time (so we were justified in our loss). We invited them to watch the big game in the Regent's sports bar which was pretty packed to capacity by the time we got down there and secured our seats.
The game itself, and the atmosphere, was really excellent. Most of us sat together on one side of the bar so as to have safety in numbers and a good group of people to cheer with. The US-England rivalry was very cordial, however. No personal attacks on any players or other fans but rather expressing excitement in turns. We were all a little disheartened with the first goal let in by the US on a defensive breakdown because, though we expected a loss and a goal or two against, we hoped it would come later in the game so as to let us bask in our hopefulness for a bit longer.
Clint Dempsey's miracle keeper blunder strike literally propelled all of us in our section to jump into the air with euphoria and continue jumping up and down while screaming madly. (Or at least that was the reaction on my part). Luckily that didn't anger the locals too much as they were too busy looking cock-eyed at the screen and screaming obscenities at their keeper.
When the game ended in a draw (though each side had great chances to win it.... and our keeper, Tim Howard, deserves a medal) our side of the bar erupted in celebration while the English fans held their heads in shame.
Several of us went out to the quad to celebrate by huddling up, singing the national anthem, the good old song and rugby road several times each.
Today I'm off to visit my dad's friends near Heathrow. Check back soon!
-Simon
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