The Agony and the Ecstasy

So we had a fantastic match last night - FINALLY. I was SO proud of our boys! Brian McBride had to have stiches, Convey played with blurred vision for the second half after he was elbowed in the face and Donovan was given fluids by IV at the half - but they played with their hearts, and the result was a good one! (Thats not to say that we weren't robbed of a player - neither of those two yellow cards where rightly given to Pope!) I can't even begin to express how junvenile some of those ref's calls where, and I will not go into a tirade about the behavior of the Italian players- the fact that their own Italian newspapers denounced the team as a 'disgrace' this morning is enough for me :)

Having said all of this, we had SUCH a blast last night! The fans were amazing, and Bruce Arena gave an interview saying that it was the best fan show of support outside US soil that the US team has ever had. It FELT like it! We lost our voices and I clapped so hard I burst a vessel in one of my fingers! Its blue and purple today! We kept meeting up with people who we saw at the last match as well- it was a make-shift community kind of feel. I was 'high fiving' people I didn't know and everyone was just hugging each other and screaming after our goal. The groanings and 'boo-ing' and feelings of despair at missed shots and bad calls was just as emotional. The crowd's reactions where really funny! What torment and what fun it is to be a football fan! I loved it, of course, and wouldn't have it any other way.

Hopefully we will do as well against Ghana...

Hope you get to watch a few more of the matches Eif! So much for the Aussies beating Brazil eh? They did put up a valiant effort though!

Gutten Abend from Munchen!

We are in Germany! We are having so much fun! Yes, we sucked, and got schooled on Mon. I've never been so ashamed of a US team in my life. It was a complete throw-back to the days when we had college students playing in international tournaments! It seemed like they were just sleeping for most of the match.

But, nevertheless, we are really enjoying ourselves. The atmosphere here is absolutely AMAZING! We haven't witnessed any uncouth behavior really. The banter between supporters seems to be really good natured- which is great, and exactly as it should be!

Some of the highlights include:
1. Preztel bread! (so good!!)
2. I haven't yet eaten a wurst I didn't like!
3. Tunesian fans singing their hearts out in the city center of Munich for about 5 HOURS before the game tonight.
4. Germans (of ALL ages) in LIEDERHOSEN!!!! with painted faces waving flags around.
5. Spending time with our friends Matt and Meghan and their joy of a baby boy, Jeremy.
6. Going to the game and meeting loads of Americans along the way who are football mad! Its really refreshing! We didn't know so many existed!
7. Getting to spend so much time with Geordan and not feeling guilty that I'm keeping him away from the thesis!

God is good! We are having a really refreshing and FUN time.

Oh! And I got my exam results back! I made the necessary marks for the med school, so all is well on that front!

Thats all for now. Will update again when I get the chance - though I might be too depressed after Sat's match against Italia to do so anytime soon.