World Cup Fever, Part III
A terrific game between England and Trinidad-Tobago yesterday, in which the latter team was clearly outmatched but played its heart out nonetheless. T-T almost came away with a zero-zero tie, which would have actually been a huge victory for the team from the smallest nation in the World Cup.
But it was not to be. In the 83rd minute, David Beckham swung a precision cross in to forward Peter Crouch, who appeared to hold down the dreadlocks of his defender as Crouch, who's 6'7", headed the ball past the goalie. I don't like Crouch much; in the two games I've seen England play, he strikes me as dirty. And it was hard not to root for Trinidad-Tobago—talk about the underdog.
That one goal seemed to take the wind out of T-T, though, and they gave up another a few minutes later, losing by the final score of 2-0. That they played so hard and so well for almost the entirety of the game, against a team which was expected to whoop them soundly, was inspiring; they have a lot to be proud of.
Also inspiring was Ecuador's 3-0 victory over Costa Rica. No one expected Ecuador to be good; the team plays in Quito, 9,000 feet above sea level, and the thin air gives them an enormous home field advantage which was not expected to carry over to Germany. (When I was in Quito on my way to and from the Galapagos, the air made it hard to walk up three flights of steps to my hotel room, and gave me a headache while sleeping every night.) But Ecuador has now beaten Poland and Costa Rica; I have a feeling the people of Ecuador are going nuts right now. Another inspiring World Cup story, and another reason to love this tournament.
I ate at a Brazilian restaurant last night and started talking soccer with the proprietor. "Brazil is going to have to do better" in its next game, he said. Who do they play? I asked. Neither of us could remember. He stuck his head into the kitchen and shouted. Someone shouted back.
"Japan," he said. "Sunday."
You have to love it.....
