Group of Death: match 1

They call it the Group of Death, I guess because it has so many strong teams. Who knows how the rest of the stage will go, but yesterday was pretty humbling for the US club. (more like emabarrassing). I did get chills during the national anthem (disclosure: I cried during Rocky; full disclosure: Rocky III).
Here are my notes--

-must take notes, so much happening...
-Dutch channels all saying Czech team is real contender, they did quite well 2 years ago in the European Championships. Holland did win home and away from them in WC qualifiers though...
-Koller is a monster, has been out with ligament injury and may not be fit but dwarfs the rest of both teams at 6'7+.
-underway, first time I've heard real booing, must be big American contingent (tens of thousands of Americans at all the military bases in the area); over here whistles mean boos- I'm just getting used to it.
-OUCH. like a knife, messed up US attack turns into perfect cross for Koller who punches in first goal at 5 minutes with great header. 1-0
-getting into the groove, American attack begins to show signs but repelled pretty easily...
-Czech attack again too much- Nedved, in every good play, fails to cross but blazing strike by Rosicky curves way up into top right. a beautiful goal but I'm losing my appetite.
-No commercial at all in a match which is brilliant- only a 15 minute halftime and they are quickly back.
-(I think Jan Koller is injured here, just sprinting- he comes up with what looks like a pulled hamstring, later they say it may be due to pushing unconditioned legs too hard too fast. A big blow for Czechs but Baros is still on the bench and is at least as much a threat...)
-After half. Again Rosicky. We are crushed. like boys playing with men, every American attempt is effortlessly repelled. Reyna gets in a decent shot that beats the keeper but hits the left post. Eddie Pope shows flashes in the 2nd half in an otherwise uninspired and one dimensional attack. Marcus Beasley plays good D but desperately needed on the other end.

Anyway, if I've learned anything over here it's that we are truly a nation of optimists; we should all be re-charged by Saturday.
James and I toured around yesterday looking for the most-decorated street- here's one near us:

1-0

The streets were completely deserted yesterday as the nation was glued to the screen to watch Oranje's first match. I thought it was a good match for the most part- especially compared to the way the other favored teams opened up (England missing a dozen chances to score and winning on an own goal...). The first match is often nerve-wracking for highly ranked teams. Serbia-Montenegro (only the keeper is actually from Montenegro who just voted to seperate this year) is a good team and Holland looked to be confident and encouraged after Robin van Persie set up Arjan Robben's well-executed goal. My neighbor's comments ranged from a shrugging "1-0, we'll take it..", to immediate complaints about various mistakes on the field and how poorly Ruud Van Nistelrooij played.
Typical.
Football is the world's most popular sport for a lot of reasons- its a simple game with less than a dozen rules (I'm looking at you cricket) that can be played almost anywhere with almost no equipment or paraphernalia. It's fostered an amazing diversity of styles that astonish me as an American sports fan- especially the idea of 'artistic' vs. 'results-oriented' football. Several nations (Brazil, Italy) have a style of play completely designed to make the game 'beautiful' and frown on teams that will simply do anything to score at the cost of elegant play. It sounds weird, and perhaps boring, and it sometimes is; but after you see enough matches and talk to enough fans you begin to believe in this 'higher' level of performance. Its not to say these teams aren't competitive, but there is something incredible when all the elements come together at a match for a real performance- the crowds, the drama, teamwork in the face of extravagantly inflated contracts.
The World Cup has some distinct advantages over other international sporting events; it's not a bunch of games like the Olympics-- it's an entire month of a single event with 2 to 4 matches a day for the first 2 weeks. So far, this World Cup already has it all- for this new fan. Now if the American team shows up this afternoon... I"m gonna have to bust out the big flag...
1200 EST ---USA v. Czech Republic
Thanks to David for the photo of the big fans below---

Zo begint het...

Six goals to start the 2006 World Cup with Germany beating Costa Rica 4-2 in a defensive struggle. Sunday the Netherlands fields one of the best teams in the world against Serbia-Montenegro and Monday a very decent U.S. squad begins its campaign against the Czech Republic in if not the toughest, easily one of the most difficult groups with Ghana and Italy. The neighbors have strung orange flags across the street and yesterday people were already blowing their @#*#@ airhorns on the street.
Stay tuned.

Birthday Bash and Big Boy Bike

Big day today as James and I attended friend Anna's 1st birthday party (rescheduled from a month ago). Great time at Kristin's house with 4 babys around the same age, delicious cupcakes, cool Nijntje hats, plenty of toys to hit each other with, and even good weather. Kristin, mother of two, had the wisdom to immediately pose the kids for a group shot before the inevitable breakdowns/crawling in different directions.
Here is l/r Kirsten (10 months), James, Helena (8 months), and birthday girl Anna (~13 months).



We also recently got paid for a thesis I worked on all last month and went out and splurged on a new fancy bike seat for his nibs. It's much easier to set up and break down than the trailer and best of all comes with a cool CHiPs wind guard (can anyone tell me why Ponch has such a blatantly Welsh middle name?). James really dug it and acted like he was driving the whole time...

Kid's TV across the pond

Though James isn't close to being into watching tv yet, Katharine and I end up watching kid's programming sometimes; if it's Dutch it's usually a)bizarre to us, or b) about our level of language skill--if it's British it's usually a)also bizarre, or b) a relief to understand the idiom. For all our readers who are parents of toddlers, if you haven't seen it check out this British show we like, Charlie and Lola.
There is also a great review in Slate today.

Here comes sickness...

Unfortunately, James and I (Mike) caught some bug on our way home. I'd been fighting it off for days before we left but the last leg of sleepless travel did me in. James was actually great on the trip home (compared to the 17 hour nightmare going west) as it was mostly night and he slept pretty well on the plane and train rides home. That said, the poor guy doesn't know what to make of a runny nose; there's no showing a baby how to blow out and clear the gunk.
We did have a great trip anyway, seeing a lot of family and eating great meals the whole time. We also missed almost 2 weeks of crappy weather (it's now 50 degrees and grey, fitting for staying inside with a cold and watching Roland Garros). Today it's back to work as Katharine finishes up the course she has been helping with and I start reading another thesis (anthropology instead of policy finally!)

Here are some more photos from the trip:
-The Farm, quite the southern setting for a beautiful wedding (too busy to fish the pond unfortunately...


-The Steedley cousins, Micajah graciously letting James eat his back-up Spiderman...


-The Twins. They are great, becoming very distinct but so funny to watch together...


-The Gould girls hamming it up:


-The closest of many attempts to get all three wee babies in the same frame...