World Cup [Part I]

As I am sure you are aware, the World Cup is being held in South Africa this summer from June 11 – July 11, 2009. For those of you who are not aware, the World Cup is kind of like the Olympics for soccer or ‘football’ (depending where you live in the world). It takes place every 4 years and involves 32 men’s national teams from the Fédération Internationale de Football Association (FIFA). In order to raise enthusiasm for the tournament in the region, FIFA is sponsoring a series of mini-World Cup tournaments which coincide with the actual ‘World Cup’ trophy touring around the continent. So, last Saturday, the World Cup trophy came to Swaziland and FIFA hosted a tournament. Even though the expat community is sparse on actual soccer players, we of course rallied and entered a team. Let me just say here and now, it was…funny. Personally, I hadn’t played since I was 8 when picking dandelions on the field was more entertaining to me then actually playing soccer; therefore, I spent much of my time on the field terrified and running. All told, I kicked the ball three times and even then it was only to get the ball AWAY from me. But, enough about my nonexistent soccer skills…our team…we had 14 players (13 of which held American passports) and one whom we smuggled in. Growing up, he was the goalie for the South African National Team; therefore, he was our ‘ace in the hole.’ We played two games – the first against Nigeria and the second against the Democratic Republic of Congo (DRC). We lost 6-0 and 7-0 respectively. But, in our defense, the crowd LOVED us and whenever a woman (we were of course the only team to play women) touched the ball or we got the ball on our half of the field they cheered. While the other teams actually fielded some of their country’s professional players, we didn’t have any on hand, so we just played ourselves. Honestly, it gave me a new found respect for the sport and next time I’ll buy shin guards instead of shoving cardboard down my socks. P.S. This blog entry is dedicated to Carrie Watts. I now understand you really are a badass.

Uri, me, and Jara before the game

Shaking hands with the other team and referees before the start of the match

In the huddle, pretending like we know what we are doing

I'm #4. That's me, running...not sure where to

Still running...

Yup, you guessed it, still running...at least there are other people in the photo this time

Jason showing off his mad skills (that he hasn't used in 20 years)

Between-games performance