World Cup Impressions

I finally got the World Cup photos developed, so I thought I would share a few of them. These pictures were taken before and during the U.S. - Italy game in Kaiserslautern, a small city about a 2-hour drive south from Frankfurt.
The city was filled with soccer fans, and there was a Mardi Gras atmosphere in the streets with American and Italian flags competing for space above the heads of the crowd. Lark, Delene, Jennifer and I got there early to watch a couple of games before our game at 9pm Germany time. As we were walking to the stadium, we caught the tail end of the Ghana upset of the Czech Republic. This was a huge boost to U.S. morale, because we knew we could still advance to the 2nd Round if we could at least pull off a tie with Italy.
As we walked into the stadium, the atmosphere was electric. The closest thing I have ever experienced is a few Heavyweight Title Fights, but this was the most exciting sports event I had ever attended. We were only eight rows from the field right near the center line. The crowd was probably about half American and half Italian, but the U.S. cheers and chants drowned out the Italian contingent throughout the game.
When the national anthem started before the game, I sang louder than I have ever sung in my life. Something about wearing the U.S. colors in a semi-hostile environment and being the underdog really brought out my patriotism. I don't want to get all gushy, but I was truly proud to be an American at that moment.
Even before the game started, it felt like something special might happen, and the U.S. team outplayed the Italians from the opening kickoff. Unfortunately, the referee bought in to all of the Italian flops and started calling phantom fouls and handing out yellow cards left and right. The first and only Italian goal came from a free kick created by one of those phantom foul calls. Even though the U.S. fell behind early, you just had a feeling they were going to fight back.
Thanks to a lot of pressure from U.S. midfielders, the Americans got the ball into the Penalty Box just long enough to create an own goal by the Italians to tie it up. The U.S. players were so non-chalant about the goal, that we weren't even sure a goal had been scored, until the referee signaled that it had happened.
Then things got really crazy. An Italian player named Daniele De Rossi elbowed Brian McBride in the face, and opened a bleeding gash under his eye. The referee gave De Rossi a red card, the U.S. was up a man, and they were playing more aggressive than the Italians. We thought the game was in the bag.
Then, at the end of the first half and the beginning of the second half, two U.S. players were ejected, and the U.S. had to play the rest of the game with only 9 men on the pitch. They spent the last 20 minutes of the game fending off shots from the Italians. Kasey Keller made so many saves that he was eventually named Man of the Match. The U.S. continued to outplay the Italians to the final whistle, but they could only manage to salvage a tie.
At the time, that tie felt like a victory considering the adverse conditions and the terrible officiating early in the game. We left the stadium knowing the U.S. still had a chance to advance if they could just beat Ghana. All of us felt that the U.S. would win that game if they played as hard and aggressive as they did against Italy.