Had dinner last night at the home of friends, Jose and Maria. They are NOT the parents of the famous Spanish golfer, Jose Maria Olazabal. But Jose did point out that the first game of this year's World Cup is Mexico vs S. Africa, on June 11, my daughter's 25th birthday. How nice of the World Cups folks to honor her as she hits the 1/4 century mark. The game starts at 9 am local time. GO MEXICO ! ! ! :mexicoflag: and GO :usa1: although this is a long shot, patriotic thing.
Jaja TJ lets not forget the friendly warm up game England vs Mexico in a couple of weeks, also Englands first game in the World Cup proper vs USA. A few of us are planning on watching all the World Cup games at Pat O Briens, all welcome - regardless of nationality! IT'S COMING HOME!
My entire family and I wait patiently every 4 years for this event. I have had the countdown playing on my FB page for well over a year now, and even though one of my teams didn't make it (Croatia - quite an embarassment), I do have Mexico and a few other countries that I'm always cheering for!! We'll most likely do Pat O Briens, Outback, and Champions!! Can't wait
In 2006 my daughter was studying in London and I went over for the last two weeks of that. The Cup was underway and we would go the the pubs to watch the matches. I became a huge fan of Wayne Rooney as to me, he does not even look like an athlete, let alone a world class player. Upon returning to the states I immediately returned to Cancun and would watch the games at this bar in Plaza Terramar and Mexico was still alive then too. Both teams eventually lost. Here it was amazing as people could not pass on the siidewalk in front of the bar as it was full of people standing out in the blazing sun who could not get a seat in the bar even if they wanted. When you would go into Walmart, where the TVs are on display at you go in, you could not pass as they were all tuned to Futbol and there could literally be 100 or more people just standing there watching. And I have a question. When speaking to gringos, why do Mexicans call it "Football Soccer" when speaking in English?
I have NEVER missed a World Cup game since watching my first tournament as a 7 year old boy back in 1986. Have lost two jobs due to matches being played in "awkward" times of the day - totally worth it! Got in a bit of trouble in 2006 when finishing my studies in Australia, as I missed enough classes for the Australian Immigration to notice... A couple of sweaty weeks followed(threat of deportation etc.), but It all worked out in the end, since Melbourne, having a MASSIVE Italian population, went nuts when the Italians won the cup that year Apologized and even got letters from my mentor, telling that I have actually caught up with every subject during the time of day when there were no games on tv. Football(a.k.a. "soccer" for you Americans, Canadians etc. ) is soooo important in most countries in the world. Its sooo much more than just sport. I have now gotten over the fact that Sweden failed(miserably...) to qualify and will. again, be able to enjoy the games, regardless of what teams are playing
Rawkus.....hahahahaha....at least in Mexico, most employers totally understand missing work due to World Cup games! But sooo funny that those awkward game times had such a negative effect! I remember when Mexico lost against the US...my husband came home crying from Yaxchilan...well, he wasn't outright crying but very somber and a bit choked up. He wouldn't speak to me for about a day because his country lost against my country. I guess there were several men crying on Yaxchilan that night!
I just hope nobody gets injured in the friendly on Monday (except for Jamie Caragher I've got my new England top - on sale now in Marti! I'm getting well excited now, keep checking the fixtures every day (they don't change) and planning excuses for work (trust me to get a boss who like to go to karamba on a saturday)! Hope we get a great atmosphere at Pat O's for the England v USA match - should be a good support from both sides and plenty of singing! Can't wait!! Rawkus you can be an honarary Englishman for that day due to the fact you've seen the football factory and perfected the "danny dyer swagger" Gutted England didn't do and official world cup song - did the US do one? There's a few disasters here - www.worldcupsong.com
@Matty: Let me know the date and time :headbanger: Dont know about being an honorary Englishman though, haha :icon_rolleyes: Im psyched about the WC! And this is WITHOUT Sweden.
