World Cup--Another USA Game Day

June 18, 2010

I took the day off from posting yesterday. Our Lesedi Village excursion plus the late game combined with a 6:00 a.m. departure to watch the cheetahs run, just wiped out my creative juices (never mind that I didn’t want to report on another 1-2 day with my predictions).

We will board the bus to go to the USA-Slovenia game in about four hours. I still don’t know too much about Slovenia, but I have a lot of faith in the way Bob Bradley has coached the American team. I know with confidence that they will play vigorously and intelligently, and those elements along with a modicum of luck should take us forward.

Also, with Mexico’s splendid win over France last night, all the fans at our hotel are feeling confident for the USA. One of the things about staying at a boutique-style hotel for an extended stay is that we really have a small community of friends from different places. We support each other’s teams and have their highs and lows. I include hotel staff in this grouping. We know everyone here by name and have added their teams to the list of teams we pull for. Here is proof of my new-found African Alliance (my new soccer flats):

I can’t actually describe how amazing the cheetah experience was for all of us. Seeing Grasa hop gently out of the back of a truck, and then from a standing start whip past us after a lure was a sight to see. They ran the lure on a motorized pulley that drags it 85 Km/hr (almost 60 mph), and the speedy cheetah woman overtook it.

It was worth the freezing weather to view this spectacle, but we were happy to go inside and warm our hands before starting the actual tour of the facility (NOTE: This is Roy, age 2, not a clever taxidermist effort.).

I don't have complete predictions for you this morning. Davis is off at the gym, working out, and I'm away from the room while they clean. If I have time I will log back on and give them to you.

Vickie:

Germany-2 Serbia-1

USA-3 Slovenia-2

England-3 Algeria-0

Erin:

Germany win (smile rule)

USA win (USA rule)

Algeria win (green win)

(Mine are not very realistic predictions, scorewise, in this Cup. Until yesterday goals have been hard to come by--25 total goals in the sixteen first round matches. The second round has looked a little more wide open, thus my out-of-a-limb predictions.)

Bonus link (for your general consumption). Gail or David?