USA vs. Italy

I originally had a reservation on a bullet train from Hamburg back to Munich after the Ecuador vs. Costa Rica match, but since the result of the match was rather predictable and Costa Rica couldn't give a @#$%, I left right before extra time was announced in hopes of catching an earlier train. I was able to jump on the 18:00 train and ended up saving an hour, which put me into Munich at a much more reasonable time. The next day was spent sleeping in and catching up with good ole Charlton. Charlton made me miss home by whipping up some kick-ass BBQ ribs. The man can cook. So yes, all I did was sleep and eat all day. I was still recovering from my cold so I didn't really care. You've got to have those type of days, even someone like me who is easily bored. Plus, I knew I needed to rest up for the next day, USA vs. Italy.

Now, I was passed the WTF attidude I developed after our first match and was all day feeling like something special was going to happen for us. It was really a weird feeling. I knew we were going to see an entirely different attitude in our players. They couldn't leave the pitch without a point; anything else meant that the USA vs. Ghana match would be nothing more than a friendly.

I departed for Kaiserslautern from Munich around noon and arrived shortly after 4pm. K-town, as the locals call it (Kaiserslautern has a large US miliatry installation, so the American presence and influence is large), was already booming with fans taking in the day's other matches at the fan park. The stadium and fan park are in walking distance from the main train station, which made things really convenient. I'm quickly growing weary of all the slammed-packed public transportation to and from the venues.

I took a quick walk around town and found quite possibly the world's longest fussball table:

And, like always, various American celebrities were making pre-game appearances. The Harlem Globetrotters provided some laughs:

And Uncle Sam even joined along in the chanting:


Here's a shot of the Fritz-Walter Stadium, home to storied FC Kaiserslautern:


And my perspective inside the stadium:


And proof I was actually there:



The to-be man of the match, Kasey Keller, warming up:


Crowd showing their support:


During the national anthems:


The stadium is unbelievably steep. Never seen anything similar to it before:



Kickoff:


What then ensued was quite possibly the greatest, most exciting sporting event I've ever attended in my life. We came to play - not only the guys on the field, but our fans were out for blood. I've never experienced anything like it in my life - so much so, that I actually decided to take a very active part in the match instead of just passively watching and ended up with a fairly hoarse voice. We were chanting and screaming from the get-go all the way through. The Italian fans were simply drowned out by us. There looked to be an equal amount of Italian fans in the stands, based on the amount of blue I saw, but we put them to shame. It was amazing.
Simply put, the team played their hearts out and without a doubt, were the better team that day. The Italian team looked shocked and many times reverted to what the Italians are well known for: Drama. It was so infuriating seeing them take dive after dive, leaving the field on a stetcher, only to return 30 seconds later magically recovered. I now have a new favorite team to despise, keeping a very close second only to Mexico.

Unfortunately, the most memorable moment was when Beasely's goal was called back on a McBride offsides. The place erupted when the ball hit the back of the net. For a second, millions of US fans forgot Beasely's crappy attitude and poor performance from the last match. We had played most of the second half down 2 men against Italy's side that had also lost a man. Even with 9 vs. 10, we looked the better team and that near goal proved the point.

Alas, we came away with a 1-1 result and 1 very critical point. Here are the scenarios the US is looking at in order to move on to the next round.

Once the whistle blew, Donovan immediately hit the ground. He had made a definite turnaround this match and was spent of all energy. It was a testament to the entire team's effort that day. Here's the team coming over to us to show their appreciation post-game:



Note: As I had hoped (see post USA-CZE blog), Clint Dempsey started the match and made a huge difference. He will be critical in the USA-Ghana match. One article I read likened his performance more to a basketball player's. Very true. He made fools of the Italians with his one-on-one skills and wasn't scared to bring it straight to them. His passes were always on. Dempsey is slowly becoming my new favorite.