Monday, June 26, 2006

World Cup continued...

Football, futbol, voetbal, it's all soccer, all the time at the Sulaimani household. I love that Sara is so into it now too. She got home from work and saw that Italy v Australia was still on and was genuinely excited. I love it. It's hard not to get into it over here... it's literally everywhere you look, on at least one major channel for each country, so that you can watch any given match with English, French, Spanish, German, Italian, Portuguese, etc. commentary. And it's the same story all around the world. Crazy.

So, the US went out in the first round and all in all had a pretty horrendous World Cup experience, much like France in '98, though the opponents this time around were a lot tougher than in France. The Italy match was a hard-fought match, but Italy had a couple of big calls go their way, two red cards that were utter shite if you ask me. I'm of course biased though. However, watching the Italy v Australia match tonight and seeing that bullshit penalty kick call they got in the 94th MINUTE!!! to win the game, I'm starting to wonder if all the dirty deeds behind the scenes in Italian club football may have carried over to the World Cup. Not really, but everyone, and especially a scorned football fan, loves a conspiracy theory to justify why their team lost. Alas, even with that match going our way, we would have lost because we got outplayed by Ghana in the final group match. We were better than we were against the Czechs, but not a lot better. I have to question the formations and the player selection of Bruce Arena. I thought Eddie Johnson was our lone bright spot against the Czechs and yet, he doesn't get the nod for the next two matches. ??

The managing by England's manager, Sven Goran Ericksson, has been even worse. Wow, does this guy have an ego AND does he ever get lucky, with Rooney getting healthy saving him from having only brought 4 strikers, and 2 of the 4 being Peter Crouch and a 17 year old who hasn't played a single minute, despite the injury to Owen, Rooney not being 100% match fit, and Peter Crouch being Peter Crouch. I won't go into it further, but anyone who's been following England knows what I mean. And now they get to play a depleted Portugal side to get to the semis, and they'll probably win somehow in a really ugly fashion, though they shouldn't. England's performance thus far would fall in the latter two thirds of the teams in the World Cup I would say. Somewhere a little bit better than Switzerland and Ukraine (jesus, that match that just ended was ffing miserable) but certainly nowhere near Germany, Argentina, Portugal, Spain, etc. I would say Holland, Ivory Coast, Australia, and a couple of other teams that have gone home have played better football overall than England. Of course, you need some luck and the stars to align to win a World Cup, and it's certainly shaping up to be that way so far. I hope they do it too, despite their manager and their less-than-inspired play, just because the fans are so inspiring. England's fans are amazing... best in football if you ask me, but again, I'm biased.

Overall I'm still sticking with my original pick of Spain, but man Germany looks like a well-oiled machine at this point, especially on the attack. The back looks a little suspect and I don't think they'll win the whole thing, but they're going to give Argentina a run for it in the next game. What a match that will be... I can't wait. Football can be so incredibly exciting, and then it can also be such a circus of flops and bad officiating and poor play, and you can see how some non-football fans can watch a match and say, what's all the fuss? But Germany v Argentina, that one should be special I think. Spain v France also has the makings of a proper match.

A couple of photos for those who don't give a rat's ass about 22 guys chasing around a ball for 90 minutes. Of course most of the photos have to do with the World Cup. What can I say, I'm a man obsessed.

Fan Fest, Kaiserslautern.

Frat brother Brian Sandler draped in Old Glory.

Post-match band, Bongiovio, with probably the best performance of the evening, with the exception of Ryan Buchanan and his never to be repeated or emulated dance moves.

And of course, one of my girl, Sonia, who just turned one last Saturday.













Thursday, June 15, 2006

Travels, Visitors and THE CUP

Hello. How are you? I'm fine, thanks. Actually better than fine since the World Cup has started, in case you've been in a cave in Tora Bora. Even there, Bin Laden probably has a satellite dish set up so he can cheer on any team facing The Great Satan, who by the way, played one of their most lackluster, unimpressive matches in recent memory, losing to the Czech Republic, 0-3. Ouch. Regardless of the US results, it's been an amazing tournament so far, and I'm looking forward to going to Kaiserlautern to soak up some of the craziness with a couple of college buddies to hang out at the Fan Fest there while the US hopefully redeems itself against Italy. It will be extremely tough, because Italy is playing some beautiful football themselves, and even if we beat or tie them, Ghana is a tough team as well. The 'Group of Death' moniker turned out to be very fitting.

We have our friends, Carly, Leon, and their two girls visiting us at present. Very impressed that friends from LA could make the journey, and with a 3 year old and a newborn no less. Hint, hint. You know who you are. ;) It's been gorgeous weather here for about a week, but now it's back to the usual rain business. Hopefully it'll get nice again so they can enjoy visits into the city.

We recently returned from our trip to southern Sweden and Copenhagen and the Ardeche region of France. Both were a lot of fun. It was a beautiful wedding and a fantastic party, although I think Sara and I may not live down some of the Funky Chicken-esque moves on the dance floor. Take one part friends you haven't seen for a while, a couple parts godawful 100 proof schnapps, a 10 piece funk/soul band from Stockholm playing 70's music, and the kids back in Brussels with the grandparents, and embarassing times are sure to result. Anyway, here are a couple of the choice photos. We will leave out all the shots of dips in the North Sea, balls, shiny or otherwise, people passed out, etc. for now. This is not out of respect to the 'victims', bride and groom, etc. but really for no other reason except I believe the extortion value of said images could rise.

In no particular order, photos from Swensens bar on the Thursday night. The Teater Chokehold and Kiss on Cheek (If you're in a bar with my wife, you too will likely be the victim of this move). The Bride-to-be getting molested. I'm not 100% sure because I was unsober, but I think my buddy, Shag, was offering to service me orally here. Thanks anyway Chaunce. I'm sure your buddies in Southern Virginia and Tennessee will be happy to comply, so best of luck with that, wherever you end up.




















In France, we stayed in this house owned by some neighbor friends of ours. It was in an amazing spot in the Rhone-Alps region, about 90 minutes southwest of Lyon. The weather wasn't great, really windy, but it was just so nice to be out in the country, spending time with my parents and my family, no phone or Internet barking for attention, etc. I hope to go back very soon, and honestly this was the first vacation to the country where I could see us living outside a big city. Brussels is great, it's like an overgrown village feel to me, I love it, and I think we'll be here for a long time, but 'the country' or at least the idea of it has much more draw for me now, with kids, etc. I like the idea of having a couple of dogs and land to walk around on and somewhere where we can really get to know. Maybe it's just a reaction to the uncertainty of getting our heads wrapped around a new city or living in the LA megalopolis for 8 years after growing up in the DC suburbs, but I don't feel like I've ever really known a place like the back of my hand like one can in a small town... Maybe after a little while it would get boring, but the idea of a refuge in the country sounds really good to me these days. Anyway, here are some photos.







The Princess on her chariot.






The Vintner-to-be checking out this year's crop.





The main intersection. The house where we stayed was the light blue door on the right.



When in France...