Since June 11th, our house has often been filled with the sound of vuvuzelas humming as teams from around the world battle for the World Cup title. We had never heard of a vuvuzela, but now it has become a well-known word in millions of households and a top seller on Amazon.com, thanks to the host country South Africa.
We have watched amazing play from Michael Bradley, Landon Donavan and Clint Dempsey. Tim Howard proved to be a strong role model, overcoming a lot of adversity to be the USA's leading goalkeeper. The USA tied England 1-1 and Slovenia 2-2 and beat Algeria 1-0 to win their group. Many would argue that poor officiating took 2 goals away from the US team, but they were still able to advance.Unfortunately, the USA lost 2-1 to Ghana in the Round of 16. They gave up a goal early in all 4 games, but were able to fight their way back in their 1st 3 games. They tied Ghana and sent the game into OT, but gave up another goal early and they didn't have time to recover. We read an article in the paper that said 1 in 4 US households tuned in to watch this game. That does a lot for the game of soccer!
Although the USA is out of the competition, we will continue to watch great play from Argentina, Germany, Japan and the other teams that have advanced to the quarterfinals. Taylor has been working hard on a move called the "Maradona" named after Diego Maradona, the coach of Argentina. It has been fun seeing footage from when he played. We will cheer as soccer fans and anxiously await the championship on July 11th. Too bad we only get to watch this event every 4 years!
