Yo fué shopping este tardes. Yo compro un paraguas y shampoo (my travel size was running out). We also bought snacks for the big game between the US and Costa Rica this evening. We bought, in the words of mi padre, “snackerooy catchatooy.” We found some chips, honey roasted peanuts, and munchies. Chips are incredibly cheap here, by the way. You can get a mongo bag of chips for about a dollar.
The game was interesting. Noah, Benjamin, and I watched the game at la casa de mi familia tico. We formed the US contingent of the cheering section and they provided the Costa Rican delegation. While the pre-game announcements were still going, we saw a blurb (in Spanish) that said Costa Rica had seis victorias consecutivas against the United States. The US plays Costa Rica only once every four years so that means we haven’t won against Costa Rica for more than 28 años! I guess Americans just aren’t so good at futball.
As the players came out on the field, the Americans were noticably stronger and larger (in terms of muscle mass), but watching the game, the Costa Rican players moved a whole lot faster. It seems like where the Costa Rican players were always running, the American players were always walking or maybe in a light jog. The Costa Ricans scored against us in the first two minutes and followed up with another goal in the next ten minutes. A 0-2 trail in the first twenty minutes was a little depressing. The Costa Rican players’ passes and traps were so much more crisp and sharp. The Aemricans were always trying to dribble past ten people because they took so long to pass that their lanes were closed. The Costa Rican team was passing all the time and it always seemed like the number of Costa Ricans on the television screen (where the ball was) outnumbered the Americans. They were just running around a lot more. The American players seemed like they weren’t running unless they actually had the ball. Anyway...I don’t want to beat up on our fellow Americans too much, but it was a little disheartening. We live in a country of 300 million people who have access to the best training facilities and coaches in the world. Why do we get smothered by a country of 6 million that is “supposed” to be ranked below the US in FIFA rankings? It’s like all international sports...there is no money in it for our players to play for the USA rather than a private sports team so less professionals commit the time. In Costa Rica, it is an honor to be on the national team. In the US, nobody follows the national team and the players just don’t have the same incentive. I am sure they try hard, train hard, and play hard, but comparatively speaking, the inspiration and the drive is not there. I don’t know. This could all be speculation, but that is what it seemed.
Anyway, the US team improved dramatically about thirty minutes into the game and were able to keep Costa Rica at bay until the latter part of the second half where the Costa Rican team slipped past the defense and made it 0-3. My tico family and we were razzing each other and engaging in friendly banter. They were saying Costa Rica will make it 0-4 and we were denying their claim ;-) The US did get one point from a penalty kick in the last few minutes of the game and we were able to say we got at least one point. The game ended 1-3 in favor of Costa Rica. The snacks had been devoured and we had all enjoyed the experience. We went to bed a little late, but having enjoyed a fun evening.
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