Taking on the English

Once we got in a bus and made it to Royal Bafokeng Stadium, USA-England was a big party. Everyone had a Cross of St. George or the Stars and Stripes on their person. The Budweiser line was very popular. These pictures provide some flavor for the scene immediately outside the stadium:


Inside, everyone was just psyched to be there. "Dude, we're in Africa! At the World Cup! Whoooo!"


This chain mail is pretty sweet, though I wonder what it looked like on the security cameras at the airport.


We had tons of fun with the USA fans:


The game started out horribly, with England's Steven Gerrard weaving past our indifferent defense and sending the Jabulani past Tim Howard with the outside of his right foot in the fourth minute. Ouch! Fortunately, England's goalkeeper, Robert Green, was the Three Lions' weakest link, allowing the Jabulani to squirt past him after a 25-mph shot from Clint Dempsey hit him squarely in the chest in the 41st minute. At this point, Bill inadvertently hugged an English fan (don't we all look the same?), resulting in some mild fisticuffs. The English guy tossed Bill's USA scarf over the edge of the stadium in the process (R.I.P; sorry, Lyon). They eventually kissed and made up; the guy even bought Bill a USA t-shirt for his troubles.

The second half mainly featured England probing the USA defense to no avail. Howard racked up quite a few saves and earned Man of the Match for his efforts. The 1-1 draw felt like a win. Woohoo!