After 2 strong caffeinated cups of coffee, I am compelled to finally share my feeling of the bittersweet, mostly bitter, loss of the USA match versus Belgium.
The bitter part was obvious, but what I can take away from this entire experience as a whole? Looking back on the entire adventure? I watched nearly every game, except maybe 2 because I was in transit. People around the world love futbol. They absolutely love it. And not always is the beautiful game perfect but the spirit, the spirit of humanity through a game... I am evidence of this existence.
Having been at 2 of the USA matches, it did magnify the way how I truly felt all of the emotional investment I had for the US team to win each game. The camaraderie of Americans supporting futbol, thousands of miles away from home, in an analogous succession of chants that "We believed that we will win!" I still believe it... The last minutes of the match versus Belgium, I caught myself literally holding my breath, gasping for a tying goal. I fell to my knees when Belgium finally broke through the staunch gatekeeper Tim Howard. Having been to the matches live, being able to recall vivid moments from the entire experience, is priceless. But along with the other fans cheering for their respective countries too, as fans of futbol we are united again when we share the somber emotion of elimination from the tournament. Mexico, Chile, Switzerland, all those games could have gone the other way. Truly, the feelings of highs and lows are the price of being the champion of raising the World Cup. How amazing if must be for a country to celebrate a victory to be on top of the sport that the whole world loves.
Lastly, I'd like to close with a quote I heard from Anthony Bourdain, whom heard this from a friend of his.
"The more I travel, the more I see the world, the less I know."
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