Expat Life

England stutters, but the world comes alive! (A World Cup Update)

Now that we are over halfway through with the World Cup, I thought it time to bring you an update. Let me say this: I still don’t love sports in general. I do, however, love winning so I did anxiously watch America play, like many others did. I also like the idea of something that connects the majority of the world together. That’s pretty awesome. But I still don’t feel qualified to weigh in on this foot and ball shenanigan so here’s Sam:

diana memorial, london

So, England went out of the World Cup. No, to speak more accurately, England CRASHED out of the World Cup quite miserably. However, I’m not too upset about it because the rest of the tournament has been so spectacular. Never have so many goals been scored in the group stages and we have been enjoying a feast of free-flowing, thrilling football in almost every game.
 

I have always been quite a vocal football watcher. I think it runs in the family: to this day the only times I have ever heard my Dad swear are when he burnt himself taking chips out of the oven and whenever Sunderland were playing badly. We went to the games together mainly in the early ’90s and they had a habit of playing badly at that time. One of our friends came over to watch the first England game with us the other week and I think I scared her a little. Before her very eyes I turned from a fairly welcoming, friendly host to a potty-mouthed, venomous hooligan as soon as the game started. (He means you, Lindsay)
 

It didn’t do any good. We still lost to Italy.
 

So I started following the USA. That, unfortunately, did not work out well either. They were tremendous to watch though. Incredibly fit, hard-working, passionate with a couple of world-class players. Easily the best US team I’ve ever seen. Amanda has been less impressed; for her, winning is everything so she was pretty annoyed after the epic Belgium game last night. 
 

The World Cup is on for such a long time and we are treated to such a bombardment of football, that when it’s over, I always feel a little deflated. It is hard to imagine what life was like without the World Cup. However, as Amanda often reminds me, the Premier League begins again in a few short weeks!
 

Eight teams left in. Who are you backing?

You Might Also Like