The hotel I'm staying at in Auckland was the FIFA World Championship host... the place was 'crawling' with soccer folks (sorry... football for the rest of the world)
The US team came from an underdog position beating Korea in the quarter-finals, then in a surprise upset beat Germany to find themselves in the final against North Korea on Sunday afternoon.
The US was up by one goal until the 77th minute when North Korea put in the equalizer off a bounce from the goal post. Then in overtime they scored one more time to become the World Champions.
One thing I noticed when both teams arrived back at the hotel. The US girls were not as 'bubbly' as they were on the way to the game earlier in the day... but still joking and talking.
US Team after winning the Silver
The North Koreans were much more stoic and staid in their demeanor... both before and after the game. I think they must have been thinking... "After this, we now have to return to North Korea!" yech...
US Team after winning the SilverThat and the USA team were all pretty cute with different hair styles and personalities... in riding the elevator a couple of times with a variety of North Koreans... they all had the EXACT same hair cut (garden shears and a blind man come to mind) and seemed 'afraid' of their coaches, and stopped talking whenever a coach was around.
PRK Team after winning the Gold
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3 comments:
That's neat that you were able to see the teams. You hit it right on with the Koreans. You definitely have had some great experiences on your trips. Ryan's current blog post is very interesting. He does have a sense of humor. Be safe.
Sorry about your flight to NZ. I know you hoped it would be better than it was. Sorry, also, that you didn't get your Mongolian Beef, but it was nice that your in-laws came to take you to dinner. Interesting that you got to see the USA Soccer team. I am sure they weren't as happy when they returned and had not beaten N.Korea.
Mom,
The North Koreans WON... the happier USA Team was the losing team. That's why it was a little 'off'
Keith
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