Copa del Oro - Gold Cup Soccer

So on Tuesday night the US National Soccer team faced the Costa Rican National Soccer team in good old Boston, Mass…well Foxboro…but lets not split hairs. The Gold Cup pitted the top two teams in Group B – each of them 2 – 0 and already advancing to the Quarterfinals, against each other…and that also meant there was a rivalry in the Cisernos household. With the entire family, and a few select friends boisterously cheering on the “Ticos”, there was one boorish American rooting for the other side. That’s right, I watched the match and talked some light trash with a group of approximately 8 Costa Ricans. The game was pretty even, both sides electing to start their young guns instead of the big dawgs, and the first half was back and forth – the Ticos dominating from the outset and the Americans settling down and taking over in the later minutes of the half. Nevertheless it ended up 0 – 0 at the half. At which point dinner was served and I was told to enjoy the poison which was sprinkled on my chicken. The second half got more competitive as both coaches elected to sub in their stars to try and get the victory and the #1 seed. The game also got more physical as the intensity mounted, and the clock ticked down. The atmosphere at home coincided with the game intensity, and Maximo kept telling me…”here is the first of 3 goals this half”…whenever Costa Rica made a run. As the final minutes ticked down comments were made that the referee (who was Mexican) must really need a green card the way all the calls were going for the US. And everyone started jumping up and down when it looked like the Ticos were going to be awarded a penalty kick; but it turned out to be a dive and he was awarded a yellow card instead. A few nice saves were made by both goalies in the final minutes and the hard fought game ended the way it began, in a 0 – 0 stalemate. We shook hands and I hoped that things could return to normal…and I complemented Maximo’s wife Rebecka on the chicken – and she said I hope you still like it tomorrow after the poison kicks in. With that I put on the running shoes and headed out to hit the pavement and use up some of that energy as well as allow things to cool off a bit in the house. All in all it was a fun, highly spirited night watching some pretty decent soccer.