Two for Two

Saturday - America 2:1 Tormenta
This was a good game for us, although our defense struggled a little early on. Tormenta didn't have a full squad, which I find incredible, considering they were playing against us. I would think they would want to beat us into the ground, not give us a chance to pick up points against them. Thankfully it wasn't a particularly nasty game--games against Tormenta generally aren't, at least not to the level of Independiente or Pumas. Judging from what I've seen now so far, I think the Saturday champions will, unfortunately, be Independiente. They bring a really strong squad on Saturdays, with a lot of ability to get forward and finish chances.

Sunday - America 4:1 Pumas
The score really should have been America 5:1 Pumas because the ref failed to see the ball go over the line while in the keeper's hands. We moved the ball really well all game--Pily got forward a lot at right back, which really helped our attack, and she also got back to help on defense. I also think moving the ball quickly helped keep tempers calm--fewer chances for people to get physical with each other and spark a fight.

In the end, I think we'll be in it to the end on Sunday. I know we're better than Independiente and Pumas. I think we can take it to Rey de Francia with a full squad. I think the only team that really stands in our way is Tormenta. They are a much stronger team on Sundays than on Saturdays, and they are much more difficult to play against.

It's been a long time since America last won a championship. I think we have the ability and the mentality to get it done this season. Arriba la America!

Shaking it Up

Me, Saby, Cecy and Evelyn in my car, driving back cruda from a weekend up at the lake, reggaeton, salsa, bachata and everything in between blasting from the speakers as we roll through the heart of Minnesota's farmland, past streets with names like Feldspar Street and towns with names like Hill City.

That's incongruity of the best kind.

World Cup: Conclusion

First, let me just say that the final was actually a little bit more entertaining than I was expecting it to be, so I won't whine too much about that. Howard Webb being card-happy but not consistent made things interesting too.

My own fervent dislike for Spain notwithstanding, I understand why the Dutch went after the Spanish the way they did. The only way to stop Spain playing their game is to put them on the floor, and the Dutch did that, with almost enough effectiveness to take the match to penalties. Spain have no one to blame but themselves, really. Playing possession the way they do means opposition teams will resort to whatever measures they have to in order to get a sniff at the ball.

Iniesta should have been sent off well before his goal. Van Bommel and De Jong too. It wasn't a pretty final. I'm still kind of disgusted with myself that I actually watched it, to be honest.

Other than the final, though, I thought there were some really bright spots to the tournament.

Germany played some of their best football in years. Their precision and finishing on the counterattack were spectacular, and entertaining as well. Watching them dismantle first England and then Argentina was mesmerizing. Everyone will be banking on them as one of the favorites in Brazil.

Uruguay gave a great account of themselves, pushing the Dutch and then the Germans all the way. Diego Forlan was in great form, and yeah, I don't think much of Suarez for his imitation of a goalkeeper, but the squad carried the banner for South America with a lot of heart and a lot of pride.

South Korea and Japan both showed that they have some very bright rising stars and that they do have players who can hold their own with the best in the world. Park Ji Sung captained South Korea with a lot of class, and Keisuke Honda lit up the cup with his free kicks and technical ability. And at the risk of reinforcing stereotypes, both teams always worked hard, never backed down, and the fact that they both made it to the round of 16 with non-foreign coaches bodes well for the future of the game in Asia.

So overall, I found this World Cup thoroughly enjoyable and fun to follow. A number of surprises, some great finishes to matches, and signs that perhaps in 2014, the seat of footballing power will shift just a little more away from the traditional centers.

World Cup: Photo

Pepe Reina and Fernando Torres console Oscar Cardozo after Spain beat Paraguay 1-0 in the quarterfinals of the World Cup. Cardozo missed a penalty that would have given Paraguay the lead only minutes before David Villa scored the winning goal for Spain. Torres in particular waited ages to make sure he spoke personally to Cardozo after the match, even while his teammates were celebrating Spain's historic passage to the semifinals around him. I'm no fan of Spain, but this was one of the classiest moments of the World Cup.

I don't care who wins the World Cup...

As long as it's not Spain.

I stopped liking Spain when Luis Aragones was caught on tape trying to motivate Jose Antonio Reyes by calling Thierry Henry "negro de mierda", and then came out and tried to defend himself by saying, "I have black friends, therefore I can't be racist."

I started hating Spain when I went there and found out that the old bastard reflected the country's greater opinions on people of color. I have great respect for players like Fernando Torres, Xabi Alonso and Pepe Reina. In all aspects of their careers they've been exemplary professionals. But when the pull on the red and gold for Spain, to me they represent a backward, narrow-minded, racist society. Torres himself has said how much he respects Aragones. For that, I've lost some respect for him.

Every country has its problems. Maybe none of the countries left in the World Cup deserve to win it. But at least if a country like South Africa won it, I could say, at least they've made progress in terms of race relations, at least they've taken a step in the right direction.

World Cup

It's safe to say that when World Cup time rolls around, I get pretty excited. I've only really been aware of three World Cups before this one--France 1998, South Korea/Japan 2002 and Germany 2006. USA 1994 was, surprisingly and unfortunately, mostly off my radar.

So far, South Africa 2010 has been a great tournament. Of course people are complaining about this that and the other thing, but the football itself has been pretty entertaining. The big teams have all had a few stumbles to make things really interesting, and South America's teams have really stepped up to the plate to give it a real go. I haven't seen every single match, but I've seen most of them, and these are my thoughts as the group stages wind down and the round of 16 starts to shake out.

Chile look like a great side, and one to watch in the future. They play quick, attractive football. Their only issue is finishing and scoring goals. Putting away one chance of many against Switzerland was okay, but if they want to beat Spain, I think they need to find more firepower up front. Nevertheless, I think they'll go through, because all they need to do is hold Spain to a tie. And they deserve to.

USA finished top of their group, ahead of England, the first time they've topped their group since 1930. The US players individually aren't stars; you don't have Liverpool's and Chelsea's captains in the starting lineup, no Wayne Rooneys or Frank Lampards to headline the squad. But the US as a team work hard, play like a unit, and don't give up. I think, in some ways, the team has benefited from the lack of popularity of football in the US--it gives the team a rallying point, a motivation, a unifying factor that the big teams like England don't have. The US also have a decent chance at getting through the round of 16--Ghana are tough opponents, but not as daunting as some of the teams on the other side of the bracket.

Germany were machine-like in their first match against Australia, though not quite as convincing in their second and third matches. There's some real quality in the squad, and I think it's really just a matter of consistency for the Germans. If they can reach that higher plane of performance like the Australia match and maintain that intensity and precision, they'll be a favorite to win it all. The unfortunate thing is, they get England in the round of 16, and if they advance, they face the winner of the Argentina/Mexico match. Hardly an easy route to the final.

Argentina, Spain, and the Netherlands all have a decent shot at the final as well. Argentina and Spain didn't perform all that well in the group stages, but you would expect them to up their game for the round of 16 and beyond. The Netherlands have been rather quiet yet confident in the group stages, but for them it's a matter of not peaking too early in the tournament. Argentina faces the unfortunate prospect of going up against England or Germany if they can get past Mexico; Spain, depending on how they fare against Chile, will probably face Brazil or Portugal. The Netherlands may end up facing Italy in the round of 16, but Italy have looked fragile at times, and I think the quick-attack style of the Dutch would get the job done.

It's unfortunate that BBC sees the imminent advancement of at least one smaller team through to the round of 8 as a disappointment. From their live commentary yesterday: "Tonight's result, by the way, means that one of the United States, Uruguay, South Korea or Ghana are guaranteed to be semi-finalists. That's what it would have meant to England had they won the group. Ho hum."

I'm sorry, I didn't realize that the point of the World Cup was to ensure an easy route to the finals for the biggest and "best" teams. And considering the uninspired performances England gave in the group stages, there's no guarantee England would have even made it through that field. Fuck off BBC, you arrogant pricks.

America 3:3 Tormenta

If there was any more confirmation needed that our team is ready and willing to challenge for the championship this season, it arrived yesterday. Tormenta, along with Independiente, Rey de Francia, and us make up the "big 4" in La Liga Independiente. Tormenta are far and away the best, boasting a roster of girls who play in the state youth leagues, on high school varsity teams, and college squads at the DI and DII levels. For years, we haven't been able to get close to them.

Yesterday, we went after them with more pace, more power and more determination than I think we've ever had before. We gave up an own goal early, but fought back to 2-2, then took a 3-2 lead when Ruby hit an absolutely *amazing* shot from about 20 yards out. I can't tell you how quality of a strike it was--outside of the right foot, slicing into the back of the net before the keeper could even move.

In the end we gave up a late goal, but it was clear they were pissed that they couldn't just steamroll us like they used to, and I know they'll be worried with the knowledge that, come finals time, they won't have an easy path through to the championship.

We've been through some real ups and downs as a team, we went through a few seasons where we didn't even qualify for finals. But I think right now, we're hitting a peak of sorts. We've got a great mix of players, a real commitment to working hard and backing each other up, and everything just seems to be clicking.

Arriba la America!

America 4:2 Independiente

This was a long time coming. After several years of just losing out to Independiente in both summer and winter seasons, we faced off against them with a full strength squad and came out on top. It's only the third game of the season, but I'm pretty sure it will go down as one of the most gratifying. We exposed Independiente for what they are, a two-person team, and we played our own game, rather than letting them play theirs. Everyone worked hard, kept their heads down and didn't let a couple goals against us get us down.

Onwards and upwards. Arriba la America!

Laughter

Today was Saby's birthday, so we celebrated by having a barbecue out at one of the nearby parks on Bush Lake in Bloomington.

Two moments that I hope I never forget, because they will surely make me smile even in the worst moods:

1. One of the more fun Mexican birthday traditions is shoving the birthday person's face into their cake. Because Saby's cake sported this wonderfully done crest of Club America, the club she supports, she was only going to put her face in one of the corners. Well when Lacy and Sonia went to push her, she resisted, so she barely got any frosting on her face, and the girls insisted that she cut a piece out and redo it. So she did, and the result was much more satisfying. But then she ran after Cecy and literally chased her all over the park to smear cake all over her. They sparred in the parking lot, and then Saby just slapped Cecy in the face with a handful of frosting. It was absolutely hilarious and I thought I was going to keel over laughing.

2. Cecy's sister, Yadi, headed home a bit early, taking her son Dylan and their mother back. She starts to pull out of the parking lot, and as she does, we realize there is a police car a few blocks up the road, probably pulling over a speeder or something. Yadi has Dylan, who is perhaps 5, in the front seat. So Cecy goes running barefoot through the parking lot to try and stop them before they get out of the parking lot. She gets to them just as they're pulling out, and they do a U-turn right back in. Then, after explaining the situation to them and getting things changed around accordingly, she got in the car and made them drive her around the lot back to where we were, so she didn't have to hurt her feet anymore. I almost died laughing a second time.

In between seasons

Winter football is over, at least for me. We left the Saturday Mexican league after a fight two weeks ago that our opponents instigated but which we somehow came out of with more red cards than they did. The league director wasn't willing to adhere to the league charter which states that any team which starts a fight in the pitch is immediately expelled from the league, so we forfeited the rest of our games and made a decision to leave the league entirely. This summer we're just planning to play in the Ecuadorian league on Sundays, which will free up our weekends for more time to hang out and do stuff around the cities, maybe go out on Friday nights.

It's nice to have a break, give my knee a rest and do some bicycling to keep in shape without putting so much stress on the joint, but I have to be honest, I'm already itching to get outside and start the season.

When losing isn't quite as bad as it usually is

We played Tormenta this weekend, easily the best team in the league. I've always had mixed feelings about them even playing in our league because they are basically a club team that trains together and plays at the state level, and they just play in our local league on the side. The rest of the teams, including ours, are made up of women who are generally older, have full time jobs, and don't have time to train between weekends. They're a bunch of bratty little teenagers too, but that's another story entirely.

On Saturday, though, we got about *this* close to pulling off what would have been a huge upset. We scored about midway through the first half, and for most of the rest of the match we put them under pressure and didn't let them have time on the ball to look for passes or shots. We were even able to get some of our own runs going, which honestly almost never happens for us against Tormenta. We also didn't let them push us around, which I thought was really important, because in the past, we've let them bully us into backing off.

In the end though, it took all of one lucky shot and one own goal for them to beat us. We created more clear-cut chances than they did (Mayra, Ellen and Sabina all had good looks at the net), but we didn't put them away when we had them, and they had one shot that bounced off the underside of the crossbar and might or might not have bounced inside the goal line. An own goal is an own goal, they happen, that's football, and considering the way we played, I'm not complaining at all. They know they got away with a less than deserved win, and when we face them again in finals (which we will, we always do *cough* league politics *cough*), I think we have a real shot.

Onward and upward. This is my eighth season with this team, and in eight years, we've won one championship. I think it's about time for another.

Futbol

So near the end of our match last night against San Lucas, we get a free kick in our opponent's end of the field (it's a smaller field, indoor, with walls, almost like a hockey arena). Normally Sabina takes those, but she had scored a ton of goals already so she let me have at it. As I stepped up, she says, "El angulo" which means "the top corner." Of course, what do I do? I slice it at about hip level right at the keeper. Two minutes later, we get another free kick, and this one Sabi takes, puts it away in the upper right 90. I was kind of like, "Oh, that angulo" and we had a laugh about it. Later, I got a goal off a kick-in from out of bounds, with my left foot, which I was pretty proud of, and the best part of the whole night was that Sabina put herself 17 goals clear of the other challengers in the race for the goleo, so hopefully she'll take home that title.

Be careful where you park your car

I've started running before work in the mornings, mainly because my car got busted by a piece of falling ice last week so my daily schedule is prolonged just enough that I don't get home with enough light left to run. The sun rises around 7 in the morning now, but it's light by about 6:30, so that's when I go out. This morning, I scared a little cottontail rabbit while running up one of the streets in the neighborhood behind our house, and the poor thing was trying to outrun me but having a devil of a time trying to get a grip on the icy road. He did a very awkward skid-slide into a driveway and bolted under the parked car there to get away from me. I hope he wasn't too offended that I giggled the rest of the way home about him.

Here are some pictures of my car.

The repairs will total about $5000, and we received $3200 from the insurance company. Once the car is repaired, my parents and I have come to the conclusion that the car will become my responsibility, so any repair costs/oil changes/insurance will be mine. It's a fair deal, even though it still feels kind of strange that I'm doing all these grown-up things like working and commuting and taking over responsibility of my own car.

Match report

One of the best matches the team has played in a long time (that I've seen/been involved in). We played a team called Club Joma, and to give you an idea of who they are to us, if we are Liverpool, they are Aston Villa or maybe Arsenal. They are very, very good, and we have generally tied or just barely eked out wins against them in the past.

Tonight, it's like we were all on fire, every single one of us. Things were just flowing and even when we were under pressure, it just seemed like we could bend as much as we needed, but never break. Lupe, who is basically filling in as our keeper because Sonia isn't reliable, was insane. She moved like a varsity keeper or better. Sabi scored three screamers (and I mean screamers, it was like seeing her way back when I first started playing with the team) and assisted the fourth, and together, she and I really held the midfield, didn't let Joma get too much of a game going. Cecy was tough as nails on defense and the other girls all put in some really class work on offense and defense. I think if we had played with this kind of intensity against Tormenta, we might have sneaked a win.

As it is, it was just awesome to see how we could play when we were really on top of our game. I think this bodes well for the impending start of finals, and even though I just got back, I really want us to aim for the championship, knock Tormenta or Independiente off their perches. I want me and my teammates to be the ones sweaty and sore and tired as fuck, celebrating with the trophies and the medals at the end of the season.

Match report

We played a team called San Lucas last night, and really, the most difficult part of the match was trying to distinguish between their yellow and white jerseys, and our yellow and blue ones.

Our main focus last night was to get Sabina as many goals as we could, because she's in contention for most goals scored (as she almost always is) and the games against weaker teams are a good chance for her to rack up some extra goals.

In the end, she scored six. I netted two of my own, one with my right, a high floater from midfield, and the other one with my left, a sidefooted finish from close range. To be honest, neither Sabi nor I were having particularly good nights in terms of finishing. There was one sequence where she and I kept slamming volleys off the boards, trying to put them on net. We must have hit about six or seven before the ball skittered out of bounds. It was kind of funny and kind of frustrating.

Best moment of the night, though, was when we had come back from scoring a goal, and the other team lined up to take the kick off. Since the field is small, you can have a shot from kick off and have a decent chance at scoring. So one of the girls from the other team, a defender, stepped up to take the shot. She plays with us on Sundays, but with San Lucas on Saturdays, and she's got a wicked boot. So Sabi and I are standing there, and Sabi sees her coming and mutters, "Chingue su madre" at the same time that I mutter, "Oh, shit." We have a quick laugh at that, and then of course I get hit square in the back and Sabi has a good laugh at my misfortune.

Next week we get Club Joma, the team that rounds out the 'top four' in our league. There's us, Club Independiente, Tormenta, and Joma. Depending on how things shake out, I think we will be fighting for third with Joma, so this is a pretty important match. Joma are good, but I know they aren't as good as Tormenta, and we held our own with Tormenta until pretty late in the game.

Me myself, I'm just happy to be back playing at full speed and full intensity. Football is pretty much my lifeline, the one thing that I can always count on to make me happy, and it's just a game that I play for an hour every week, but I feel like I'm so fortunate and lucky to have even one source of complete and total happiness.

Long overdue update

Well I guess it's safe to say that this blog has fallen by the wayside. My last post was sometime in the summer of 2009, well before I left to do a teaching stint in Spain, and a lot of things have happened since then.

Most notably, I didn't stay the full year in Spain like I was planning to. To make a long story short, small-town Spain is not very kind to people of non-European descent. This manifested itself in me not getting served at the bread counter in the supermarket, the pharmacist telling me to "get cleaned up" before I came back for a prescription, and people making derogatory remarks about me on the street. While I absolutely adored the kids I was teaching and the school I was working in, my contract only allowed me to work twelve hours a week. If I had been working thirty or forty hours a week, I might have stayed, because most of my time would have been spent working and not dealing with people outside the school. As it was, I made the decision to come home at Christmas. It wasn't an easy decision, but I do believe that it was the right one.

Coming back home, I knew I was walking into one of the worst job markets in a long time and I was prepared to face a long period of fruitless searching. I was very unlucky to have just missed out on a opportunity at the Taiwanese Consulate in Los Angeles when I left for Spain (they actually called me for an interview, but the interview was the day before my flight to Madrid and I didn't think it was appropriate for me to interview knowing I had to leave in 24 hours), and I confess I was a little blue knowing that I could have been working in Los Angeles the past four months instead of enduring racism in Spain.

However, I received a huge, *huge* stroke of luck when a family friend called with an opportunity to work for a local adoption organization. The organization had just received a federal grant to expand its services for adoptees, and they were looking specifically for an adoptee to fill one of their positions. I called the organization that same day and, upon speaking to the project manager, realized that I knew her from my previous work with Children's Home Society and Family Services. I went in to talk with her/interview a few days later, and after about a week received confirmation that I was indeed hired, and all we had to do now was wait for the grant money to come in.

At the moment, we're still waiting, because the government, like any good bureaucracy, is taking its time in getting things off their desks, but I've been in to the office to do some work that will count as volunteer time, just to get things moving so when the money finally comes in we can hit the ground running. The job itself is a little bit of everything, from website design and maintenance to answering phones and making copies. The goal of the program is to create a resource network by adoptees for adoptees, the underlying idea being that adoptees understand themselves better than anyone else, and that we benefit from connecting with other adoptees.

I'm really excited about this job, excited not only because I practically walked into it and because it happened right when I needed it, but because adoption is something that I've thought about and reflected on a lot, and I think this is an amazing opportunity to help shape the direction of services and resources for adoptees and to put all that thinking and reflection to use.

On other fronts, I'm still playing futbol with my Mexican team. It's been something like seven or eight years now that I've been playing on the same team, and there are only a few of us left from the original squad, though we've kept our name, Club America. I tore my meniscus over the summer and didn't finish the season, but I've been back on the field this winter and had a couple decent runs, so hopefully I will be back to playing full ninety-minute matches soon. The girls, as always, welcomed me back with open arms, and I can't reiterate enough how lucky I am to call them friends and teammates. We may not be the best team in the league, but I like the togetherness we have and the sense of loyalty.

I've set myself a goal of writing for at least half an hour every day, in some capacity, whether it's blogging or creative writing, so I'm really going to make an effort to keep this blog updated more regularly.