Day 1 of the World Cup: Monrovia, Liberia

It was a tough day. Not only for me, but also to a bunch of football players in Brazil. I was tired when the opening match started and so it seemed that 22 players from Brazil and Croatia were. It was a slow match, with only occasional outburst of class. Seen over the entire match Brazil's victory was well-deserved, but I think it left a bit of a sour taste for all the football fans who love Brazil for their style. The penalty was an outright mistake by the Japanese referee, who seemed to be a bit too sympathetic to the home team.
Why is there a Japanese referee for a home match in the city with most Japanese people outside Japan in the world...?
Croatia deserved more, but also made too many silly mistakes in midfield to deserve a victory. On the other hand, they also exposed weaknesses in the Brazilian defense, which must have hardly impressed many of the stronger attacking sides who candidate themselves to the title (and one has to wonder whether Mario Mandzukic could have done some damage). On the other hand, Neymar showed that he can do some damage, and Oscar that he wants to pursue glory with Brazil. Watch out for them both!

I watched the match in a place called Fusion, in Sinkor in Monrovia. Great atmosphere and I was with a large group of lovely people from all over the world. This is the best of the world cup: friends across borders adoring the common god of Football! Wonderful place to start this World Cup which will take me to more countries in the following weeks!

World cup qualifier in Brooklyn

I love traveling to the USA, but normally, I do have a hard time finding places to watch football. All in all, this is still not a football country. However, today I did get a delightful surprise in Brooklyn New York. I was looking for a place to watch the South American qualifiers, and a friend told me to go to "Woodwork", on Vanderbilt avenue in Brooklyn. While they were not showing the South American qualifiers, they were showing the last match in the first round of the CONCACAF qualifiers, where the USA were facing Guatemala at home. A tie was enough to let both teams through, but the USA were surely the best against a poor Guatemalan side that nevertheless went ahead 0-1, before the USA scored three goals for the victory.
Fully deserved, and I think the USA are on their way to Brazil.
And "Woodwork" was a great place, just until the match ended and they put on a presidential election debate.
Apparently they are having elections sometime soon in the USA. I vote for Clint Dempsey.