Flying through SFO today. Lots of soccer excitement, the bars in the terminal are packed, and I overheard some Turkey fans teasing some US fans about the loss. Lol, the Turkish fans spoke perfect English (looked Turkish), and the US fans looked Eastern European and spoke what sounded like some Slavic language amongst themselves. Gotta love this game!! 
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My son spent the last week in Houston attending a game but, more importantly, fan fest for several days. He loved fan fest, met and talked to people from all over. His assessment was that if he had to choose between attending a game and attending fan fest, he would choose fan fest 
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Is anybody else cheering for Cape Verde? I love a good underdog story.
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Going to the Ghana Croatia game today! On an Amtrak train FILLED with red and white checkered shirt wearing people :-). I am supporting Ghana, because one son played on a mostly-Ghanaian team, and because if Ghana gets a point, Iran goes through to the next round.
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They are one of my teams that was randomly chosen for me!
I went to the Norway v France match yesterday at “Boston” stadium. The international fans were awesome and the bars were packed. We had FIFA hospitality 3 hours prior to the match, at halftime, and most importantly, two hours after the match to let traffic subside a bit. The French and Norwegian fans were having one big party together in the club section after the match. They were dancing while belting out the 80’s and 90’s tunes the DJ was playing. I have so many videos. Who knew how universally loved Boni Jovi is?
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Germany and England appear to be staying a few miles from me.
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Wow, I’m so jealous! Enjoy the match! Amazing to be able to watch Modric in person and up so close!
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Croatia is the better team, for sure.
My cousin said they saw us on TV 
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Where we are, in MA but near the RI border, we have the French team making Bentley University in Waltham, MA their HQ and the Ghanian team is at Bryant University, Smithfield RI.
Of course, the French millionaires are actually sleeping at the Four Seasons in Boston. The Ghana team is staying at the Graduate Providence hotel.
ASIDE: The Graduate hotel chain is owned by Hilton. They tend to be in college towns and their decor and vibe is based on the nearby school(s). We recently stayed at the Randolph Hotel in Oxford UK, which is part of the Graduate chain. The hotel room decor was linked to famous Oxford scholars and graduates of days gone by, the stairway is decorated with the crests of all 30-odd Oxford colleges. The hotel bar has an Inspector Morse theme. Apparently when Inspector Morse was filmed in Oxford, John Thaw (Morse) was a regular at that bar.
My hotel key card was made to look like an Oscar Wilde student ID. Wife’s had Margaret Thatcher!
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The best story of this tournament so far for me is the number of African teams advancing out of the first round. So great to hear and see these teams getting their respect from commentators and fan appreciation in the stands.
The Lawrence, KS - Algeria bond is a close second.
I’m both relieved and really pleased to see so much good energy around the games and the tournament.
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It was a tough watch when two of our favorite teams are/were South Africa and Canada !!!
!!!
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I have never been to a game where there was such happiness and joy and excitement from literally everyone. We ALL were so thrilled to be there, and we all knew how lucky we were. One giant community, and it didn’t matter which team you were supporting. So much of Philadelphia was crawling with World Cup attendees that the experience continued outside the stadium and into the next day. One of my great memories.
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When South Africa qualified to advance, the NYT noted that it was only the 7th time in World Cup history that an African team had advanced to the knockouts (I’m not sure whether Morocco had already qualified this year and was included in that 7), but the final number this year was 9 African countries advancing - so it has been massive for the continent - more this year than in the entire history of the tournament till now. I’m almost heartbroken that SA didn’t make it through today, but they already did so much better than anyone expected and I think much to be proud of. Of course, Cape Verde is the undoubted African darling of this World Cup.
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I loved this story about “San Francisco Stadium”:
Not sure why the preview is showing that - actual story title is “An iconic SF company has flipped FIFA’s World Cup restrictions on their head”
Gotta love Levi’s marketing team.
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One of the Gillette signs at “Boston Stadium” was covered up to look like it was hidden with shaving cream:
Interestingly, the 6 Super Bowl victory banners were allowed to remain in place.
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I am an admitted newbie to soccer. I love sports but have focused on Bears, Blackhawks, Bulls and Cubs. I just didn’t have time or interest in soccer.
I really enjoyed Ted Lasso and its humor…slow hockey, indeed! But the fun, energetic fan bases of World Cup and having recently attended “a friendly” has me looking forward to matches. I have a lot to learn but I am surprised how much DH and I have enjoyed the World Cup.
Anyway, I just wanted to point out to those of you who have HBO Max (or whatever it’s called now), that there’s a documentary on the USMNT called “U.S. Against the World: Four Years with the Men’s National Team”. It’s going to be hot in a lot of areas and I thought people might enjoy watching it if they were looking for something to do indoors.
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If you enjoyed Ted Lasso, have you watched Welcome to Wrexham on FX? There are several episodes that have little mention of soccer—they deal with Welsh language, history, culture, issues such as autism, dealing with loss of a child, depression, etc., by focusing on fans and players facing these things.
Wife, who really isn’t much of a sports fan, enjoyed both Ted Lasso and Welcome to Wrexham.
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For a second I thought you were warning us about steamy scenes in the documentary 
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