Argentina - South Korea is the first of the three games being played today, which means a 1:30pm kickoff. This means even though the stadium is only a 15 minute drive away, I have to leave about 3 hours beforehand to make it on time. Today has a little bonus to it as well, as I'll be seeing my friend Marcel, who I have not seen in at least 4 years.
I arrived at the Park and Walk place about 3 hours before kickoff as planned, and the Argentines already had their own little party going, which was sponsored by Quilmes, an Argentine beer company. Since I'm not the biggest fan of Argentina, I decided to take a pass on going to their little event and I proceeded on the 30 minute walk to the stadium.
I do know that it isn't very exciting at all, but during the walk, you do go past all of the TV studios that have been set up. This one, obviously, is the ESPN one. I wonder what sort of clever analysis they are coming up with now...As it got closer to kickoff, the stadium started to really fill up. The crowd was mostly pro-Argentina, as you would guess with their history and their superstar players, like Lionel Messi. I have to admit that I do respect the Korean fans quite a lot. They really do get behind their team, even when the odds are stacked against them. You can see in the next picture the mix between Argentine and Korean fans.
And for my favorite Californian-Korean, Brian Choo, I had to represent for him. He was pretty pleased when I sent him this picture after getting back from the game. I'm quite proud of myself for coming up with this idea... 
During halftime I "snuck" down to the lower level to sit with Marcel and his buddies from DC. They were all in their DC United jackets, but since I was wearing my Columbus jacket, they knew who was boss. Here is Marcel and I during injury time, at which time Argentina had finished off the game and were leading 4-1.
On the long walk back to where I was parked, I did see an interesting sight: A guy with an Obama shirt walking with his friend who was wearing a knockoff Fiorentina Batistuta jersey. I don't know what it was, but something about this pair just cracked me up. So much so that I had to take a picture just to show you guys.
I did finally get to eat at a place that I have been wanting to. I know this is my 2nd commercial in two days, but this is the reason that I wanted to eat there. I guess marketing does work! http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=sGYBoTAJHVo. I must say, I had a chicken and cheese burger there and it was pretty fantastic.I got back to my place and straightened up a bit and prepared to watch Mexico-France on TV. Mexico ended up winning 2-0, which makes it almost impossible for South Africa to make it through to the next stage. Too bad for them - they become the first host country never to make it past the group stage.
Tomorrow is when it really gets started again - 4pm: USA - Slovenia at Ellis Park. Should be a very intense game and I'll be surprised if I get much sleep tonight.
Time to try to get a few winks at least....
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