fall in love with the sound

FIFA's World Cup kicks off this weekend, and I'm one of the minority of Americans who actually cares. I'm pretty excited that the U.S. is entering with what is probably their best team ever, which says a lot considering the dark-horse run of the 2002 team to the quarterfinals. However, the U.S. is also in one of the two toughest groups this year, with Italy, the Czech Republic, and Ghana. Taking one of the top two spots from the Italians and Czechs will not be easy. We didn't get a lucky draw for the groups like the cake-walks awaiting England, Germany, and France. Plus, even if we get second in our group to advance to the next round, we'd most likely face Brazil. So winning our group is super-important, and will be extremely difficult. I'm also disappointed that I'll only get to see one of the U.S.'s first-round games, since the other two games are on cable, and are being played while I'm at work. But at least the games aren't on at six or eight in the morning like they were when the 2002 World Cup was in Korea & Japan.