World Cup

Well the world cup has started in Germany. A bit of irony is that, so far, I have seen more English football shirts than Czech ones in České Budějovice, but I was the only one in the pub watching the England game. From the sounds of it the English are quite depressed at how badly they played, even though they won. In contrast Alma told me that the Germans have been delirious (well she didn't actually use that word, but never mind) with happiness over their 4-2 win over Costa Rica. Almost as if they had won the world cup. In particular she said people were honking their horns as they drove through Mosbach. I have to say that the Germans I met aren't particularly confident of their chances so a win is to be celebrated.

Some thoughts on coming games...

Serbia & Montenegro vs. Holland - This is the last World Cup where Serbia & Montenegro will play. The Montenegrans voted recently to become independent from Serbia. Will Kosovo follow?

Angola vs Portugal - This is a game between two Portuguese speaking countries. Portugal was the colonial ruler over Angola until 1975.

USA vs Czech Republic - There has been a simmering dispute recently in the Czech media about the visa requirements for Czechs wanting to travel in the USA. Currently the Czech government doesn't require a visa for North American tourists to visit the Czech Republic. According to the U.S. conditions for visa-free relations for a test two-year period, a country must be in the EU, support the USA in the war in Iraq and Afghanistan by deploying a unit of at least 300 members and be no security risk for the USA. Poland has met this requirement, but the Czech Republic misses out because it doesn't have a sufficiently large enough force in the Iraq or Afghanistan. The footballers playing probably don't care about this though...