WC2006: Oranj Seats! Oranj Seats!

DERAG HOTEL AND LIVING, NUREMBERG (10:00am local time) -- I had seen mention online of a nice Mexican restaurant just off the main square, and having caught sight of it during the early afternoon, we figured that was as good a place as any to watch Mexico and Portugal. It was. A fair number of Yanks were in attendance, many rooting for Mexico. What's up with that? I thought it was the sworn duty of every fan of U.S. Soccer to heap nothing but scorn on El Tri? What, you mean everyone doesn't march in lockstep with the opinions of a select group of people who post a lot to Internet message boards? Perish the thought.

For what was to be the marquee matchup of the evening - Argentina vs. the Netherlands - we grabbed a spot in the "Kick and Groove" pavilion set up in the middle of the central square, where earlier I had heard a band playing "Summer of '69." It was a nice, communal vibe, and there were an ever-increasing number of USA jerseys peppering the crowd. We also had the German equivalent of that one really personal, outgoing beer vendor at the ballpark servicing our area, cracking wise and whatnot in two languages.

He was probably more entertaining than the match. There was a fifteen or twenty minute stretch in the first half where Argentina started to assert itself - at one point when Lionel Messi was dancing on the ball, the German announcer shouted "Showtime!" - but everything else made for a pretty drab affair, with both teams playing to avoid injuries and yellow cards.

One thing about the Dutch fans, though. The particular color of their shirts makes it look almost like the stadium has a lot of empty orange seats. It's an odd little effect. Football fan camoflauge!

Afterwards, the U.S. fans started to rally - including a couple whearing "McBride" and "McGroom" shirts - but there were way too many cooks in the kitchen for me to contend with sans batterie, so we opted to save our voices and go back to the hotel.