Road to World Cup

YES SIR! We made it into the quarter finals, and I am in a very buyoant mood! Our team Los Illegales won the first game since our opponent didn't show up in time, which was almost a week ago, but tonight our opponents were not going to let us get away so easily. No, the Langers (don't know what the name is supposed to mean) proved to be a worthy opponent indeed.
Fancy my headband? It is quite necessary as it effectively prevents sweat from getting into my eyes.


In fact, the way the evening started did not bode well for us. Tuija, Steffi and Orbitz were sick, Tuija so sick she couldn't play at all. Tavo was busy studying, which was a sorry excuse at best. This girl Caroline had forgotten the whole game...in addition to these major problems, we had some minor ones as well, such as people forgetting their IDs home, thus being unable to register for the match. Well, that was something that could be helped.

Just as it looked that we might have to forfeit due to lack of players, everything fell into place. Most people showed up, we got Thamir with us as well; a MAJOR boost to our team. Cassandra had her ID with her after all...suddenly, we were more than ready for the Langers.

The game started very even, with neither side being able to take control of the game. Their offense was clearly the strongest part but our defense met the challenge with dignity. Our keeper, Chau, was constantly on point as well. Big Bag (Victor), Goofy (Arno) and Sangie (Cassandra) managed to create some dangerous situations at that end, but to no avail yet. Then suddenly at like 10 minutes, our team was on the attack and Sunshine (Lena) ran up the left side and tried to go for the ball...however, their defense man got to the ball first and unleashed a vicious shot right into their own net, and from outside the box! Yup, that dude is going to the chairman of our future fanclub it seems. 1-0 for Los Illegales!

We held up very well the rest of the half, and the second half started with Los Illegales in the lead. By this time we had Thamir on the field as well, and we were slightly in control in the beginning. Thamir and Goofy engineered some particularly dangerous attacks at their end but Goofy did not managed to score despite some good attempts. However, soon both sides were showing some signs of exhaustion and the tempo was considerably slowed down. The Langers started to press harder and managed to bag a goal, though it was merely a stroke of luck. Their winger tried to cross but the ball curled into the far corner of the goal, hopelessly out of Chau's reach. No goalkeeper could have kept that one out. After that goal both team had a few chances to take the lead, with us again getting the more dangerous situations. However, even after extra time the score was still tied at 1-1. Time for penalties.

Seriously, I would have never believed I could be so nervous and excited about our little soccer tournament here. Their first shooter unleashed a thunderous shot into the upper right corner, and I was getting a bit worried; what if all of their shooters were this good? However, Big Bag showed what the French national pride is all about and evened the score with an exemplary shot, perhaps the best penalty of the evening. Their second shooter was almost equally impressive as the first one, but Sangie was up to the challenge as well, scoring a flamboyant top-corner goal. The Langers' third shot found its way into the goal as well, but Thamir came through and scored with infinite confidence. The next Langer went for the lower left corner but Chau Mein leapt like a panther and just barely managed to block the shot. Our moods were naturally up at that point, as Goofy got ready for his shot. However, Brazilians are not known for their level-headedness and he shot the ball towards the sky. I can tell you the tension was really up at this point but it only got better. See, their next shooter launched a vicious shot towards the top of the goal but Chau blocked the ball with the speed of a cobra! After that, Florent confidently finished his shot leaving their goalie empty-handed and we celebrated our deserved victory!

Our winning team! Sorry for the blurry pic, wasn't taken by me :P That's Orbitz, Goofy, Sangie, Thamir, Sunshine, Florent, Joanna, Victor and myself. Steffi and Chau kneeling in the front.


Now, even though the Langers played relatively well, they were what we thought of as stereotype dumb Americans. They were constantly bickering about some trivial matters and pointing out that we're playing soccer here and everyone should know the rules. Apparently they didn't, deciding from the amount of handballing and whatnot small fouls that went unnoticed due to the incomptence of the refs. Well, we showed them that soccer is not an American sport. Their fans were shouting some racist bullshit as well as "USA!" to which I replied "U Suck Ass." which they probably did not find very entertaining. We fought the good fight and won, and the better team won no doubt. Viva Los Illegales! Oh, special mentions go to Chau, Thamir and Sangie. Sangie really showed girls can play too, her being the best player on the field in my opinion. The whole team did well nevertheless, including myself if I may say so.
I'm getting pretty good at looking like a retard, don't you think?


Otherwise, it's been a nice, if a bit quiet week. On wednesday we went to Tijuana with a relatively big crowd, to this very nice restaurant called the Seguinano or something along those lines. Me and Mike decided to show some courage and ordered cow tongue for starters. Well, it turned out to be very delicious. I tasted oysters as well, for the first time in my life...that was not such a pleasant experience, but a new experience nonetheless. I ordered some beef medallions and cactus, which was excellent. The meat was extremely tender, and cactus is actually really good. Had some local beers as well; they beat Finnish beers hands down. The taste is mellow, and not bitter as with Lapin Kulta or Karjala. The whole dinner cost me like $20 which is nothing for those delicacies. After dinner we went for a couple of liters of cuba libres and whatnot and I ended up a bit tipsy but not really drunk.


When we got back to the US, we were met with some pretty ragged, beaten up looking guy who claimed he had been just released from a Mexican jail and his brother was still there and he desperately needed some money to get to Oxnard. Well, we actually bought his story since he did not look like a bum or a junkie; he was in really good shape, an absolutely enormous guy. Well, he had probably ended up in that Jail for a reason, especially since Americans tend to behave somewhat badly in TJ I hear. Unfortunately(?) we weren't carrying almost any cash, just a mere 50 cent so we couldn't really help him out. It was a weird scene nevertheless.

Other than that, not much has happened here. I've been exercising again, six days this week. Met some new neighbors as well, it's nice when everyone is so interested in Finland. But we do have pretty decent folk living in our apartment complex. Got a shot of scotch with a couple of guys last night and headed to Chau's place with Perttu, to drink some more scotch. Not much though, just a few shots; I couldn't afford to get drunk with the soccer game ahead. Anyway, that's about it for the last week...I'll be posting some more as days go by. Until then.

Jugi