Independence Day

You remember that Will Smith movie from a long time back? You know, the one where he punched an alien and uttered the witty line "Welcome to earth"?

Good.

Now, do you remember that scene when those pesky invading aliens floated their giant spacecraft over the US capitol, fired a powerful death ray of some sorts and destroyed the White House?

Good.

That's exactly how I felt after the USA lost that heartbreaking match against the Red Devils a few days ago.

If I carry this silly analogy forward, does that mean Tim Howard was playing a version of Will Smith's character, Captain Steven Hiller?

Granted, Timmy wasn't able to "blow up" the Belgium mothership at the end of the match nor did he have the chance to deliver any witty lines. He did, however, keep the USA alive in that unforgiving onslaught of Belgium shots at goals, saving a record 16 in all.

Now, who would be his Jeff Goldblum sidekick?

Would it be Geoff Cameron?

Geoff vs. Jeff: Separated at birth?

Um.

Okay, never mind.

To make a long story, short: I was really bummed by the exit the US made, especially when we had a few (albeit a small few) chances to score our own goals and we missed the opportunity.

Case in point, Wondo's missed "golden goal" attempt in stoppage time:

Not "Wondo-ful": Biggest miss in USMNT World Cup history?

Well, at this point I'm over my mourning period as I need to get ready to support my ass off for my beloved (and MLS table toppers) Seattle Sounders FC, as they attempt to go for the domestic treble of U.S. Open Cup, Supporters' Shield and MLS Cup.

Oh, and thanks to my dual-soccer-citizenship, I have the honor and luxury of still having a horse in this race with Brazil.

Well, the horns are a blowing and (I'm sure) the streets will be alive over the next several hours as the city of São Paulo prepares for the big match in a few hours time.

Brasil flag all lit up!

Vai Brasil! And, GO USA (in the 2015 CONCACAF Gold Cup)!

What Does 6,896 Miles Look Like?

Yes, we are just hours away from our first (of many!) elimination round matches.

The start of the #USAvBEL match cannot come any sooner.

I am ready!

I believe!

One Nation. One Team.

And, I have lots of (remote) work to do today and the Argentina vs. Switzerland match to keep me distracted until the 17:00 (or 5:00 pm) local time kick-off of the USA bout.

So, to keep me focused (and before I dive into my next major work item), I thought I share the amount of flying we did to catch all three USA group stage matches these past two weeks.

As many of you have likely read, Team USA endured the worst travel schedule of any of the teams in the World Cup. From their base of operations in São Paulo to the three cities in the north, the USMNT tallied about 8,900 miles. Interestingly, our opponent for the match later today earned the honor of traveling the least amount for the group stage.

Maura and I came fairly close to equaling this long distance achievement (we did not have the "luxury" of flying back to São Paulo after each match, like the USMNT did), racking up nearly 6,900 air miles on our own journey through the first phase of the FIFA World Cup finals in Brazil.

Our travels during the Group Stage of the 2014 FIFA World Cup Finals

I can actually feel the physical toll and impact of multi-legged journey to Natal, Manaus and Recife.

Here are our vital stats:

Leg 1
São Paulo to Brasilia - 540 miles
Brasilia to Natal - 1,099 miles

Leg 2
Natal to Manaus - 1,721 miles

Leg 3
Manaus to Brasilia - 1,208 miles
Brasilia to Recife - 1,027 miles

Leg 4
Recife to São Paulo - 1,301 miles

For a grand total of 6,896 miles!

We actually flew more air miles than Team Belgium did to get from their home nation to their camp in São Paulo state (approximately 6,000 miles).

Yeah, it was brutal, but so worth it!

And, I think we would have made the trip up north to Salvador for today's match if we both weren't swamped with work and just completely wiped.

Nevertheless, I'm hopeful our big investment will have more than a little impact on the team's performance later today...where we will make waffles out of them Belgium!

#1N1T #IBELIEVE

Soaker Bowl (Or, How I Learned to Survive Recife)

Fret not, kind and loyal blog follower.

I have not succumb to an unexpected landslide or samba party.

I am still alive and well, and partaking in the 2014 FIFA World Cup finals here in Brazil.

Oddly, I'm now back at a location with very reliable Internet connectivity (yay São Paulo!), yet I have not used this bandwidth to post a single update. Flashback to just a few days prior--while we were on the road following the US Men's National Team around the group stage leg of the World Cup--and you would have found me trying to fashion a tinfoil rabbit ears aerial to get the equivalent of a 300 baud modem's worth of access to the "tubes".

Absence makes the heart grow fonder.

Abundance makes you care less, I guess.

Speaking of flashbacks, as I last shared our time in Recife was quite nuts. And, I'm not just referring to the drama we had upon our arrival.

After (re)securing our basic human need for shelter, we turned our attention to getting ready for the third and final match versus Die Mannschaft.

Recife made things way more challenging than the previous two locations. This was mostly due to the fact the stadium (Arena Pernambuco) is located about 20 km from our hotel in Boa Viagem (and pretty much all of Recife). Unlike Natal or Manaus, where the arenas were effectively in the middle of the city, Arena Pernambuco was in the middle of nowhere. It's not even located within the city of Recife, but instead a place called São Lourenço da Mata.

In the end, we didn't feel too troubled by this little quirk of this large host city. Maura had secured us two spots on a hotel shuttle van during the craziness of solving our hotel reservation woes. A side benefit of standing right next to the hotel staff for more than hour while they worked out how to get our reservation resurrected.

What did trouble us was the friggin' monsoon that slammed into this city in the northeast of Brazil.

"Epic" was used to describe the insane amount of rain that was falling overnight and all through the match on June 26th.

All night, the windows in our "semi-classy" hotel rattled from never-ending abuse and torment of wind and rain. It didn't make for a very restful sleep and it was compounded by the fact we needed to get up and at 'em early to ensure we made the shuttle van. They front desk changed our departure time to even earlier to account for the flooding and horrific road conditions this rainstorm was causing to areas in and around Recife.

9:30 am we go; come hell or high water.

A few folks asked me (after they learned we survived the epic journey) if the media was overhyping the situation. As your humble "on the ground" reporter, I can confidently say, "NOOOOO WAY!"

Here's a little video of our time in the van (and not on a boat, mind you) trying to reach the stadium:

Yup.

This is what we experienced for most of the trip through the metro portions of Recife. Once we hit "the open road", we only had to worry about other cars.

In the van heading to Arena Pernambuco

A trip that should have taken 45 minutes or so, ended up taking more than double that. At a few points during the ride these guys seated in front of us in the van considered bailing out and trying to catch a train to the stadium. They also believed the match started at 11 am, and not the actual start time of 1p.

On a sad note, we learned while having our post-match meal at Ponteio Grill that many family members of the USMNT were unable to reach the stadium in time to actually watch the game. All of the families happen to be at this very same churrascaria when we arrived and one of the waiters told us about this unfortunate side effect of the terrible storm. I also saw Jozy's brother again, but decided to leave him be considering all the trouble they had just faced earlier in the day.

Back to our van trip to the arena: we were once again lucky enough to see the USA team bus. This time, it was parked in front of the Golden Tulip Hotel in Boa Viagem waiting for the team to board. As we faced these horrible conditions and traffic en route, we started to worry if the teams themselves (who had not yet left for the stadium) would make it in time. Considering there was some chatter about FIFA potentially delaying the match, I'm really surprised they pulled off this game.

Upon arriving at Arena Pernambuco, our driver had to leave us about 1 km from the gates due to security and the need to find a parking spot he could stay for several hours.

Maura and I donned our ponchos (the very ones we searched high and low for in Natal and likely bought the last four in city) and made the hike through the rain, mud and street vendors selling ponchos, beer, water (for some reason) and odd versions of USA and Germany flags. The ponchos mostly did their job, but let's be honest, we were still getting soaked thanks to the intensity of the rain fall. As we rounded the last turn before entering the stadium parking lot, we witnessed the arrival of the USA team bus. I guess they had a lot of help from their police escort to clear a path (at least through the traffic) to make it to the stadium.

Waterlogged and ready to root inside Arena Pernambuco

With the rain still falling, and the crowds growing, we cleared security and the gates to happily learn that our seats were 100% covered. Thank the lord!

A few pre-match "double cheeseburgers" (A/K/A meat cooked until hockey puck state) and beers (and a nice chat with some dudes who just made it in from Texas to see this match), we prepared for the 1 pm kickoff.

Arena Pernambuco in all of its glory

Arena Pernambuco was my least favorite of the three stadiums. Maybe it was the rain or mud caked between my toes, but the place lacked a lot of the character our previous two venues offered. Our seats were similar to the match in Manaus, just a little more centered and a few more rows back. Many of the same characters from the American Outlaws kept us USA supporters singing up a storm (pun not intended). My personal fav was the dude all dressed up as Teddy Roosevelt as a Rough Rider.

The USMNT starters warmed up right by the corner flag close to our seats and I think we did our small part pumping them up with our signing and chanting "I BELIEVE WE WILL WIN!"

Following the team warm ups, which did appear to happen much later than the previous two outings, this solitary FIFA commissioner walked the pitch to see if it was truly ready for 90 minutes of futebol.

FIFA match commissioner surveys the state of the pitch to see if it's green lit for kick-off

Needless to say, he approved the conditions and we had us some football!

It was a fun match, albeit bittersweet that we advanced after the loss.

Look, I'm not complaining.

I would have loved to kept the 0-0 draw to the conclusion of the game. Just wasn't in the cards. Our shooting boots lacked the finishing necessary to do our own damage.

Still a great way to end the group stage by escaping the "GROUP OF DEATH!"

And, we escaped the floods and returned to our hotel in Boa Viagem with little trouble. The rain did finally subside towards the end of the game and amazingly the drainage system cleared most of the streets of Recife by the time we arrived.

The next day was the yang to the Thursday's horrific weather yin. It was sunny and bright, and we used our last day in the city to do a little bit of sightseeing. This included a tour of the nearby historic city of Olinda. This 477 year old city still maintains much of the look and feel of its historic roots...which consists mostly of churches and places that became churches.

One super neat tourist spot we stopped by was the Caixa D'Aqua. It serves a dual purpose of being a water tower for the historic city and 360 degree viewing platform of the beach, churches and surrounding areas (of more churches).

Olinda from Caixa D'Agua

Before heading off to the airport, we took another stroll along Boa Viagem beach.

As you may have read, the northeast of Brazil (Recife in particular) has a lot of sharks in the waters. Therefore, it was none too surprising to see this clear set of warnings about "how not to be eaten by a shark" displayed about ever 100 meters or so:

Shark Warnings in Recife

Maura asked me if I wanted to walk on the sidewalk or the beach. After reading through all of these warnings I elected to stay off the beach. Call me crazy, but I am still alive, ain't I?

We completed our picture perfect post-match day with a smooth trip over to the airport and then back to our base of operations in São Paulo.

We may be out of match tickets, but we are staying put in Brazil through most of what's left of the elimination phase of the tournament. This included watching the nail biting Brazil vs. Chile match, that could have completely broken the spirit of the Brazilian people had neither Júlio César or the crossbar stopped multiple Chilean goals.

As with the opening match, the streets in and around Vila Madalena were filled with revelers celebrating another step closer to returning the FIFA World Cup trophy to Brazil (or it was just a really excuse to go drink in the streets).

Celebrations in the streets throughout Vila Madalena

With the group stage now complete, it's back to remote working from our base of operations. It was fun experiencing all of this road tripping, but I'm glad to be back to our little slice of "civilization".

I'll certainly need to do some meeting shuffling to ensure I can watch our next USA match against Belgium for a spot in the quarterfinals.

Luckily, the Brazil vs. Colombia match is on July 4th. It'll be a holiday in two countries that day.

Let's just hope it's one both nations will want to celebrate!

The 95th Minute

Fun facts about Manaus, Brazil:

• Manaus is hot
• Manaus is incredibly humid
• The USAvPOR match was amazing and heartbreaking at the same time
• Manaus is SOOOOOO hot and humid

Bonus fun fact: I don't believe people actually support Portugal. They only appear to support Cristiano Ronaldo, and Portugal only when they score. At least, that's what I experienced at last night's match at Arena Amazonia.

We started our day like most on this trip. Some food, a little group stage match watching on the T.V. (yesterday was Belgium-Russia), some planning on how the heck to get to and from the match, and then (ultimately) leaving for the stadium.

Our journey to Arena Amazonia couldn't be any easier. We caught a ride with a family member of our hosts here in Manaus. He dropped us off just a few blocks from the stadium about 3 hours before first kick.

Arena Amazonia a short, hot and humid walk away

While the American Outlaws pre-match-pre-func was about 7 km away, we appeared to stumble upon our own supporters HQ at a watering hole near where we arrived. Thanks to Maura, we scored a table and some ice cold bottles of Skol (the beer) to help take the edge off of the heat and the wait. We had a nice little surprise when a couple from Orcas Island, WA took advantage of the open two chairs at our table to relax and cool down themselves before marching to the match. We've met so many people from the greater Seattle area all the way down here in Brazil. Even more evidence that Seattle is truly Soccer City USA!

Supporters at Bar Near Arena Amazonia

With the sun still strong and keeping things super hot, we stayed at this place (which charged R$1 to use the bathroom, R$10 for a small basket of french fries and R$10 for a huge plate of mixed meats) until about two hours before the start of the match.

Around 4p, we walked (through the still super hot temperatures) to the gates and our seats. Our luck in timing continues, as seconds after getting our tickets scanned and our persons checked for metal objects, Team USA arrived at the stadium (they must be waiting for us to enter, because we can't be that lucky).

Team USA Arrives at Arena Amazonia

Or, maybe it's a just a little Disney magic. Perhaps they have a Team USA bus drive through every 10 minutes, so we all think our timing is amazing and we get all sorts of pumped up for the match.

Just saying.

Moving on: Arena Amazonia is a stunning venue. Being brand new and blessed with great (albeit it friggin' HOT and HUMID) weather goes a long way to making this place feel special. My father-in-law and I chatted a bunch about the future of this stadium in a city that doesn't have a top-tier team or enough of a need for a 40,000+ seat arena to sustain the high costs of maintaining the site. I think it would be an absolute crime to let this place be turned into rubble after experiencing a match from some great seats.

Walking into the most beautiful of the new World Cup stadiums - Arena Amazonia

As with my past blog posts, I won't attempt to recap the match. Nonetheless, our seats were AWESOME and on the USA team's side. We had the whole team warming up right in front of us and defended the net on our end in the first half. Three of the four goals took place 30 yards from our section. I very much enjoyed watching two of the three of those aforementioned goals.

I'm ready to support "The Yanks" from our U.S.A. supporters' section in Arena Amazonia

The viewing angles were fantastic and we really felt like we couldn't be any closer to the action (granted, we were in row L, so I guess we could have been closer).

Pano of Arena Amazonia

The thrills and (yet again) emotional roller coster witnessed during the match made the costs of getting to the game all the more worth it. The heartbreaking nature of Portugal's game tying in the 95th minute did take a little bit away from moment, but I did go into the match feeling like it would be a draw. Dempsey's go ahead goal in the 81st completely blew my mind with possibilities and shattered my predicted result. I would have been more than happy to be wrong (this time).

Some other fun observations from the game:

• Ronaldo had a so/so game and every time he failed to do something magical, the USA fans started to chant "MESSI. MESSI. MESSI." I guess this taunt was all about who is "really" the best footballer in the world in 2013
• It is impossible to actually tell how much time is left in the match since this only clock is on the smallish stadium jumbotrons.  In Natal, we were sat right underneath the one in our section, so we couldn't see anything. While our seats in Manaus offered direct views to both of the screens in the arena, it was still too small.
• Towards the end of the match, the stadium erupted into a song sang with tremendous pride by the Brazilians - "Eu sou Brasileiro com muito orgulho com muito amor" (I am a Brazilian with a lot of pride and a lot of love).

After the final whistle and after everyone let out a collective sigh in disbelieve of the resulting draw instead of a win, we left the stadium for our own version of "Planes, Trains and Automobiles" trying to get back to our residence in Ponta Negra.

First, we were led to believe FIFA would be providing buses back to the Fan Fest in Ponta Negra. You only needed to show your match ticket to get a ride.

Well.

We walked for about 20 minutes and couldn't find either the buses or anyone who knew anything about these "advertised" buses.

Next, we boarded a city bus heading towards the airport (and points around Ponta Negra), paid our R$2.75 per person and hung on for dear life as this sucker snaked through cars, roads and traffic laws.

We're on the Onibus post-match trying to return to our Manaus base of operations

Not feeling confident that this bus would actually stop anywhere near where we needed in the large neighborhood of Ponta Negra, we hopped off at the airport and grabbed a taxi back to our host's home.

We "freshened up" slightly and headed out for a late evening pizza at a place called Splash Pizza (odd name for a pizza place).

Not surprising, there were some differences in the preparation and style of pizza in Brazil vs. the USA. For example, the table includes a very different set of condiments in place of the traditional grated cheese and (maybe) red pepper flakes. Instead, they offered olive oil (which they have that everywhere in Brazil), ketchup, mustard, mayonnaise and chili sauce. Yup.

The pizza was good and hit the spot after my workout at the match screaming, chanting and jumping around. But, my night was made when I discovered this neat tabletop tool: a little device that allows you to easily open a packet of ketchup or chili sauce without having to risk life and limb tearing the packet open.

A neat tabletop tool!

I think we should important this to the USA!

Today, we head over to our friends pub and night club to watch the Brazil-Cameroon match. Just like the USA, Brazil needs to close things out this afternoon with at least a draw (a win would be way better) to advance to the round of 16. No heartbreakers, okay?

Vai Brasil!

It's Like Christmas in June in Natal (A Recap)

I will be the first to admit, that it's kind of sad that after spending the last several days without a reliable Internets connection, I'm now overdosing on the 'Tubes from the departures area of the São Gonçalo do Amarante–Governador Aluízio Alves International Airport (a/k/a the "New Natal Airport"). That hasn't taken anything away from our first fantastic stop on this tour of the USMNT group stage matches.

The positive side effect of my Internet jones?

I can FINALLY share some of the backlog of images and experiences capture from my trusty Nokia Lumia 925.

Where to start.

Well, remember I mentioned all that rain in Natal?

The morning of the USA vs. Ghana match started to show signs of clearing up (or at least not raining). We took advantage of this break in the chuva to take our own pre-match stroll on the Ponta Negra beach just outside of our hotel.

Ponta Negra Beach in Natal

Along our walk, we watched folks play a little beach soccer, get runs in, and show off lots of USMNT gear. I chatted quickly with a pair from the mid-west of the USA, where I said with confidence we'd win 2-1 and capture the three points. They weren't as convinced and just hoped for a solid draw. I wasn't the only one believing a 2-1 victory was in our future. A very popular shirt sold in the stores around Natal gives you the ability make your own predictions. Kind of cheap and silly, but both the one hanging in the store across from the beach and on a Brazilian spectator seated in front of us at the stadium featured the same prediction.

My prediction matched the t-shirt

After the walk, we quickly showered up and donned our USA gear to meet with our driver (and our two new American supporter friends) to head off to our first stop: the U.S. Soccer Pre-Match Party at "Peppers Arena".

And, we waited.

Waited some more.

Okay, after a little more than "15 minutes" (or 45 minutes when you convert Natal time to the regular one you and I know so well) our awesome driver arrived and took us to the party.

At the USSF Pre-Match Party

I already shared some of the highlights of the party, so let's just skip ahead to the craziness at the American Outlaws gathering near the stadium.

Arena das Dunas in the Distance

Our driver left us at a Petrobras station on the opposite side of Av. Senador Salgado Filho and we made the hike over the pedestrian bridge to Rodizio de Pizzas to meet up with safely a "zillion" AO members already in a full lather of chatting, flag waving and other heart pumping pre-game prep. (NOTE: The photo above is from near Shopping Natal. We were MUCH closer to the stadium when dropped off).

Words cannot describe, so here's a video I shot of one of my most favorite USMNT chants:

Our little band of supporters stayed for about 20 (real) minutes before we headed off to the stadium. Our March to the Match was fun and good natured. I had a small surprise when we bumped (almost literally) into former US International and MLSer Jimmy Conrad who was filming for KICKTV just outside of the Arena das Dunas.

Great running into @JimmyConrad from @KICKTV before Monday’s #USAvGHA victory. See you in Manaus! #FIFAWorldCup pic.twitter.com/SlnSvmAXyF — Ian Hameroff (@hameroff) June 18, 2014

Getting through security and having our ticket punched was a heck of lot easier than I'd expected. Not that I was expecting chaos and bedlam, but again this is a place where they haven't finished either the airport or the roads around the stadium.

Ian and Maura at Arena das Dunas

But. Once we got to our seats, it really hit home that we were AT A WORLD CUP MATCH AND WATCHING THE US MENS NATIONAL TEAM!!!!!!!!!

We even entered just as the USA team bus arrived to the stadium and we cheered them all the way into the venue.

Arena das Dunas is rocking during USAvGHA

The evening was amazing and we still have at least two more of these matches to attend. Holy cow, this was an amazing experience which had its highs (like Deuce's goal) and lows (Jozy's injury), and it did take us more than an hour to get back to the hotel. Some of this was due to Vice President Joe Biden's motorcade shutting down the roads. He and his 35 vehicles (and 2,000 gunners) passed by us as we waited at that very same Petrobras for our driver to navigate us through all this chaos and back to Ponta Negra.

Maura and I grabbed a super late dinner at a nearby hotel as the nightcap to our day full of adventure and thrills. We wanted to rest up a little bit, because the we had to go see the World's Largest Cashew Tree before we headed off to Manaus for round two.

Oh, we did see the tree and it's huge.

Maior cajueiro do mundo

A Slow News Day

Heading to Brazil for the World Cup Finals isn't all Brazucas, caxirolas and caipirinhas. We've also had a few other items on the agenda ahead of the opening match on Thursday.

The nerve, right?

Since arriving, we've spent some time getting acclimated, logging time with family and I've been working remotely.

Boy, do I have new found respect for folks who work remotely.

After spending 8 hours on Monday--4 times zones ahead of everyone else--participating in an offsite over Lync, I can truly appreciate the impact of a good remote meeting experience. Fortunately, Lync performed like a champ and my colleagues up north were kind to my situation.

Today has been more of the same, sans the marathon meeting. At least my "remote home office" view is a bit more interesting than the normal Microsoft parking lot outside my office on the Redmond campus.

SãoPauloPano

As you can see, the weather is very Pacific Northwest like to make sure I don't get too home sick or distracted by local atmosphere. At least the forecast for Thursday shows sunshine and a good chance of WCF (World Cup Fever).

To keep with the whole "World Cup theme" in the absence of something more exciting to share from my own first-hand experience, here's my bracket for the Finals:

2014 FIFA World Cup Bracket - Vai Brasil!

Some bold predictions, I suspect you'll say. Yup, I have the USA snag the two spot in the "Group of Death!" and meet our cold war pals Russia in the Round of 16. And, I guess I'm being a homer picking Brazil to prevail over the defending champs in the final match.

What the hell, right?

It's WCF time and I've got me some...on a slow news day.

Back to work.

We Made It!

Well, we did it!

São Paulo–Guarulhos International Airport

It only took about 24 hours of travel hustle and bustle, but we made it to São Paulo!

Nos estamos no Brasil pra Copa Do Mundo #FIFAWorldCup http://t.co/3Sxyp8F18W

— Ian Hameroff (@hameroff) June 8, 2014

Our journey wasn't all airline food and air turbulence, we also had the opportunity to watch the tail end of the USA vs. Nigeria match from the airline lounge during our layover, and even checked in on the Sounders slugfest with the Chicago Fire before we had to switch off our electronics to depart on the 10 hour slog down to GRU.

Sadly, the longest part of the 24 hours may have been the nearly one hour spent on the tarmac waiting for somebody to let us park at a gate after we landed.

As with other visits to Brazil, we gathered our seemingly hundreds of suitcases (okay, it was just 5 checked bags this time), made a quick pit stop at the duty free before being welcomed by our patiently awaiting family in the arrivals area. Bags were loaded into cars and we headed to the city for some brunch and a power nap.

Luckily on the drive from the airport, I was able to grab a quick picture of some dude dressed up as Spider-Man who "worked" an intersection in the city.

São Paulo Spider-Man

He immediately stepped out into the roadway when the traffic light turned red, waved a whole bunch at the stopped cars and (I guess) waited for a small cash donation. Not surprising, his "Spidey-sense" failed him, as no one appeared interested in playing along.

Anyhow, the city of São Paulo is in full World Cup fever mode.

It was interesting to see the newly installed bi-lingual road signs complete with the 2014 FIFA World Cup Finals look and feel. And, you could clearly see that there was way more security on the stretch of road just outside of the airport. Maura believes that this was mostly due to the fact that one of the teams is staying near the airport to train at a nearby facility. According to the "Internets", that might be Team Iran.

The streets in and around our base of operations in São Paulo were fully decorated with TONS of Brazilian gear.

World Cup Fever starts to show its colors in the streets of São Paulo

I'm sure this is just the tip of the iceberg, as I cannot wait to experience the WCF (a/k/a "World Cup Fever") on Thursday when the host nation kicks this sucker off with the opening match against Croatia here in São Paulo.

Between now and then, I've got to unpack, put in a few full days in the (remote) office and get my USA and Brazil gear readied for the next 30+ days of the world's game.

In the meantime, it's time to crush this jet lag and get some rest before I...ZZZzzzzzzzzzzz

Where in the world...er Brazil...are you going?

Map of 2014 FIFA World Cup Host Cities (Source: FIFA)

Thanks to a recent Tweet from the "fine folks" at FIFA, I can share with you a "colorful map" of the host cities for the World Cup. I've marked up the key places we'll be visiting during our time in Brazil.

From our base of operations in São Paulo, we'll be traveling up to the Amazon and the north east of Brazil to support "The Yanks" as they do battle against Ghana, Portugal and Germany in three of the twelve host cities for the tournament: Natal, Manaus and Recife.

Even though it's technically winter (well, actually winter), these places are expected to be hot and humid. What else would one expect when traveling to the word's largest rain forest and beach cities close to the equator!

We've got lots of shorts and sun block to keep us as comfortable as possible. We'll keep you posted.

Boa viagem para o Brasil!

It's truly hard to believe it, but the day has finally arrived!

After marking our calendars years in advanced.

After planning and securing travel arrangements.

After early morning attempts to grab tickets via the mad dash lottery.

After cramming everything possible into a handful of suitcases.

After finally getting match tickets for the U.S. Men's National Team's group stage campaign.

After weeks of hard work to get things buttoned up at the office.

After cramming even more stuff into suitcases.

After selecting just the right gear to represent the U.S.A. and Brasil.

And, after trying to teach Maura all of the American Outlaws chants.

After all of that, we are finally heading to Brazil for the 2014 FIFA World Cup Finals!

The "Stars and Stripes" and "Seleção Brasileira" shirts are ready for the 2014 FIFA World Cup Finals

We are off on a crazy, once in a life adventure to witness the world's game on its biggest stage. To share with my wife and her family the national passion and pride that comes with hosting the finals on their own soil for the first time in 64 years. To have the opportunity to watch what I've only witnessed on T.V., a World Cup match, in person. To (hopefully) support the Yanks through to the knockout stage and to celebrate with millions of Brasileiros as their (our) Seleção, their Canarinhos open the 30 days of football championship battles to win the prize of joining the small fraternity of eight nations that have won the coveted trophy in this nearly 85 years old tournament.

The long and the short of it: it's going to be f-ing amazing!

I hope to share the experience through pictures and blog posts, and I do hope you'll tag along. Maybe you'll even lose your voice screaming at the T.V. like I plan to at a match, after our own Seattle Sounders FC Clint "Captain American" Dempsey puts one between the pipes for a game winning goal. (NOTE: I'd be happy if any of the 23 USMNT have this opportunity...I'm not picky).

Wish us luck and boa viagem!