World Cup Fever!

At the Irish Village after the US vs. England tie, sporting our new shirts.

World Cup Fever has struck Dubai and there is absolutely no escaping it. I'm sure if we were home we wouldn't be remotely interested in the World Cup, but in Dubai, where everyone is completely obsessed with soccer (or 'footie', not that I could ever call soccer 'football' being a good red-blooded American), we (or should I say Jared) has become a complete fanatic. Since the World Cup has never been a huge deal back home, I really didn't know what I was in store for being in Dubai for it. The excitement in the air is palpable and like the week leading up to the Super Bowl back home, the World Cup is all you see and hear about on the radio and tv. Kiosks selling World Cup apparel have popped up everywhere and billboard advertisements are all plastered with World Cup propaganda. It's a really fun atmosphere and unlike big sports events back home that last only a week or so at the most (for 7 game championship series', etc.), the World Cup is a month-long event with games everyday and endless opportunities and locations to watch.

However, since the population of Americans in Dubai is extremely small (under 2,000), there isn't an abundance of paraphernalia being sold to support our team. We were only able to find one t-shirt and 1 huge jersey, so instead, decided to make our own World Cup shirts at the T-Shirt Factory kiosk in the mall. We've been watching the HBO John Adams mini-series and in honor of the first US Game vs. England we wanted our shirts to reflect the 'revolutionary' spirit. We did some googling around and came up with a great design that incorporated the Gadsden Flag's "Don't Tread On Me"... Apropos I think...

Jared pumped up in his new shirt before the US vs. England Game. USA USA!

Since the soccer fan base here is big, there are tons of venues to watch the games. Most of the big bars have erected giant air-conditioned stadiums for viewing with tons of giant tvs and cheap (for Dubai) buckets of beer. And since the population of Dubai is so international and diverse, you can pretty much guarantee watching all the games with people actually from the different countries and with an actual vested interest in the game. Quite fun. Even the Dubai Mall Ice Rink has set up an area with bean bags (oh Dubai, and your love affair with bean bags) in the middle to watch the games on the big screen. Hopefully we'll catch a game there at some point. There are certainly enough games to choose from.

Trying to capture the essence of JBH and the excessive British fans. A very fun atmosphere to watch a game...

Our favorite venue, however, is the Jumeirah Beach Hotel (JBH) which has turned their conference center into a viewing arena. It has white leather couches for comfortable viewing, and probably about 50 tv screens of various sizes. It holds 800 people and gets completely packed for big games. Last night we went for the big Germany vs. England knock-out game, and since there are about a million Brit's here, JBH was packed to the brim, with a lines of hundreds of people outside waiting to get in once capacity had been reached. Luckily, I went early with my German and English friends when they opened the doors two and a half hours before the game started, so we were able to secure great seats on the leather couches. And I have to admit, since English fans are pretty obnoxious it was pretty fun watching England get completely killed by Germany (4-1, ouch), in the presence of so many Brit's. Although, I did feel pretty bad for my friend Elizabeth (below) who is a die hard English fan.... Oh well, on to the quarter-finals and with the US out, there's no stress (Jared was a whole lot of fun to watch the US games with, crazy stressed, flipping out and swearing at the non-American supporters) so it's just fun and games for us now... Quite unexpectedly, I love the World Cup!

Elizabeth in her English swag (before the defeat, of course).