Date: Monday, June 7th, 2010
Location: Port Authority, New York, NY
In anticipation of the tournament ESPN had a series of advertisements made up in the form of a mural representing each team in the World Cup. Each ad conveyed some sense of the nation’s history in the tournament, and in some ways the significance of the World Cup to that nation. The ads covered the windows of the old Virgin Super store at the Port Authority bus terminal so I walked over to look at them in the afternoon.
Fernando Torres represented the favorites, Spain. He ended up losing his starting spot, finishing the tournament without scoring a goal, and injuring himself yet again. But he left with a winner’s medal so while it may not have been a perfect tournament for him I think he’ll survive.
England is depicted with Lamps, Rooney, and Stevie G trying to tear down the pressure of 1966 (the last and only time England won the World Cup) under the guidance of Fabio Capello. It didn’t really work out, and this mural could probably be used unchanged for the 2014 World Cup.
Karim Benzema was depicted as one of the Three Musketeers in the France mural but wasn’t even selected to the team. Henry’s face is vandalized with the word “CHEAT” and he didn’t even play until the final match after France had completely imploded.
Messi looks like the savior of Argentina, and while Higuain scored all the goals, Messi is pretty much the shining light of Argentine football.
While Japan didn’t slay the Netherlands they did manage to make it out of their group.
Kaka didn’t have a particularly stellar tournament.
The Elephants of Ivory Coast may have been the biggest African disappointment.
Australia didn’t really do much at all. I guess this is what a Socceroo looks like.
South Korea managed to break through the group stage again in 2010 but it wasn’t quite the 4th place finish of 2002.
Cristiano didn’t really work a whole lot of magic this tournament.
Aguirre led Mexico to what is becoming a pretty standard second round exit for them.
North Korea played surprisingly well against Brazil before getting thumped by Portugal.
New Zealand had a player who wasn’t even a professional. I wonder if he’ll do the Haka before business meetings at his banking job.
Cameroon.
Honduras carried the hopes of a nation. We met some Honduran guys in one of our hotels. They were really cool, and they told us that the president of Honduras offered American player Jonathan Bornstein a free vacation to Honduras because the late goal he scored gave Honduras the last World Cup qualifying spot from North America. He’s a hero in Honduras.
On the way to dinner we found this mattress in the street.
In the evening we went to B Café. If I recall correctly I had a steak which I enjoyed and Tracy was prepared to give it a solid 3 star review on yelp. She even ordered this cool Belgian beer that came in a glass with a spherical bottom so it was served with a cool handle so it wouldn’t fall over!
I saw this ad on the way home. Brazilian clubs make most of their money by selling talented players. Apparently some banks make money by financing that.
