Eng-er-lund, Eng-er-lund, Eng-er-lund

Tomorrow (Sunday) we head to Gelsenkirchen, spending the night in nearby Muenster. It should go without saying that I'm excited to train to the first game (albeit a six-hour journey) and see the US take on the Czech Republic Monday evening. It's been quite a long wait and finally it's almost here, but at the same time, I like the anticipation almost as much as the actual event.

Today's games were, in a nutshell, pretty dull. England-Paraguay turned out to be one of your typical Sven Goran Eriksson affairs, without the added excitement of it actually being a high-profile affair. Winning 1-0 on a 3rd minute own goal sure must not be as fun to Sven as his afinity for sex, lies and hidden microphones by reporters pretending to be Dubai shieks. I was disappointed in England. I think, if Wayne Rooney and Michael Owen get completely healthy, they could win it all, but their route-one football and continuation of using Owen Hargraves to kill off a game makes watching the Three Lions as enjoyable as watching Washington State basketball. And the English will nonetheless put down the US at some point for their athleticism, fitness and determination. Funny how that works.

We watched the game at a beer garden in the English Gardens, a nice big park that's enjoyable to ride a bicycle around before partaking in an afternoon beer, bratwurst and pommes frites (french fries). Problem was, the screen was hard to see during the day, and the ridiculous shadows at the Frankfurt stadium made it even worse. I was yearning for the days of Fox Trak where they lit the hockey puck.

Sweden-Trinidad & Tobago finished 0-0. That's about as much as I can say about it. But go T&T.

The evening could have been salvaged with Argentina-Cote d'Ivoire (that's Ivory Coast to you non-Francophones), but while the Elephants were tantalising at times, ultimately they left you disappointed. And thank you, thank you, that was today's effort at trying to sound like a snobby European journalist.

Off the field, it was a fun day. As mentioned, me and Kathi rode around Munich on bikes before meeting her friend (Anna?) at the beer garden. Of the four or five beer gardens in the park (yes, it was that big, and yes, the Germans take their drinking that seriously), we picked the most crowded one, unfortunately. On the walk/ride back, drunk Germans continued singing that song that sounds like "Oh the games people play," just without words. When I mentioned that every German soccer song lacks coherency or words, the girls said it came in handy when one was under the influence. Point taken.

Veronika and Kathi are going to a club tonight (it's 12:15am and we haven't left yet) and have convinced me to go. European dance clubs are cheesy, irritating and repulsive — and feature off the charts comedy, unintentional or not. Count me in! If we ever get out of here, and judging by our 9am train that's getting closer and closer with each word I type, that's more and more unlikely. I'm sure I'll have some stories if we do. Unfortunately, you may have to wait for them. Internet access up in the Gelsenkirchen area is not guaranteed until we return to Munich on Tuesday (There's my intinerary, J), so news on the USA's impending rout of the dirty Czechs might be on hold.

YESTERDAY'S NOTE: In the first note, I called Muncheners "Munchers" completely accidental, but I was so amused upon reading it I didn't want to change it.