by Scuba Steve Wed Mar 23, 2011 2:09 am
Not all of these are good memories, but they are the ones that I'll forever remember.
1994: I don't remember everything from '94, but I do remember seeing the USA games, and I can recall the games against Colombia and Brazil well. I remember the elbow to Tab Ramos in the game against Brazil, but being unable to capitalize. I also remember watching the final, and seeing Baggio send his penalty miles over the bar.
1998: I watched all the USA games, which all ended in defeat. So despite my best attempts to forget them, I remember losing such bad games that go around. I also remember the run that Croatia had, learning in the process about just how young of a nation they were. And I was wowed by Zidane in the final against Brazil. I remember going out back afterwards and trying to recreate what I had seen him do on the field.
2002: I remember waking up early (like 2am or whatever) to watch us dismantle Portugal in the first half, only to have to hold on in the second half to win the game. Missed the Korea game due to a test, but I remember rushing home to see how it finished. And I remember waking up early on another test day to see us blow the game against Poland -- but at the same time, I watched at a friend's house as Park Ji-Sung scored against Portugal to send us through. I remember waking everyone in the house up celebrating that goal. Of course the biggest memory from that tournament was the Frings hand ball on the line that was not called, which ended in our defeat to Germany. Not the first, and definitely not the last time that we have been at the short end in terms of calls.
2006: My best memory was of us holding on against Italy with just 9 men, and even scoring (although correctly called back) with those 9 players. Working got in the way of watching most of the tournament, so some of it was a blur.
2010: Made sure I watched every single game live. The thing I will always remember though (other than the Donovan goals, Bradley's, Edu's no goal, Gyan's winner), will be texting Dena 1.5 hours before kickoff against England, after learning that Green was going to be in goal, and saying precisely that, "he is worth at least one goal on a mistake" (some paraphrasing there). I actually believed that when I told him too, so I wasn't surprised (although completely elated), when the ball was fumbled and crossed the line.
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top of the group when we beat Slovenia
