WEDNESDAY JUNE 21ST

KILLING TWO BIRDS WITH ONE STONE

World Cup Wednesday started for me in the Red Bull New York locker room rooting feverishly for Portugal. I’ll admit to you now. I have absolutely no love for the Mexican National Team. I look forward to Messi and his Argentina friends giving Mexico a good working over on Saturday. I respect the Mexican National Team and congratulate them for making the next round, but in saying that, I wish them nothing but frustration against an Argentina team that will go very far in this tournament.

The late afternoon was marked by a visit to MY local pub, O’Connells. I always seem to have a good time watching games at this Columbia University hangout. The crowd is always lively, usually entrenched with students from the countries who are playing that day, and the staff is always friendly. And while enjoying O’Connells and the game between Holland and Argentina, Pilar and I were able to run across Broadway to take care of our laundry during breaks in the action. I have added some pictures of the great crowd that was watching the game with us today.

The night began with a wonderful event near Madison Square Garden in support of New York Scores. NY Scores is a wonderful charity here in the city that I like to support as much as I can. An after school program in urban areas throughout the country, America Scores teaches kids the game while also enriching the kids with lessons on poetry. I encourage everyone to check them out at www.americascores.org.

My day finally ended with a visit to the MSG TV studios with Chris Henderson. Chris and I were on MSG for the Red Bull World Cup Special show to add comments about the tournament and USA’s chances tomorrow against Ghana. Go USA. Bruce, let Eddie run!

And tomorrow starts early for the team as we are expected to the locker room at Giants Stadium at 7:30am. The team is getting together early so we can practice before the big game. After practice, we will, as a team, watch the game. I assure you that all of us will be cheering on the team and wishing for their absolute best against a wonderful team in Ghana. Fingers will also be crossed, as we hope that Italy takes it to the Czech’s allowing the team to play Brazil in the next round of the tournament.