Friday, July 2, 2010

Hup Holland Hup!

Way to go Netherlands!

I still can't believe we beat bloody Brazil! How did that happen! I watched the whole thing, glued to my seat, Tonic was so packed there was a large crowd outside watching on the street, and they stopped letting people in. We headed to Playwright Restaurant across the street instead, quickly filled with oranje fans inside.

Brilliant game. It looked hopeless, that the Dutch lambs had gone off to the Brazilian slaughterhouse, what with Brazil scoring a mere 10 minutes in after an offside first attempt. I was so anxious, I ordered a beer at 10:30 in the morning to soften the blows I was so sure would come. It just seemed that the Dutch were pussyfooting around, waiting for their team members to join only to have the Brazilians surround them instead like hornets. Why wouldn't they just kick the ball already! And then the second half started, and Sneijder kicked magnificently from across the field, and thanks to a little headbutt from Brazil's Melo (who would later get a red card from stepping on Robben), the Dutch tied 1-1 to cheers and thunderous applause. And then Sneijder headbutted in a second goal thanks to good corner kick from Robben. Holy shit! None of us could believe it! The sounds in the pub were deafening, the atmosphere electric. And we held it. We held our lead for the next 25 minutes, no matter how much Maicon and Kaká tried to get past.

And then it ended, and everyone was cheering whenever they saw another person dressed in orange, Dutch everywhere, it was wonderful. Outside of Tonic was insane and spectacular. Such a crowd of orange, a couple dressed in Brazilian colors passed and everyone booed in good fun (the couple smiled even), cars and trucks honked, some with people wearing orange inside, and everybody cheered. People would pour out of the bar still and everyone would hoot and holler again, an abrupt rendition of olé broke out, there were even vuvuzelas. So surreal. I still can't believe we beat Brazil. Who the hell beats BRAZIL?! (The Netherlands, THAT's who!)

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