July 2010

Here is a selection of articles and videos about Dutch fans in the USA watching the final World Cup game between Spain and the Netherlands.

• New York Times, about the event by NLBorrels.com in Tonic, "...a bar in Midtown that has become a center for Dutch events. Hundreds of people crammed every square foot of the bar on Sunday, craning their necks to watch the action on the wall-to-wall overhead screens. There were orange hats, orange shirts, orange balloons, and giant soccer balls suspended in nets from the ceiling"
• Royal Netherlands Embassy in Washington, DC, slideshow
• San Francisco Chronicle: "The traffic-cone orange of Dutch fans dominated the crowd gathered in front of two giant screens across from City Hall, with red Spanish jerseys sprinkled in between."
• KUSI News: World Cup finals at Shakespeare Pub & Grille, San Diego
• Washington Post, about Mackey's Pub: "At the pub in Northwest, more than 250 yelling, foot-stomping, orange-wearing fans crammed in to cheer on their beloved Dutch. They wrapped themselves in flags, blared vuvuzelas and bit their nails. They cheered every movement toward Spain's goal and screamed obscenities at every foul, the volume increasing with each newly poured cup of beer".
• ABC 15.com: "Hundreds of orange clad fans gathered Sunday in Scottsdale to cheer on the Netherlands in the World Cup finale."

Well, that was very disappointing. It was sad to see the Netherlands lose after so many successful games.

On the bright side: we spent part of the weekend together, which was great after two weeks not seeing each other. We watched the game with a large group of Dutch and Spanish supporters in a bar in DC and Mike joined us there (thanks for coming out!). Later I talked with Petra in real live, which was nice.

We walked back past the Embassy of Spain in Georgetown, where we saw a happy crowd of Spanish supporters.

Today I worked remotely, spending most of my day in Starbucks (which now has free WiFi, which is very convenient). I'm back in Durham now.

I left early this morning for DC, and I just arrived at Dulles Airport where I'll pick up Sasha. I'm early -- her flight will arrive in an hour.

We'll be watching the final between Spain and the Netherlands in Mackey's Pub in DC.