Soccer: For most of the world, it's exciting

An estimated 40,000 Dutch soccer fans marched
before their team's game in Houston on Saturday.

        
     For those of you who are temporary soccer fans, meaning while World Cup games play on your television daily …  welcome. 

     Here is what to know: Watching soccer requires patience.   

     You might have observed — say, many years ago — that soccer (which is football in the rest of the world) is not a high-scoring game. A game with, say, three goals is a bonanza. Every now and then, in a mismatch, one team scores seven goals or five. Very much the exception.
     So, welcome, 1-0, or 2-0. Or even — yikes — 0-0.
     Yes, it can be a “slow-paced game.” But think golf, or baseball (especially before the major leagues installed a pitch clock). We don’t much mind the slow pace there.
      But those of us who have been soccer fans for life know that there is more up-and-down the field action than soccer neophytes realize. 
     To see a game in person — this month to see a World Cup game in person — is a heckuva lot better than to watch on TV. To see play over the whole field in context to a television view makes a huge difference.
     And people in the U.S., plus Mexico and Canada, are watching by millions on TV and by tens of thousands in full stadiums. No matter how high the ticket prices. 
     (How high? Seeking tickets for a game in Kansas City this week, the low price we could find — for a seat high in the Chiefs’ stadium — was $638. No, thank you. The game will look OK on TV.)
     FIFA, soccer’s international organization, is raking in millions (billions?).
     Americans are streaming to the games in person. And if you’ve seen the huge fan followings here of so many of the countries involved, there are amazing sounds (songs, dances, drums, pep rallies) in the streets around the stadiums and in the stands.
     Borrowed this from a recent story in USA Today: Soccer has now replaced baseball as the third most popular sport in America, behind football and basketball, according to data analytics firm Ampere Analysis. 
     C’mon. As a baseball fan(atic) since we first saw a game, we are offended (OK, we call offside). It’s still No. 1 here, and soccer always has been 1A. Football and basketball, take a back seat now. (Sorry, it’s an un-American view).
     Of course, in this country, there always will be sceptics. Have a friend, a retired Louisiana sportswriter — let’s call him Ted — who two weeks ago posted on Facebook: “No offense to World Cup fans but I have long held that unless your kid is playing, soccer is boring. This is one notion that should spread across the political spectrum. Agree or disagree?”
     He followed that a few days later with, “Am I supposed to feel guilty because I could care less about the World Cup?”
     No, my friend, enough people care.
     We replied to his original post: “It is boring, especially for boring people. No more boring than listening to blowhard politicians.”
     Another friend, from Louisiana but a longtime Texas resident, said this week, “Watching soccer I am amazed at the athleticism of the players.”
     Yes, with many of these World Cup teams, these are those countries’ best athletes. They can use their feet, and they can use their heads.
     Even the U.S. team now has impressive athletes. Suddenly, after two dominant victories, the Americans are thinking they could go a long way in this World Cup. A championship? Do you believe in miracles? Wouldn’t bet on it.
     One aspect of World Cup play that is acceptable to most of the world but not here is games that end in a tie. There were 14 ties — four in one day — in the first 48 games. (In group play — the first three games for all teams — it’s three points for a victory, one for a tie.)
     Around the world, ties are part of soccer in regular-season league play. In the U.S., we decided decades ago that ties were antiquated in football — high school, college and most-not-all NFL games. The National Hockey League regular-season games, if tied at the end of regulation, requires a brief overtime and then a penalty shootout. Of course, baseball always has had extra innings, basketball overtime, golf a playoff, etc.
     Once this World Cup reaches the final 32 teams stage, ties will be broken — even not in 30 minutes of overtime, then with a penalty-kick shootout. Five shooters to begin with; team that converts the most wins. If it still tied after five shots, keep alternating shots until there is a winner.
     This, we think, is stupid. This is our biggest criticism of soccer.
     It’s like ending a baseball game with a home run-hitting contest, or basketball with a free-throw or 3-point shooting contest, or golf with a long-drive or putting contest. 
     Our idea for soccer in overtime is (1) play on, but take one man off the field every five minutes until someone scores, or (2) even better, do away with the offsides rule, giving offenses a chance for a breakaway. (It’s the offsides rule, in the first place, which makes it so difficult for teams to score.) 
     No one from FIFA has called for our advice. 
     PK shootouts? Yes, consider them a boring finish. But soccer itself is an exciting game … for open minds. Just be patient.

An Oranje weekend

     We had an all-Oranje weekend, and it was a wonderful experience. We marched with the Dutch Army. We (sort of) sang with them. We (sort of) danced with them -- "links, rechts" (translated: left, right).

      We found the now-famous double-decked Orange bus, and climbed aboard. 

      We rooted really hard for the Netherlands' soccer team. Because that's what I've done since I was about 5 years old ... and that's 74 years ago.

      The World Cup of soccer at "Dallas Stadium" -- forgive us, Cowboys -- was a blast.

      It was an all-orange outing. Yes, we wore orange shirts. Some of us also wore orange shorts.

      The Dutch flag is red-white-and-blue -- horizontally -- but the national color is orange because the royal family dates to The House of Orange.

      I have been an American citizen for 66 years; I was 8 when we left Holland late in 1955 as immigrants to the U.S. But I've always loved my original country -- a small but beautiful and progressive place (beautiful in many ways).

      This we've known forever, and it certainly was reaffirmed this weekend: The Netherlands has the greatest sports fans in the world. These people devoutly follow their soccer team (and their speed skaters, and every other sport).

      And they party like no else. They might not win the soccer game -- or the World Cup tournament -- but they are the World Champions of Partying.

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     My World Cup adventure began Saturday afternoon at Fort Worth Central Station. As I arrived for the train ride to Dallas, I saw a man sitting and wearing a bright orange shirt, and holding an orange hat. The shirt had a black KNVB logo (the KNVB is the Dutch soccer organization). 

John and Erica van den Berg

       John van den Berg was headed to Dallas, and his wife Erica soon walked up, wearing the same type shirt but also orange tennis shoes, carrying an orange bag with a "Holland" logo ... and her fingernails were painted orange.

        They live in Abbenes, a village not far from Schiphol, the Amsterdam airport (John was an air freight worker).

      They raised four sons -- "very expensive and hard for Erica," said John -- and have five grandchildren. Now retired, with the kids grown, they have time to travel and following the Dutch national team is what they do.

      They are among the select group that have season tickets to the Dutch games through the KNVB. In a deal cut with FIFA, the international soccer organization (which makes millions), they paid only $60 per game for the World Cup games here. 

       Only $60 (we paid four times that much), and they are prepared to make it to eight games if the Dutch go all the way, including a possible game in Mexico. However far the Dutch team falls short, their ticket costs will be refunded.    

      Their first trip to America, and they were staying in Fort Worth. But they will rent a car and drive to Houston, and then to Kansas City for the Dutch team's second and third Group F qualifiers.

      John estimated some 5,000 Dutch fans have made the trip from Holland to the USA this month. The majority are set to go the distance. Figure that maybe 15,000 Dutch more supporters (many with ties to the country) will join them at this World Cup.

       One recent memory stands out for John; the European qualifying game in Dortmund, Germany, two years ago. "There were 130,000 Dutch fans in town," he said. "It was a little dangerous in the streets. We didn't get into those crowds [and the famed Dutch march]. We took the metro straight to the stadium."

      But they were ready to join the crowd here. And if you've seen the videos on Facebook, etc., and TV, you know that an estimated 15,000 to 20,000 were in the march to the stadium here Sunday. Read on.    

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      I took the train to EBJ Union Station in downtown Dallas, and Jason picked me up. Coming in, he and the boys had spotted the Orange bus across a nearby highway. It was in a huge parking lot, and we went right there.

          We met some of the owners of the bus; it is a group of 38 people who -- obviously -- are soccer fans ... and like to party. 

      The bus has become a Dutch soccer symbol, the organizing point for the now routine marches at major international (men and women's) games.

       It is stored in Breda, a town in the southern part of the Netherlands. I am familiar with Breda; on a family vacation there in October 1953, it is where I saw a television for the first time. Dad and I went in a restaurant, and on the TV that day was a Holland vs. Belgium soccer match (our biggest rival then). Holland won the game 1-0; it was played in Rotterdam. 

     The ownership group has taken the Orange Bus to 10 major tournament in a couple of decades, including men's World Cups in Germany, South Africa, Qatar and Brazil, and the European Championships every four years.

        Some of that requires shipping the bus by boat, and the group more recently has received sponsorship for those costs. The boat this time was shipped from Holland to Galveston, and then driven to Houston last week. Many of the owners flew from Schiphol to Houston. 

      The journey to Dallas included a stop at Buc-ee's in Madisonville, where as always it had admirers from all over. 

Galina Visser

     Galina Visser, one of the owners with her husband, was a bit awed in her first American visit.

       "People are so friendly and so helpful," she said. "And it's all so huge -- huge cars, huge trucks, huge highways."

       We were allowed to step into the bus, which -- surprise -- has a bar on the lower level and we climbed the narrow stairs to the upper deck (to pose for photos, of course).

       Also met Ben Schalks, 67, a retired hotel

Ben Schalks knows voetbal

 worker who lives in Noordwijk, a scenic spot on the North Sea coast in the South Holland province. He's a talkative, friendly sort who is typically soccer-nuts and is taking in his fifth World Cup. He and I traded details of some of the Dutch team's historic World Cup games.

     He remembered that in Qatar, "the bus only was allowed to go around the stadium, either going left or right" (appropriate for the now Dutch dance craze).

      Observed Ben: "Dutch fans are better at celebrating than our team is at playing voetbal sometimes."

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      Then, onto the FanFest at the Fair Park area in Dallas (think Texas State Fair). A wide-spread setup, with three huge screens to view the games, an amphitheater setting and a huge berm, and people/fans representing and wearing the colors of so many of the countries.

     The prevalent color this day was Brazil's bright yellow and green. But when Morocco scored first, we realized it, too, had a good share of supporters. Still, it was much louder when Brazil -- always the one of the favorites -- hit the equalizing goal. Both teams' fans danced and chanted throughout the match.

      We met a young man, Joshua Voshurt, only 22, from Mijdrecht, an assistant manager in a restaurant making his first journey to the U.S. He flew from London to Dallas "all on my own" and his impression of this country was "an amazing place."

Daniel Oordt, the orange suit
man  (and march leader)

     Then there was the "orange suit man," Daniel Oordt, 31, an major airline pilot but now known as the leader of the Dutch Army parade at the front of the bus.

      Coming through the crowds, he was stopped repeatedly for handshakes and photos. Just last week he was featured in People magazine. Originally from Leiden, the neat university town near The Hague, he now lives in Tampa, Florida, but he hasn't missed a Dutch international soccer game in 11 years, and wearing his orange suit (orange everything), he's the unofficial head cheerleader.  

      But the day's last stop was the highlight -- the Dutch pep rally. Maybe 500-750 orange-clad fans -- waving orange flags -- dancing, jumping, singing (almost all of it in Dutch), led by two excitable deejays. 

      Almost of the people knew all of the songs, no matter what age, what shape. We'd seen this before; Bea and I were on vacation in Amsterdam (and Zaandam) when Willem-Alexander became the King on April 30, 2013. What a day of celebration that was. But this singing and dancing was much the same. 

     Of course, I was clueless about the songs. (Good chance my mother would have known some.)

     And what I learned quickly was that the "links, rechts" dance number was not for me (although I had practices). Too fast, too much movement for this old not-trim body. Had to be careful to keep from being trampled. Left, right; left, right .. forget it.

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      So many orange shirts, Dutch soccer teams shirts of all sorts (with the names of many of the great Dutch players), orange flags, the national flag (we brought one) ... all just a reminder that -- as we like to hear -- if you ain't Dutch, you ain't much.

      We met Americans -- with Dutch family backgrounds -- from all over. The young man sitting next to me during the game was from Los Angeles; his grandparents had been immigrants from Rotterdam. Met Dutch people from The Hague, Groningen and Den Bosch and, of course, Amsterdam (all of them are Ajax fans). 

       Met several Dutch natives now living in the Dallas area, and we saw a Facebook video featuring Henk's Deli -- off Northwest Highway in Dallas -- which we've visited often. It was the host for, surprise, a Dutch fans' party.

      Listening to conversations around The Bus and various places near the stadium, I tried to make out what the Dutch people were saying. I can pick up words here and there; sometimes if they speak slowly, I almost can understand what they're saying.

     But I forgot how to speak Dutch a long time ago. Know a lot of words, some small phrases. Putting together a sentence isn't happening. My sister, only 4 when we came to the U.S., knows more Dutch than me.

     Even my parents, still fluent in Dutch, after a few years in America spoke English at home and thought in English. But Dad still perused the Dutch newspapers online. 

       I did realize that at my age I have outlasted many Dutch fans. When I asked some if they knew these names -- Abe Lenstra, Kees Broekman and Wim Van Est (the country's superstar athletes of the early 1950s) -- there was very little recognition. Only Lenstra, our best striker in voetbal for more than a decade, but only because there is a stadium named for him.

     Also found supporters of each of the top three teams in Holland -- reigning PSV (Eindhoven), Feyenoord (Rotterdam) and Ajax (Amsterdam, my favorite team since about 1952). 

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     Sunday morning began with a nice hard rainfall. Still raining as we drove to the stadium area; we avoided the $60, $80 and $100 parking areas to find a spot on a street a good mile (maybe two) from Globe Life Field.

      So, a good walk past the new baseball stadium to the left-field side of the old baseball stadium (now Choctaw Stadium) where the Orange Bus was parked.

      The music, the dancing and the singing had started, and there were a few hundred people there. They kept coming ... and coming ... and coming.

       Doing the "links, rechts" dance was a bit tedious. Some of us avoided it. 

       By the time the bus began to roll toward "Dallas Stadium," it was estimated that at least 15,000 people were walking (marching). If you've seen the overhead photos or videos, it is an awesome sight.

      We stopped to enter Texas Live, where it was busy with TV screens (and food and drinks) available in multiple spots. Left the grandsons there, with a group that had come with us.     

     Onto the big stadium, not much trouble entering, then a four-escalator ride to the very top row. But still, a great view of the field from the right side beyond one of the goals. You can really see how the game develops from there, and I, for the most part, deliberately watched the field and not the giant TV screen above it.      Quite a thrill to watch the pregame ceremonies. Love Wilhelmus, the Dutch national anthem.

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     About the game: A slow-paced, deliberate first half. A game of chess on the pitch. Both teams played conservatively, rarely speeding up, few scoring chances. The second half was terrific; both teams attacking frequently, playing to open spaces, and the four goals were met with thunderous reactions.

      The attendance was listed at 69,285 -- short of the capacity (70,649) in the stadium readjusted for soccer. 

     There were large patches of orange-clad fans in the stadium. But there might have been even more blue-shirted Japanese fans. And they were just as enthusiastic as the Dutch, maybe more.

    Seemed to us that the response to the Japanese goals was much louder than when Holland scored.   

    The Japanese rhythmic clapping was impressive; their incessant drum banging and chanting -- they never stopped -- honestly, was annoying. 

     We thought they were chanting Let It Go. But my Dutch/Canadian cousin -- also named Van Thyn -- informed me today that the chant was Vamos Nippon ("Let's Go Japan").

      And the blue bags many Japanese fans were waving, they used at game's end -- a fine tradition -- to pick up stadium trash. They were happy to do it.

     They were happier than the Dutch fans with the game's final 2-2 tie. It was a letdown for us, with Japan scoring the tying goal with about eight minutes remaining. It wasn't a loss, but it didn't feel good.

     It was the first time in the Dutch's World Cup history (some glorious, far too much heartbreak) that we gave up the lead twice in a game. We have been a world power program since 1974 (so, 52 years).

     It makes this Saturday's game with Sweden -- in Houston -- an almost "must-win" outing if we hope to advance out of Group F to the final 32.

     So as the Japanese picked up trash, many Dutch fans were headed back to party some more.

---

     Personally, our weekend was a gift from our son. Yes, a birthday/Father's Day present, and maybe payback for the 11 years Beatrice and I followed him through his soccer-playing days.

    Thought of how much Bea would have supported us, and thought of my Dad, who took me to my first games in Amsterdam in the early 1950s.

     In 1994, Dad and I saw the Dutch play two World Cup games in Orlando (a loss and a victory); the first game his seat was right behind the Netherlands' bench. He loved it. He was 75 then, younger than I am now.

      So this was a family experience again. But in a greater sense, it was also my Dutch family. Proud to be an American, but love my Dutch heritage. 

     I always will be an Oranje fan, and winning the World Cup would be a dream come true. Short of that, where's the party? Links or rechts.  

Here we are on the bus:
 One old fat guy, with grandsons
 Jacob and Kaden, son
 Jason, and friend Drew Stewart.

  A video:

https://www.facebook.com/share/r/1MFuaegxUL/ 

   

      

The Netherlands vs. the U.S.A.: What in the World?

     So, who am I rooting for?
     This is not exactly how we intended it to be: The Netherlands as soccer World Cup champions, yes. But the intention was the Dutch men's team.
     Holland could rule the soccer world Sunday -- the Dutch women, that is. Who would have imagined that?
     One slight problem: The championship-game opponent -- in Lyon, France -- is the United States of America. Our women's team, the reigning World Cup champions going for two in a row.
     Dang it, what a dilemma in my mind.
     Love both countries, love both teams. 
     So, I am rooting for the winner and will feel for the loser. But both countries, both teams are winners for me. I will always root for both, never pull against either one.
     My No. 1 sports dream is for The Netherlands' men's team -- as I often have said and written -- to win the World Cup championship. That was my first sports love, starting in about 1952 when I was 5 years old ... in Amsterdam.
     Wrote about this in June 2014 as the men's World Cup was about to kick off (my history of Dutch sports fandom):http://nvanthyn.blogspot.com/2014/06/the-oranje-hup-holland-hup.html
         (Short version: The Netherlands men have come heartbreakingly close to winning the World Cup six times -- three championship-game losses (1974, 1978, 2010), twice in overtime, and three other outstanding teams that either made the semifinals or lost to the eventual champions. Painful losses, all.)
        Here it is five years later, and I am writing about women's soccer, and happy to do it.

The U.S. team has had fun celebrating
 its goals, and success.

      The American team has gotten lots of publicity, or notoriety, during this tournament as the prohibitive favorite. A fun team to watch, except for the players' over-the-top goal celebrations. 
     Those irritate many fans. I am among those who think they could have, should have, toned it down. But that's sports today -- the look-at-me, look-what-I-have done, showoff style. We can accept it, or we can let it irritate us and complain.
     Whatever ...
     (Not getting into controversy about the off-the-field back-and-forth with the Tweetmeister. That's showoff territory, too.)    

The Dutch women's team has been on quite a roll.

     Meanwhile, the Dutch women -- who are the reigning European champions -- have kind of sneaked through to the championship game. But that 12-game winning streak in major tournament play is impressive.
      Still, I expect the U.S. team fully expects to win Sunday's game and, to be honest, I expect that, too.
       But even before Holland had scored the winning goal (in extra time) Wednesday in the semifinal against Sweden, an old friend -- yes, Mike Richey, we're old -- asked who I would root for in the title game.
      I was/am Dutch, spent my first 8 1/2 years in Amsterdam, am reminded every day by pictures here in the apartment and any mention of Holland that Mom and Dad's families were Amsterdamers.
      Since 1956, we have lived in the United States; that's 63 years if you're counting. We have been U.S. citizens for 58 years. Proud of it. 
      But proud of Holland, too. It is a beautiful, very progressive country, innovative in so many ways. And one of the world's greatest soccer countries, despite its very small size.
      And I have said and written this often: The world's greatest fans. If it is speedskating -- Dutch skaters have dominated the world the past decade -- or cycling or, well, any sport -- the orange-clad fans are as over-the-top as the U.S. women's soccer team's celebrations.
      Yes, better than LSU fans or Yankees/Red Sox/Cubs fans; pick a team's fans, I'll take the Dutch fans.
      To answer Mike Richey's question of who I am rooting for, as I told him, I cannot choose. It is like choosing between rooting for LSU or Louisiana Tech. More personally, it is like choosing between my children or grandchildren. They are all No. 1.
        To be honest, I have watched little of this women's World Cup. I have monitored the scores on my phone or computer; recorded a few of the games and watched some afterward. Just have other things to do, to keep me busy. Less stress that way, too.
         But I am familiar with many of the U.S. team players and like watching them play. Cannot name one Dutch player right away, but our friend Kip Coons -- a co-worker in the Fort Worth Star-Telegram sports department a decade ago -- pointed out Wednesday that the Dutch head coach, Sarah Wiegman, spent a year playing as a midfielder with the North Carolina Tar Heels' dynasty program. Among her teammates on the 1989 NCAA championship team: superstar Mia Hamm, Kristine Lilly and Carla Overbeck -- all then or about to be Team USA stars.
     Looked up Wiegman's background: First Dutch woman to play 100 international games, extensive coaching career. Impressive. 
      Her team's efforts have been impressive, too. Proud, too, of how far women's athletics have come.
       Only wish Dad was still here to see this. He loved athletics -- as many of my readers know -- and he especially loved soccer, or voetbal as we knew it in The Netherlands. He introduced me to the game a darned long time ago.
       (And, just as an aside, Dad was born 100 years ago Saturday.)
       I will be thinking about him Sunday; Mom, too. They would have loved this.
       If you care, if you watch, enjoy the game. May the best team win. They are both winners to me. I will be alternating between Hup, Holland, Hup and U-S-A, U-S-A, U-S-A.