World Cup Soccer and Barbecue

The World Cup Soccer Match takes place just once every four years, enjoys worldwide attention and for the most part is ignored by the expatriate community despite being popular with Costa Ricans. At least the event was not well promoted in any local English language advertising, which is usually a good indicator of what business owners think will sell.

The 2010 FIFA World Cup was the 19th FIFA World Cup, the world championship for international association football teams. A total of 32 national teams competed in the finals, which started a month ago in South Africa.

The final game pitted Holland against Spain, and for many the competition was a disappointment with no goals scored during the regular ninety minutes of play. Spain won only after scoring a goal in second overtime shortly after one of the Dutch players was eliminated due to a penalty or “red card”. Those in the stadium in Johansburg appeared tired late into the match, and erupted in emotion only when it became clear that Spain had won.

Of course the Spanish win was predicated by Oracle Paul the Octopus, who enjoyed an 85% success rate through the finals.

Another notable phenomenon was the worldwide re-Tweeting of a joke,

Howard Webb’s hotel just rang. Wanted to know whether this red card they found in his room is important.

This is a reference to the British referee Howard Webb who had issued a dozen “yellow cards”, but was seemingly reluctant to issue “red cards” for many high profile fouls that took place during the match.

Those in attendance at the Las Palamas restaurant mostly came for the Sunday barbeque, and no one except one Italian and this expat seemed to know that the restaurant’s big screen television would be a great place to watch the soccer match.

Had the game been played mid week the mostly Costa Rican lunch crowd would have certainly filled the restaurant to capacity.

Filed Under: Expat Living • Featured