I'm traveling with a group of 11 people, and we're in Salvador. One of our members broke his leg and can't make it because he had to have emergency surgery. We're staying with him in Salvador, so we'll miss the game in Manaus. Is there any gathering of USMNT / America fans in Salvador? We'll all be in Recife if all goes well, but we'd love to watch the game with some of our own.
Stuck in London for work. Does anybody know of a good bar or two where there will be a big USA crowd?
Go stand in your shower but then start running your own sweat through the pipes. Once your skin is all shriveled up and you have soaked through your shorts... You'll have the experience.
So. Ok....i think i am ready to discuss this. This is the opposite of feeling of being at Algeria game. Holy roller coaster ride this. Disregard, getting picked up in hotel monaco lobby now for jungle tour. Sorry, will send in 2 days. Great game, incredible crowd, sucky result. Oh, and it is humid.
Haha, fair enough! For me at least, ESPN's coverage of the games has been excellent, but they haven't really attempted to impart the Brazilian flavor of this WC upon us. The games could be in Houston or Miami and you really couldn't tell the difference.
Someone woke me up around 3am trying to get me on the charter. I guess they thought they were the only ones sleeping that night there.
From tweets, it sounds like they are still at the airport so maybe you are talking about a different one? Either way it's pretty crazy.
That was us fans taking over the stadium. The Brazilians are mostly quiet until Ghana or Portugal scored and then they went wild.
Perhaps it was a different plane but the one I was sleeping next to was one of the AO group's. I'm just glad to be out of Manaus. My hotel looked like a scene for a movie where you wake up in the bath tub without a kidney b
The one good thing about the AO package seemed to be he charter flights. So far that seems completely off.
The Brazilians say they are impressed with how many us folk have shown up. And everyone's been super nice outside the stadium. But at the ghana match the Brazilian crowd seemed very much to be on ghana's side. I wasn't in manaus. But I expect it was similar. And will be more of the same in recife.
Agree with RealCorona. Everybody was extremely hospitable, but the neutrals were always against the US in the game. Portugal is obvious, especially with CR7 and all of the women in the crowd. My wife tells me that Brazil neutrals always pull for African teams as a rule. Anyway - nobody from a soccer power wants to see the US do well. Its the one thing they have on us. Yanqui go home!
Heres my review on the portugal experience: Manaus: Surprisingly interesting town. Wild west vibe to it, didnt know what expect. The city did a good job of setting up the Theater square area with huge screen, bars, music, etc. well done. @Riker , had a fantastic experience at Bar Armando on the square, setup impromptu (and awesome) guitar and drummer, turned into great street party. Super good time. Pregame: biggest disappointed here to be honest. AO didnt organize anything instead they chose to tag onto USSoccer's organized event 10km away from stadium. I didnt attend it so cant speak to it. But this was a major missed oppty by AO. As if they didnt do any prep work on this, lazy. We went to plaza el dorado near the stadium and it was a PERFECT spot for an AO event. Thx @Riker for the rec. The crowd of about 100 was awesome, some dude had US inspired playlist jamming on the big speakers, and yes i danced to miley cyrus and sang my heart out. Good, albeit small, march to stadium. Sorry but shame on AO for doing nothing in Manaus. Stadium: Nice new stadium, lines not too bad. Good seats. The US fans were loud and organized, and the boys played as good as i have ever seen. Too bad the final minute.. Complete gut punched. Made the post game a real downer. Thats all.
I am guessing that we partied together on a multiple occasions, as I was at that impromptu party at Bar Armando on Friday night, as well as the pregame at El Dorado on Sunday, specifically at the one with the guy rocking the US-inspired playlist. El Dorado was basically a perfect pregame spot. It's too bad that AO/US Soccer didn't set up something there, but we still had a few hundred Americans joining in on the fun. I checked out the official Fan HQ party from about 12-1, and it was a bit awkward because the players families were eating a fancy meal (at wedding-style tables) within feet of the main bar areas.