BTW, I'm a little nervous about Ghana. Not that we shouldn't win, but I still have bad memories of last time, while in Croatia, actually... being the lone American in a crowded cafe in Zagreb--wearing the 2002 US shirt, so they all knew I was American-- watching and getting pissed off in public was highly amusing to them.... This time around I'll be watching in a bar in Manhattan with a bunch of like-minded Americans, so win, lose, or shootout it will be a little more comforting. What a difference a few years makes with the support over here. :)
Naw. When it comes to Croatian nogomet I'm definitely country before club, because I didn't grow up there. My family is actually from the Split area, Torcida country, not Zagreb. But when I lived there I lived in Zagreb, I went to Maksimir a lot and you can't help but get a little emotionally invested. (Luka Modric and Niko Kranjcar were Dinamo players during that period, and Kranjcar divided the locker room and was sold on to Hajduk after a feud with the coach, before heading to London. Dario Srna was with Hajduk about the same time, and man was he ever a diver before heading to Shaktar.... Became a very good international for us later, though.) I did NOT sit with the Bad Blue Boys, though. Hard-core hoodlums, that lot, and ditto the Torcida. I sat with the fair weather fans and enjoyed the matches. Good times. :) Thanks for the interest.
