steve’s posterous

The final saw an even bigger crowd fill the room, basically a couch-stuffed foyer.

The American uniforms that had been missing against Spain finally showed up, and as the match kicked off the nameless sergeant was back on my right side, this time with three of his troops seated around him on the floor. When Dempsey’s volley found the corner, the room erupted like any good Irish-themed soccer pub back home. A chest bump with the sergeant was interrupted by a kind-of-conga-line by the Ugandans, who were now actually rooting for the Americans, and in the back of the room filled with a high-fiving group of soldiers who had rushed in from the computer room after the noise.

All of Tim Howard’s big saves were met with big applause and a few more shouts of “defense!” And at the high point of the match, when Landon Donovan sharply finished the U.S. counter in the 27th minute, the base was treated to its first and only soccer chant when “U.S.A.! U.S.A.! U.S.A.!” emerged from the even larger goal celebrations.

From there, of course, the atmosphere dwindled into tense silence as the game caught up with and then blew by the Americans after the half. Only applause from the handful of Brazil fans cut the mood with each goal. With the final whistle, the crowd broke up quickly and silently, leaving soccer to retreat back to the computers.

great story of a soldier watching the Confed Cup Final from Iraq.