A World Cup Weekend

As Lionel Messi lined up for his free kick attempt in the waning seconds of Argentina's World Cup game against Iceland Saturday, TigerBlog was pretty sure he had only one thought going through his head:

"Ronaldo did it; I can do it too."

Cristiano Ronaldo tucked a free kick from pretty much the same distance as Messi was about to attempt as Portugal tied Spain 3-3 late in the best game of the tournament so far. And now Messi was trying to do the same, though the game was tied, so he was playing for the win.

TB knew Messi had no chance. You could tell by his body language. In fact, he ended up getting more on the the ball his rocketed away as the ref blew the final whistle than he had a second earlier, on the attempt for the win that hit the wall and came right back to him.

Final score: Iceland 1, Argentina 1. Iceland, which, according to Princeton men's basketball alum Sean Gregory's story in Time magazine, has the same population for its entire country as the city of Corpus Christi, Texas.

TigerBlog has watched more of the World Cup already than he did the entire recently completed NBA and NHL playoffs combined. You could throw the 2017 baseball playoffs in there as well and it would still be the case.

The fact that the U.S. team isn't it doesn't matter to him. Or, it seems, to many people.

Either you're into the World Cup or you're not. TigerBlog respects both sides.

He also thinks it was genius of the marketing people at Volkswagen to come up with the campaign to appeal to American soccer fans where fans of other countries ask for their support. That's great stuff.

The Portugal-Spain game, as TB said, has been the best one so far. Portugal led 1-0 and 2-1, both on Ronaldo goals, and then Spain tied it and went ahead 3-2, only to have the perfectly placed kick by Ronaldo tie it.

If there had ever been a game in which TigerBlog was rooting for a tie, it was that one. He's rooting for a Spain-Portugal rematch in the championship game.

If it comes to that, then TB would have to root for some sort of unbreakable tie between the two. Well, not really. He'd probably go with Portugal, but only barely.

Without the U.S. team, TigerBlog's fourth favorite in the field would be Iceland. It's hard to root against the smallest nation ever to qualify, and their fans make them even more appealing. Undoubtedly you saw them and their rather enthusiastic clap.

Up next would be Costa Rica. Why? Because TB was there with the Princeton men's lacrosse team in 2012, when he and most of the team went to a qualifier that year between Los Ticos and El Salvador.

TigerBlog has never been to another sporting even quite like it. The entire scene was just one big party, outside the stadium, on line for tickets, inside the stadium, everything. If you've never been to an international soccer game, you need to go.

Ever since, TB has rooted for Costa Rica. And every time Costa Rica has played, he thought about how fired up Princeton's guide Diego, and Diego's father, must be in the moment. 

Of course they couldn't be happy about the draw. Costa Rica, a quarterfinalist four years ago, is in a brutal group, which made a win in the opening game against Serbia a must. And the game was in Samara, which is 1) the name of one of the coastal towns Princeton went to in Costa Rica in 2012, 2) the name of Princeton's men's track and field coach and 3) the sixth-largest city in Russia, though TB had never heard of it before yesterday.

Unfortunately, Costa Rica lost 1-0 on a perfect free kick midway through the second half. With games ahead against Brazil and Switzerland, well, the math isn't good for advancing. 

Then there are Spain and Portugal. TB was in Spain in 2008 with the men's lacrosse team. And then, on the same trip, he went to Ireland, which is one letter removed from Iceland.

The 2008 European championships were held in Austria and Switzerland, and Spain would ultimately win the championship. The tournament began when the men's lacrosse team was in Spain and continued while they were in Ireland, who didn't even qualify. Even without its team in the event, the Dublin streets were flooded with fans for the games.

And then there's Portugal.

Princeton was there in the fall of 2016, shortly after Portugal had won that summer's European title. It appears that Princeton men's lacrosse is a good-luck charm for its hosts in that year's championship.

Why the joint allegiance to Portugal and Spain? TB thinks it stems from when he ziplined between the two countries, back when the Tigers were staying on the Portugal side.

Remember that? You can refresh if you like HERE.

If you didn't bother to read it, TB can sum it up quickly: It was between two countries, from one time zone to another, and was really, really cool.

Portugal took a quick lead over Spain Friday on Ronaldo's penalty kick in the first few minutes. As soon as it went in, TB texted Francisco, the men's lacrosse team's guide (and the men's soccer team's guide when it was there several months later).

Francisco got back to TB in 15 seconds. They texted back and forth a few times, and then TB told Francisco to go enjoy the game. TB had a sense he was watching it.

TigerBlog said he'd get back to him, hopefully after a Portuguese championship.