Great shots, David! I’ve always been a soccer fan, but I have become obsessed with the World Cup and futbol in general after traveling and living in Latin America for so long. On Friday, when Mexico played South Africa in the opening match, Oaxaca virtually shut down. We swung by the market to pick up some juices to take to a friend’s breakfast futbol party and everyone working at the juice stand had on jerseys, as well as all the customers (including myself). The game was on and the frenzy was in the air already. Our taxista said the protesters were holding off on putting up the barricades (it’s a long story) until 11, when the game was over. No one was on the usually packed streets, and there was very little traffic. We watched the game with a group of friends and there was tense hand-wringing and shouting throughout. We tied – 1-1. Throughout the whole rest of the day I spotted people in their Mexico jerseys and everyone I talked to had some thought or another about the game -most people were satisfied. I also watched the Argentina-Nigeria game and thought Argentina did fairly well, although definitely not as well as it could have.

As far as the U.S. goes, I’m of the firm belief that it shouldn’t be involved in soccer. This is a quirky opinion of mine. The U.S dominates so much of the world – leave soccer alone. Americans don’t even appreciate it; it’s one thing the U.S shouldn’t control. Baseball, Hollywood, fine, whatever, but futbol – no.

Thanks for the World Cup spirit.

Great post, David. Enjoyed the shots and insights…

Sweet shots David! I remember being in Morocco during the Africa cup and it was a lot like this. All the stores shut. Taxi drivers disappeared. People just crowded into cafes and homes to watch the games. Here in the US it’s easy to forget the World Cup is on (aside from my husband having written the ‘important’ games into his schedule) as there is no such community involvement.

thanks p.

thanks sarah.

this: ‘Our taxista said the protesters were holding off on putting up the barricades (it’s a long story) until 11, when the game was over,’ seems universal, irreducible, a kind of redemption for something.

not sure about the anti-U.S. on the futbol scene stance. i just get stoked watching ppl play (and myself playing) soccer.

and then there’s this: theoretically if ppl just kept playing then violence / protests would be paused forever.

thanks heather. you can count on total shutdown here in argentina when the selecion [national team] is playing in the world cup. it’s sweet. only other thing that shuts everything down like that are natural disasters.

Beautiful photo spread. The fever is certainly contagious.

was a mad woman when we played Argentina. Both are very strong offensive teams but Nigeria just doesn’t like to run.

We never mark our men and just let them come up to us.

Oh well.