Viene Goal...

23 July 2009

If you’ve been watching the Gold Cup soccer matches in the United States (or elsewhere), then you might have known that Mexico, Costa Rica, the US, and Honduras played semifinal matches tonight. After dinner with friends, I opened the door to my house to find Christian, Adriana, Jimena, and Fabian (and a neighbor kid, Samuel) watching the Mexico-Costa Rica semifinal game. I couldn’t have asked for a more memorable experience. Each time a Costa Rican jugador neared an opportunity to score, we all sang, “Viene goal, viene goal…a Costa Rica viene goal!”

After Costa Rica tied the game 1-1 at the close of the second half, my entire family (and I) went outside to celebrate with the neighbors, banging on the gates, shouting “Ticos, Ticos, Ticos, Ticos!” and, of course, “Ole…”

Even Adriana crossed herself and prayed a little prayer as Costa Rica and Mexico rounded out the end of overtime, still tied, and went into penalty kicks. Each team matched the other until the third kick in the series, at which point Costa Rica missed, and unfortunately, the song we had to sing was, “No fue goal...” (It was no goal...)

Que triste.