12-25-2011

I arrived this morning in Brazil.  The flight was loooooong but ok.  Checked into the hotel which is very nice.  Had our first practice today and it was good to run around.  Our first game is tomorrow at 1030 local time which is 730am in grand rapids.  We play Argentina.   The athletic village is very cool and it is HOT here.  Im haveing trouble uploading pics because the internet connection at the hotel is very bad but I will try and get some up.  And now im going to sleep!

12-26-2011

so they told us in our security briefing that security would very tight in general but especially for the US delegation.  As they described everyone here represents the "little satan" (Israel) and we also represent the "big satan" the USA.  Apparently there is a very large population of extremist muslims that live in sau paulo.  And they were right, security is VERY tight.  We cannot go anywhere even onto our team bus or into the venue without our issued credentials.  Even tho they checked them before we got on the bus they check again when we get off before entering any building or field.  Our delegation gets police escorts everywhere as well.  Apparently they have plain clothes brazilian fbi agents that follow us everywhere as well.  Having said all that it really does not seem scary, just dont do stupid things and we sould be alright. 
As for todays game, we lost to Argentina 4-0.  The score does not reflect the game as we gave up fluke goal and a pk.  However we did not play well at all.  I am hoping the jetlag has now been worn off and tomorrow we will play better.  We play Brasil at 11am local time which is 8am in GR.  As they are the host contry I will expect that they have put a good team together.
I must say that this is by far the highest level of competition I have ever played in.  There are ex-profesionals on every team.
I took a knee to my left thigh (i couldnt show it at the time) but it hurt alot.  They guy was about 6'3 and 240 lbs.  I know that sounds big but he was supprisingly fast and agile for a man that size.  Also, as I found out, he has very large knees!
 
The video below is at the dinning hall in the athletes village.  This is a group of Argentine athletes who randomly broke out into singing and dancing.  I found out this is very common for them to do.  Its usually fun to watch except when they do it after they just beat you it is very annoying!!

Opening ceremonies were tonight. This is a picture of the USA delegation going through.  I have lots of video but cant upload it.  It was a very cool expierence to hear the USA announced over the loud speaker and to walk in wearing your countries colors. FYI...We did not have a choice on the cowboy hats, it was part of the USA unifrom. 

Here are a few more pics of me and team USA either at the ceremonies or in our hotel before hand.

12-27-2011

So today we played Brasil.  We dominated the game, out shot them 20-5 and lost 2-1.  Obviously we played much better today which is good .  However if you know me then you know moral victories dont mean much to me.  You play the game to win, that is it.  

An interesting note, during the game a foul was called on a Brasil player, and he disagreed with the call. (shocking i know)  He must have said something to the ref and he got a yellow card.  Then he yelled something at the ref and he got a red card.  At this point he took off running after the ref, who tried to run away, whit his whole team chasing him.  He took several swings at the ref and did hit him 1 time in the chest.  He literally had to be dragged off the field by his team.  One of the craziest things I have seen.

Another interesting note in the matter of security.  We have a player on our team who was on the US National team and played in the Atlanta Olympic games.  I have become pretty good friends with him.  I asked him about the difference in security here as compaired to the olympics.  His response supprised me.  He said that the security presence here is 10 times more than he felt in atlanta.  He said he really didnt notice the seciruty there at all.  

After our game today I went back to the main village and watched Brazil play Argentina in futsal.  It was a fantastic atmosphere! I then saw the US mens basketball team play Israel.  Needless to say it was a mismatch bigtime.  But still fun to watch.

Heading out into Sau Paulo for dinner tonight, looking forward to that.  Hope everything goes well for us! :-)   I dont feel like listening to Pat Merrill (my boss) talk trash if i get kidnapped!! 

 

12-29-2011

Ok sorry i missed yesterday, was very busy and didnt get in untill very late.

We had both yesterday and today off as far as games go, we did have training this morning, early i might add, which made me none to happy.  My roommate is a morning person and was very chipper this am.  I advised him i was likely to punch him in the face bc now is not the time to be happy it is the time to be grumpy and angry!! :-)  

Yesterday we went to the worl futball museum, which is in a very old soccer stadium here. It was very cool!!  We walked around that part of the town which is very old for a while as well. it was interesting.  I will post some of the pics below.  We were not allowed to take any pics inside the museum however. 

There is a level of competion here called "grand masters" that is for over 45 yr olds.  I went and watched a grand master futsal game between brasil and argentina.  It was held in a very small gym.  However there were about 34/40 fans from each side sitting on opposite parts of the gym.  They were singing and chanting and yelling and swearing at eachother the whole game.  The passion for thier countrys is inspiring.  It didnt matter that the game was slow and the final score was 2-1 and being played by old men.  They were just as crazy as when watching the open (pros) play in the big arena. 

Last night we went to a all star charity soccer game where many of the past and present brasil soccer stars played.  It was very fun to watch.  

Today after training I met up with a friend of my father who lives down here and he took me and three of my teammates around the city.  That was cool, this city is huge! It is twice the size of new york! 

I spent all the afternoon doing that and then the team went to a brasil steak house.  needless to say im stuffed!!

We have a game tomorrow at 10am here so 7am in michigan.  We play israel.  Should be a good game and we need to win it! 

I have been informed that many of you are sending me messages through this site. I have not received any of them.  So if you want to send me one please send it straight to my email. I check it every day. my address is DGILLEM@GRCITY.US  

12-30-2011

We won 2-0!  Good game! ill write more later...

12-31-2011

After the game yesterday we had the rest of the day to do what we wanted.  went to the main village and watched some basketball.  The USA masters (over 35) mens team won gold.  Also our mens open team made espn top 10 two days ago when they beat brazil on a last second three point shot. 

After lunch I decided to come back to the hotel and get some sleep. I was very tired, and not feeling well, as I had been up most of the night sick with stomach issues. 

Then dinner later, we generally dont go to dinner until around 930 or 1000.  It seems that is the norm around here.  I ended up at a bar called sky.  It is on the rooftop, aprox 35 stories, of a hotel in down town.  The view is unbelievable.  I will post a pic below but it does not do it justice.  There will be another pic that looks like a water fountain.  But you can look down through it and you can see all the way to the lobby, the view is a little distorted by the water which makes it look very cool!

Today is a day off for the athletes. Tomorrow we start playing again.  With our win yesterday and some other things we have made it to the semi- finals where we will play brazil again for a chance to play in the final.  Our game is at 1pm local time. 

Not sure what our plans are for tonight but im sure we will have fun brining in the new year!  Since we are three hours ahead of you people in michigan i will be able to warn you if the world ends.  :-)

Below I am going to try and post some random videos.. some will be of the village others of the staging area for the openeing ceremonies etc.

1-1-2012
We played Brasil today and lost 3-2 in double overtime.  it was a very physical game and got very dirty by brasil.  It was a very frustrating loss and im still pretty upset.  We told some of them that they embarrassed their country with the way they played today.  They did not like that.  It shard to say to much because we lost so it all sounds like sour grapes, but i would have said it to them if we had won as well.  It was very ugly.  

We had some major injuries in this game as well and it looks like we will be playing tomorrow with just 12 players.

Israel then beat argentina 4-2 in the other semi so we play argentina tomorrow at 9am local for the bronze medal.  Israel scored two goals in the final 5 min to win the game.

Our USA u16 boys team was the 4 seed in their medal round playing against an undefeated and top ranked Argentina team.  We beat them in a shoot out after 10 pk's.  It was very fun!

  On a personal note, i have been hit hard with stomach issues and cant keep anything in that i eat.  Im not throwing up, so i will let you all figure out what that means.  Needless to say having that issue saps your energy. On top of playing 5 games in 8 days at this level, my body is sore and exhausted! 

   1-3-2012

So yesterday we played Argentina in the bronze medal game.  We lost again in double overtime.  We played with only 12 players and it was a very physical and brutal game. 
Needless to say I am very disappointed and frustrated with the results.  Playing (and loosing) two double overtime games in less than 24 hours, especially at this level, is unbelievably hard! I hate loosing!! And of course they had to do their damn singing and dancing again!
Most of them were actually good guys and we became friends with some of them.  The huge guy of course played again. He was the top scorer in the tournament. After the game, while we were talking with them and trading gear,  I had a friend on my team tell him in Spanish that i wanted to punch him in the face.  We both laughed and he gave me a hug and kissed me on the cheek.  Not only is very big he is very sweaty so that was not fun. 

I leave to fly home at 1100pm local time today, so that is 8pm in GR.  I am not due to get into GR until 730pm tomorrow.  We leave the hotel here to go to the airport at 530 local time.  26 hours of traveling is not going to fun, but i am looking forward to being home.

Despite the frustration of our game results this was an amazing experience, something I will remember for the rest of my life.