Hooligans Rejoice

Yesterday was my first full day at work here in Brussels. Sooner or later I'll take some pictures of the massive office complex that is the WSJ presence in Brussels, as well as the hive of activity within.

But aside from some pretty standard journalistic fare (editing, messing with html code, etc.) my work here isn't a lot different than it is in New York. So I'm not going to bore you with the details.

After work yesterday I went to an Irish pub with my colleague Tina, her husband Thorsten, and Robin Moroney, an editor at the Wall Street Journal Europe, to watch England play Croatia in a key Euro Cup 2004 matchup. It was the last game of the first round for their group, and England needed a draw to advance. Croatia had to win to advance, and if it had won, England would have been eliminated.


The bar was, unsurprisingly, packed. The crowd looked more or less like this, at least in scope. They were more excited last night. It was a two-level bar, and everyone on the ground level was watching the England-Croatia game. The upper level, which was more a balcony than a separate floor, however, was entirely focused on the France-Switzerland game, which made it pretty interesting, because as dull play would dominate the game we were watching, you would suddenly be overwhelmed by raucous cheering as play in the other game got exciting. France won its game, and placed first in the group, earning it a quarterfinal match with Greece.

England fell behind 1-0 very early on, and played very tentatively for most of the first half, until scoring a goal with about five minutes remaining to even the score. Then, as the teams played in injury time in the first half, England scored again, sending the crowd into a frenzy. 2-1 at the half. England came out in the second half, and when the announcer opined it would take a "massive turnaround" for Croatia to tie it up, I shared a knowing look with my German friends (Tina & Thorsten) about how silly a statement this was, and how it might well jinx England.

But England was having none of it, taking a 3-1 lead, until Croatia began to press and quickly pulled back within one. Croatia continued its aggressive play, and generated some nice scoring chances, but also gave up a lot with so many players attacking. Eventually, England capitalized, and went on to a 4-2 win, setting up its own quarterfinal match with the host country, Portugal. Apparently I will be watching footie again come Thursday. (Actually, I may well watch tonight at home, though I think doing two nights in a row in Euro soccer bars is more than I can take.) Tonight's games feature the Netherlands taking on Latvia and Germany facing the Czech Republic. The German side is facing elimination, so that should be a good game, I think. If they win they advance, but if they lose, the Netherlands can advance with a win over Latvia.

On another note, the French is gradually starting to click. I'm still somewhat reluctant to get too involved in conversations because my vocabulary recall is very slow, but I'm understanding more and more of what I hear no the streets, and adjusting to the differences between the Quebecois accent and the (much nicer) one in use in Belgium.