A soccer fan’s wildest dream
By Mike Ramczyk
Sports Editor
The world’s biggest sporting event ended Sunday in grand fashion.
With a few minutes remaining in extra time (113th minute), Germany finally found the back of the net and held on for a 1-0 victory over Argentina to win the 2014 World Cup.
Germany earned its fifth World Cup title, the most in the 84-year history of the event, which happens once every four years.
Soccer, or football as it’s called in just about every other country beside the U.S., is the world’s most popular sport, and this year’s Cup proved it.
Social-media records were shattered on Twitter and Facebook, as Sunday’s final between Germany and Argentina alone spurred 280 million Facebook interactions by 88 million people, according to a CNN report. That easily surpassed the former champ, last year’s Super Bowl, with its 245 million interactions.
Furthermore, Twitter blew up Sunday. The match inspired more than 618,000 tweets per minute, a new record for the site. There were a total of 32.1 million tweets about the match.
The World Cup featured a brilliant run from the U.S., a disappointing ending for host Brazil and a dominant performance from Germany that may not be duplicated for quite some time.
The live action and excitement was taken in by Burlington native Darrell Balzrina, who attended the first three U.S. games, a win against Ghana, draw against Portugal and loss against Germany.
A 2002 BHS grad, Balzrina, fellow Burlington grad Eric Eisenhardt and about 500 other American lovers headed down to South America for the festivities.
They call themselves the American Outlaws.
The Standard Press recently caught up with Balzrina to talk about the spectacle that is the World Cup.
SP: When did you leave for Brazil? Who did you travel with? How long did you guys stay down there?
DB: I left on June 13 and traveled with the American Outlaws. There were 500 of us traveling together. We took chartered flights and all met in Houston, and flew down to Natal, Brazil together. We ended up staying until June 28, so we were able to catch the first three U.S. matches.
SP: What are the American Outlaws? When did you join them?
DB: The American Outlaws are the largest support group that follows the U.S. Men’s National Team. It’s been growing larger and larger every day. I joined in 2010, when I went to South Africa for the last World Cup. At that time, I traveled with the Outlaws again, and there were only 50 of us that traveled together. I believe the American Outlaws started in 2007.
SP: How rowdy was the crowd? How would you compare it to American sporting events? Did fans heckle each other?
DB: Eric and I took our own side trips down to Rio de Janeiro and we caught other matches as well as the first three U.S. matches. We saw Spain and Chile down in Rio. Our package had our hotel based in Natal for the two weeks while we were there, so we also caught Italy vs. Uruguay in Natal. The crowd was intense at every match. The U.S. matches were the most intense, as I was full of nervousness and excitement at every moment. The crowds are crazy, with constant cheers, chants, and songs all the way through the match. Watching on TV as opposed to being there live is completely different. It’s hard to compare it to an American sporting event (besides a Major League Soccer match), but I would say it’s similar to a college basketball atmosphere with the chants, but the intensity is way higher.
You have to think, the Cup only happens every four years, so everything is on the line. Any mistake in the match could burn your team for years to come. Also, we stood the whole time for every U.S. match, which is something not adapted here. Sitting while watching sports is for the weak.
SP: What was the atmosphere like down there? I’ve heard about riots and other dangers. Did you ever feel like you were in danger?
DB: In general, the atmosphere was nonstop excitement, mixed in with music, dancing, and lots of football (soccer). Never once did I feel like I was in danger, but we did hear a few stories of one or two people getting robbed. However, that’s a small percentage considering the thousands of Americans that were down there.
We saw some protest signs but nothing to affect our visit. When Eric and I were in Rio, we were expecting to see some protest, being in such a large city, but nothing happened. Our base city in Natal was pretty much a vacation/resort city, so there weren’t any worries at all.
SP: Describe how popular soccer is down there? Is it bigger than football up here? How far do people take it?
DB: It’s their football (properly called that) and it’s completely bigger. In the U.S., we have the luxury of many sports to watch during different seasons and yes, every Sunday most Americans who do care about sports are watching the NFL during the fall time. But in Brazil, and for the rest of the world realistically, every single person has a clue and knows so much about the sport. Flags, jerseys and posters were hanging on every building and billboard throughout the entire country. You would drive by every diner, pharmacy, restaurant, bar, and even in cabs and you would see a match on. You would never see that during the NFL season.
SP: When you weren’t at games, what did you guys do? Take me through a typical day.
DB: When we weren’t at the games, we toured cities, sat in the pool, watched other matches, etc. Touring the country was big for Eric and I. We went down to Rio for three days. We also traveled to the Amazon jungle for two days prior to the U.S.-Portugal match and took a jungle/river tour. And back in Natal at our home base, we swam in the ocean and went on an amazing dune buggy ride. Natal has sand dunes that dump right into the ocean.
The culture was great. Everyone loved Americans. It was a little difficult trying to communicate to the locals as some points, as they all spoke Portuguese. You could get by with some broken Spanish, but I was using my phone to translate for us to get us to correct locations in the cabs and order the food we wanted.
Most days were different, but our first beer would probably crack around noon and the rest of the day consisted of doing activities, hanging out at the swim-up bar, finding a cool location to watch the matches and then finding a spot for dinner. It was their winter, so it was getting dark around 5 p.m. daily.
SP: How well-received were Americans for the World Cup? Were most locals nice to you?
DB: Very well-received. They loved us down there and were extremely hospitable. As long as you weren’t that annoying ignorant American who expects every country to have everything we take for granted, then you would be good with any local. It’s always nice to start out with the little Portuguese you may know to show them at least you are putting the effort in to embrace their language and culture.
SP: What was the nightlife like down there? How is it different from Wisconsin?
DB: Crazy. They stay out very late at night. One big difference is the music. Normally, if you would go out in Wisconsin you get your typical jukebox music or top 40 DJ (unless you catch some live music). Down in Brazil, it’s Samba music everywhere. When Eric and I were in Rio, we went to a small deli where this small group of guys was singing/playing Samba music all night long and they knew every word. Then you go to bars, and it’s band after band playing Samba music, which I figured to be considered their “top 40.” I thoroughly enjoyed that different aspect of their nightlife, however many locals tried to teach me how to dance to Samba and I failed miserably.
SP: What is your best memory of your World Cup experience?
DB: It’s difficult to describe one “best” memory really. It was all so much fun. However, when we beat Ghana, the team that took us out the last two World Cups, I knew we had a damn good chance to get out of our group of death. After that match, we partied by the ocean in celebration, and it was a grand night.
SP: What do the American Outlaws do now that the Cup is over?
DB: We support the soccer here in the U.S. Lots of us are MLS fans, and it’s right in the middle of the season. It’s always great to see players who play on the national team play for their clubs. The Outlaws will now plan for the next big match in September vs. Czech Republic in Prague.
SP: What is your soccer background?
DB: My soccer roots go back to first grad in Burlington. I played during the weekends on rec leagues at Bushnell Park. Then, I eventually played on several clubs through middle school and eventually played on the Demons for high school.
I loved playing it while I was young, as I’ve had some of my best experiences playing on a team during my high school years. Having wonderful teammates always helped, but our core group of guys made it enjoyable for those who played and watched us.
I have only started to watch soccer on TV in the early 2000s, but I’ve been into it overseas since 2005. Eric has been into “footy” for a long time now and has helped me tremendously in getting into all of the action in Europe. I watch a large amount of English Premiere League during its season every year now.
SP: Everyone is saying soccer is becoming more popular in the U.S. thanks to this World Cup. Do you think this is true? What do you think is the future of soccer in the U.S.? Will it ever get bigger than football or baseball?
DB: I believe it is growing larger and larger every year. The World Cup always helps since Americans can show our patriotism and root for the U.S. every four years. Since we usually do pretty well in the Olympics and other sports worldwide, soccer is the one where we are always coming in as underdogs.
Media and technology have helped grow the sport domestically and internationally since more and more Americans can hear about soccer. You wouldn’t have this availability for media hype during the 2002 WC and prior. Seeing what MLS is doing right now, getting more and more people in the stadiums and getting more TV coverage, I believe it will get more popular as the years pass.
Since NFL is pretty much a staple in our culture right now, I doubt soccer will ever surpass it but one day might get to its level of popularity. If you take a step back and look at the early 2000s compared to where we are now with the sport, most can agree that it has grown tremendously.
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