The weather in Melbourne has been absolutely terrific these first five days, and only even resembled "winter" for the first time yesterday evening. After having no precipitation whatsoever, it sprinkled a bit in the morning but was gorgeous all day until a huge black cloud dropped all of 10 minutes of rain right at the end of the US match. It stayed nice for a little while and then poured the rest of the night. It is still raining this morning as the day gets under way and rains until midday.

Team meeting and brekky at 8 starts the day. The squad reviews some tape from the South Africa match. Game tape is something that is quite rare in the US and was not available in the 2002 Cup. It should be helpful for emphasizing the good things players did as well as for players to make adjustments in positioning and other finer points. Today, we head to Essendon, home of the Bombers, and the host club for the US, same as in 2002. We get a tour of their hall of fame, and their assistant coach spends a good hour or so talking about the history and culture of footy at Essendon and footy in general, plus a good 30 minutes of Q&A. Afterwards, they allow the team to practice indoors. We had hoped to get a run on their ground, Windy Hill, but with the rain, it is too slick and there is no reason to risk an injury. Windy Hill was the site of the US-Denmark "friendly" warm up for the 2002 International Cup, umpired by yours truly.

Afterwards, we take the train back to town and the boys disperse to relax, and individually prepare for what is arguably the biggest match in USFooty history. I stop downtown to try and get the my shopping completed because the rest of the schedule is fairly well packed with activities, so it is better to get this done now and not have to worry about it later.

This evening I head to the Melbourne Art Theatre to catch Tales of the Silk Road. Set in China, it is a tale of love and misery, told via dance and music, with a little bit of narration. It is also the first show of its kind to originate from China and is more evidence of China's transformation into a capitalist country. It is a bit of a cross between the ballet and opera. If you have seen AIDA, it has even more pageantry, and the most fantastic costumes and sets I have ever seen, made all the more incredible in that there are nearly 100 dancers on stage! The theatre is packed, which is nice to see as I thought THE LION KING having opened last week (and is sold our several weeks in advance) might have a bigger draw. While it is not my favorite of all time (RENT, FIDDLER ON THE ROOF, and EVITA still hold the top 3), if you are a fan of the theatre, this show is not to be missed. Hard to believe: a footballer heads to Australia and hits the theatre district. It takes all types.

Thursday August 4^th, 2005 Melbourne, Australia

Today is the day. US vs. Ireland. In pool play, this could be the game that decides who plays in the Grand Final. However, with Denmark and Nauru being late drop outs, the AFL has restructured the tourney into a 10-team single pool with four rounds. The top four teams will play semis in round five and the winners of that will meet at the MCG in the Grand Final. This means that the US could lose today or win today, and still have probably a greater than 50% chance of having to play Ireland again in the finals. But that is all speculation and really means nothing for the goal for today: Beat Ireland.

The team heads to the ground for the 11:45 am match, with the weather being rather chilly and the ground still quite soggy from all of the rain from yesterday. Boyley and I are the film crew with him on the umpire shed and the camera, and me with my new digital camera getting some action photos. In the opening half Ireland looks to be the better club, taking a few more marks and making better disposals. The US side seems to be tentative, not charging in to get the footy and slipping and sliding all over the field. When the siren for the half sounds, Ireland leads the US 1.5.11 to 0.2.2.

When the US comes out for the third quarter, a few line up changes have been made in the forward line and midfielders, trying to generate more scoring chances. The big difference this quarter is the US is now charging in to get the footy and is tackling very hard. Dave "Uma" Thurman kicks the first goal for the Revolution and they should have had a lot more. Poor kicking in the attack zone keeps Ireland in front at the three quarter break 1.6.12 to 1.3.9. The talk Coach Nugent provided at that break provided the impetus for the US to push for 15 more minutes: the fourth quarter is more of the same. The hitting and pressure on the ball for the US continues and the play is in the forward half of the field most of the quarter. When the US finally kicks another goal (after what seems like a dozen opportunities) and goes in front for the first time, the smell of blood is in the air. A late free kick to Ireland in their attack zone, trailing by four points, causes the heavily partisan crowd to hold its collective breath. When the kick sails wide of the goals, the sigh of relief is audible. After several more agonizing minutes, the final siren sounds and history has been made: Ireland has lost its first international match ever: US over Ireland 2.5.17 to 1.7.13. The US is not 2-0 and while not guaranteed a spot in the top four, is well on its way to secure as spot in the semi-finals. For now, the boys have a well deserved afternoon of recovery.

Tommy Ellis, his son Nolan, and Brad Rinklin, join me in heading to Port Melbourne Primary School. Peter Martin (who umpired with me in Round 1) is the school principal who asked us to come by and talk with the kids, and so we were happy to oblige. We spend about 20 minutes with the nine- and ten-year-olds because that is Nolan's age. After answering lots of questions about the US geography and footy history in the US, the kids all suddenly want autographs: I hope neither of the newest international celebrities gets writer's cramp! We take a couple of photos for the record and make our way to the Bay for the post game recovery: stand in freezing water for 15 minutes. We blame team trainer Steve Budrick for this torture. If he were not such a good guy taking care of all of us, we might think about ignoring him.

After an early dinner, the team heads to the Telstra Dome for the Parade of Nations and the St. Kilda vs. Geelong match. The Parade is quite fun, with the gathering 50,000 plus fans cheering for all ten international teams. The match itself is not that thrilling as St. Kilda wins 96-55, but Dee "Weeman" Vsetecka and I catch up with some former Kangaroos who have returned to Australia: Marcus "Chairman of Defense" Dripps and his wife Lucy, John "Muffin" Brinker, and the ever lovely Stella Phelps, all of whom are here to see the third round of the Cup on Sunday. We will catch up with them more this weekend. For now, time for sleep.