NYC 12/10/22: Pobre Portugal 🇵🇹

I took a break from writing to watch the halftime show and concentrate on second half for a while. It is still 2-1 at 75 minutes. Croatia dominated second half mostly but Morocco just had an almost goal and then Croatia made a blatant foul in the penalty box and yet the Referee and the VAR review did NOTHING!!!! The FOX rules expert agreed clear foul :(((

Saturday morning I had planned for a long run and knowing it would only be 30 I had packed cold weather gear. I had to run early since wanted to get to conference for the 8am lecture before meeting Alex at 9:30 for Portugal vs Morroco.

I headed North towards Columbus Circle and then did rectangle loop around Central Park. As it was cold and I had no extra time I planned to take no photos (as hard as that is for me on vacation runs). But as I ran north on 5th Avenue the moon was very bright and almost full in the Western sky and I realized it would look very nice over the reservoir.

And that is all for today’s World Cup. Croatia 2, Morocco 1. So Croatia 3rd place, Morocco 4th place.

The big lecture hall was full; a nice improvement from last year when the first post-Covid conference had only half its usual attendance. This is the second largest anesthesiologist meeting in the US and attracts many Doctors from overseas who take advantage by bringing their families to NYC for the holiday season.

I had made reservations the week before to watch the 10am World Cup semi-final with Alex. Several sports bars near the East Village were already sold out (or didn’t take reservations) but I found one right near Times Square where I reserved a 9:30am table for the first game.

The England-France game at 2pm would be the Big Draw and there were already people coming in with us at 9:30 to claim their barstools for the next 6 hours! Alex and I had a nice table but only until 1pm when it was reserved for the other game. I was wearing my France Jersey which the Irish bartender liked and a cheap Portugal hat I got from Amazon.

There was a nice brunch menu. The Full Irish ☘️ breakfast was tempting but a lot of mammals (meat is murder). I went for the Avocado Toast and an Irish Coffee. Alex was content with tater tots, they were so good we got some more for second half to go with my Guinness.

The first half of game Portugal had a lot more possession time and shots but did not score. At minute 42 Morocco scored and then held the 1-0 lead. After the full 90 minutes there was 10 minutes added time and after 3 minutes a Moroccan player red carded and ejected. Sadly for me Portugal couldn’t score even with a man advantage for that long 🙁 It was a great time watching with Alex, they are a tough critic of poor play after all their years of soccer playing.

After game we walked north through Times Square to the subway Alex needed. I saw the Pele store and wondered if Brazil jerseys would be 50% off as they had lost. I asked Alex if they wanted to go in the M+M store like we always did when they were younger but there was a line around the block! (Damn tourists). This store was right next to the M+M store ….

I had seen enough FOX soccer analysts yapping for one day so when I got back to my hotel I read my kindle until the 2pm start of the England-France game.

I normally root for England when they play but I am even more of a France fan. This game was way too close and stressful though.

France scored early and took their 1-0 lead into the half but soon after their was a stupid foul by France in the penalty box and Harry Kane scored the penalty shot. France scored again making it 2-1 with only 15 minutes left but then made another stupid penalty in the box! Miraculously Kane kicked it over the goal! Great win for France. I was wiped out after a long day and went to bed early.

https://www.espn.com/soccer/report/_/gameId/633846