Sports Report

It's a big day for women's soccer here today, with the semifinals of the CAN Women's Games scheduled to start at 2pm. We've been told to expect that not much will be getting done this afternoon. If their Independence Day was any indication, we might more reasonably expect that very little other than women's soccer-related things will be happening for the next week or so. Should the local actually win, we might expect the celebrations to just ease us on into the Christmas holiday break.

In any event, our mostly EG girls team is 2-0 at this point, having already beaten Cameroon and Mali. It's a mostly EG team, with the addition of a few Brazilian ringers who have apparently been recruited to become EGians for a short while -- who do a lot to increase the odds of our extended Xmas break period. But on the other side of the draw are the South Africans, Nigeria, Ghana, and Tunisia. I really have no idea how good any of them might be, but I just sort of imagine that South Africa might have a pretty serious team.


We did actually get to see our girls win their first match against Cameroon, 1-0. That was the weekend before last. Quite an experience it was, not so much for the game itself but for the opportunity to see the packed stadium up close and personal. The halftime show was particularly entertaining, with two different groups of school children meandering onto the field and then doing some sort of slow-motion calesthentics. Riveting stuff it was. Then some fellow appears on the sidelines with a microphone and does a combo breakdance and song routine. Incredibly good stuff. Oh, and along the way, he would from time to time jettison various pieces of his clothing. That pretty much sealed it for me as being one of the finest halftime shows I've ever seen.