Every Cup Team Gets A Slogan on the Bus

Friday, June 23, 2006

The U.S. team bus is, rather famously, the only one of the 32 team buses that does not have its national flag prominently splashed across the side (it's a security precaution).

Happily, however, the American bus was not deprived of one of the 32 chirpy team slogans that were submitted and voted on by "football fans across the globe," according to the FIFA World Cup Web site. The Americans' big blue bus reads: "United we play, United we win."

The Netherlands' bus has "Orange on the road to gold" written across the side, which irked Coach Marco van Basten because he felt it made his team look overly confident and might provoke its opponents. (The Netherlands is known as the best soccer nation that has yet to win a World Cup. It is still alive in this one.)

But at least the Dutch are not the Swedes ("Fight! Show spirit! Come on! You have the support of everyone!"). Or the Portuguese ("With a flag in the window and a nation on the pitch. Forca Portugal"). Or the Costa Ricans ("Our army is the team, our weapon is the ball. Let's get to Germany and give it our all.").

And they should be especially thankful they are not the team from Switzerland: "2006, it's Swiss o'clock!"

The complete list can be found at http://fifaworldcup.yahoo.com .

-- Camille Powell

Arena, Not Springsteen

On the eve of the U.S.-Ghana match, Coach Bruce Arena and some of the team's support staff headed into the old city center of Nuremberg for dinner and to watch Wednesday's late matches. Shortly after arriving, however, Arena was spotted by U.S. fans and serenaded with chants of "Bruuuuce! Bruuuuce!" Most of the group stayed; Arena headed back to the team hotel.

-- Steven Goff

Hair Apparent

His back was turned, but the hair gave him away: It was Carlos Valderrama, the former Colombian star with the electric-orange mane. He was in Nuremberg yesterday to provide commentary for XM Radio.

-- Steven Goff

Delirious Ghana

Drummers and dancers flooded the streets of Ghana's capital, Accra, yesterday in celebration of a World Cup victory over the United States that sent the team to the second round of the World Cup.

Men climbed on car rooftops to wave Ghanaian flags and a rising chant of "Ghana go go go!" filled the city after the 2-1 win over the United States.

"This is a great day for Ghana," said Emelia Ameya, a 52-year-old phone company administrator, amid the uproar. "We have beaten the Americans and go, go, we go!"

This is Ghana's first trip to the World Cup and the Black Stars entered Group E as the genuine underdog -- ranked 48th and expected to be brushed aside by the Czech Republic, Italy and the United States.

Yet a win over the Czech Republic last week had Ghanaians optimistic of their chances, and their dreams came true yesterday as they became the first African team this year to advance to the second round.

Ghana President John Kufuor said he was so nervous, he locked himself in his office to watch the match alone.

"I didn't want people around me . . . so if my nerves had gotten the better of me, nobody would know," Kufuor said on the BBC World Service's "NewsHour" program.

Only one other African team has the chance to advance past the first round -- Tunisia. Angola, Ivory Coast and Togo were already eliminated.

-- From News Services