Drinking from the World Cup: Day 3

Recapping Day 2:
What the hell happened to the reigning champs??  The Netherlands may be a team of just a couple big stars, but those stars obviously delivered in a big way, with two goals apiece from Van Persie and Robben.  The more interesting thing here, of course, is can the Spanish turn the page from this rout?  They lost their first match at the last World Cup also, but it was nothing like this demolition.

As for my drinking quest, I’ve gotten off to a rough start here.  First, the fake caipirinha on Thursday and, yesterday, I failed to have a beverage from one of the six nations in competition.  In my defense, I ended up at a German beer hall and was forced to drink German beers, but hey, that’s close to Dutch beer, right?  In any event, I’ll get on track starting today.

Today’s Games:
Noon: Colombia vs. Greece
3PM: Uruguay vs. Costa Rica
6PM: England vs. Italy
9PM: Ivory Coast vs. Japan

Today’s Drink:
Fuller’s London Porter. Just like modern football itself, the porter-style beer originated in England.  Porters were first popularized while England was still the “mother country” of the American colonies, and it was named after the porters of the city who carried goods around the streets of London.  Fuller’s London Porter is widely considered to be the world’s finest porter, so what better way to welcome the Brits to this competition.  Wayne Rooney looks like a man who enjoys a well-made porter.

Highlighted Game:
England/Italy. Two European powers clash in a rain forest.  It will be interesting to see how these teams handle the heat and humidity and poor field conditions that they’ll face in Manaus. Many teams have a player in the point guard role, but Italy has a quarterback.  Andrea Pirlo hangs in the middle of the field and picks apart defenses, if given time.  He’ll be trying to connect on the long-ball passes to Mario Balotelli, in the wide receiver role, while England tries to find a way to keep the heat on Pirlo and Balotelli under wraps downfield.