El Mundial: Chapulin Update

What a great start for the Cup games, those power houses that assumed they would waltz over the little guy are having a reality check. England played an unconvincing match and won solely because of an own goal by Paraguay. Somehow the claims that this is England’s year are starting to sound hollow. The beauty of this game is that there is no room for Royalty, no inherited coronation, every win has to be earned. The most exciting match so far was Sweden vs Trinindad-Tobago, despite being a man down Trinidad held their own and came up with an amazing, yes, amazing 0-0 draw. This is where Americans from the USA have a hard time understanding football: how can a 0-0 game be exciting? I’ll put it this way, points win the game but the style of play makes for the entertainment. Sure Kobe Bryant can get 2 points from the free-throw line but wouldn’t you rather see him dash thru the defense and make some fancy hoopty shot? Of course you would. Same thing with football, the lack of goals doesn’t mean there was no fancy plays and shots, the tally at the end rarely represents what happened on the field. The T-T fans were rejoicing in the stands with their draw while the Swedish seemed despondent and shocked, they expected to trounce on the tiny Caribbean nation.

The 3-1 Mexico win over Iran was especially thrilling for me, considering that I do like to eat Mexican food. I caught a glimpse of a whole section of Mexican fans dressed like el Chapulin Colorado, El Chavo’s alter ego and the inspiration for The Simpsons “BumbleBee Man”. It’s kinda crazy how much of an impact the Chespirito characters have made on a few generations, and it doesn’t look like it’s going to end soon. That pic above is like the trinity of fun shit to do: watch Mexico play in a World Cup game, drink liters of fine German beer, and carry around a chipote chillón to pay homage to one of the greatest TV characters ever. Wish I was there.