Argentina, 1; U.S., 0

Last week's big soccer match at the Orange Bowl was about more than sports

A A A Comments By Javier Andrade Thursday, Feb 13 2003

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Photos by Steve Satterwhite

There were more Argentineans at the Orange Bowl than the 2000 U.S. Census says are supposed to be in Florida; Gov. Jeb Bush (right) attended with new Argentine ambassador Eduardo Amadeo

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Coach Bielsa looked up only once at the postgame press conference to answer the one and only question not related to the way his team played. "I was greatly surprised with the number of Argentine fans that came to see the game, and not only that, I was surprised with the way they stimulated the team," he told New Times. Maybe he was referring to a new attitude on the parts of old fans. While both teams lined up for the cameras before the game, and the national anthems were being played, the whole stadium stood up to silently listen to the American anthem. It had not even finished when a big, clamorous round of applause began. This would be impossible in Argentina, where the U.S. national anthem would be booed unmercifully. Or maybe the Argentineans just knew they were going to kick our ass this time.

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