Saturday, June 22, 2002
Fans get up early, watch U.S. go down
Many take day off to follow World Cup
By Steve Eder, seder@enquirer.com.
The Cincinnati Enquirer
MT. HEALTHY — There were a few faces missing from the office Friday morning.
Some people strolled in late, after the conclusion of the World Cup quarterfinal match between the United States and Germany. Others had the rest of the day off to play golf and rehash the 7:25 a.m. game won by the Germans, 1-0.
Some 50 of those missing bodies got together to watch the game as the sun rose outside of the Kolping Center, a German-American club based in Mt. Healthy. Munching on eggs and bacon, and sipping coffee and orange juice, the crowd groaned with each scoring chance, and sighed with each save by the U.S. team.
“I enjoy getting together with these people because they all know soccer,” said Ray Gerdis, 40, of Fairfield, who took the day off from his transportation work to watch the game with his 71-year-old father, Gary, a retired German immigrant, of Mt. Healthy. Both rooted for the U.S. team Friday.
“I'm an American,” said the elder Mr. Gerdis, a buyer for Procter & Gamble for 32 years. “I want America to win, I don't care who they play.”
Gary Gerdis sat in a half-circle with about 15 fellow German immigrants who began watching the game silently, but quickly erupted into cheers and jeers of disappointment. The tensions in the room heightened as the U.S. team unsuccessfully scrambled to put the ball in the goal before time expired.
“I really expected to walk into a room with everyone rooting for Germany,” said John Vogt, a 38-year-old homebuilder from Fairfield, who spent his morning parked in front of the club's big-screen television.
“I've been waking up at 2 a.m. since the World Cup started, just surviving off little sleep,” he said.
Soccer fans nationwide had similar plans. In Columbus, about 7,500 fans gathered early at Crew Stadium, which houses Columbus' Major League Soccer, to watch the game on large screens. In California, fans gathered at pubs to cheer on the U.S. team with coffee and doughnuts.
Fans in New York watched the game at the National Soccer Hall of Fame near the 1999 World Cup Trophy won by the U.S. women's team.
The Associated Press contributed to this report.
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Fans get up early, watch U.S. go down
