Hop Suisse!!!

I don't know about the States, but here in Switz, the World Cup is taken veryyy seriously.
Everyday, my facebook feed is flooded with cheers, excited updates, profanities, and predictions about the games. Yesterday, the day Brasil played North Korea, practically every other person I saw was wearing a Brasil jersey or flag (gross exaggeration, by the way. Definitely not every other... Haha).
And today, of course, Switzerland faced off against Spain-- who entered the Cup as the second best team in the world, and one of the favorites to win. Most thought that the Swiss, whose fortes are chocolate and watch making, not soccer, would get slaughtered by the team who beat Poland 6-0 in the last World Cup...
To be honest, the first half of the game was embarrassing enough, with the Spanish team basically playing keep-away and making attempt after attempt on goal (there is something to be said for the Swiss goalie, however, who--besides from being pretty cute--saved about ten trillion shots).
But seven minutes into the second half, Switzerland scored. It wasn't a beautiful shot. It looked more like a carwreck in front of the goal as about six different players tripped over themselves and fumbled with the ball. But the important thing was that the goal was made. And the even more important thing was that the Swiss held their ground afterwards, and actually played much better than in the first half.
And we won!!!!!
Within about five minutes, my facebook feed was flooded with a ridiculous amount of posts that all said something along the lines of "SWITZERLAND!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!" From my friend's house, we could hear nonstop honking on the lake road for about half an hour. A little boy I passed was wrapped entirely in a Swiss flag. When the train pulled up, people were hanging out the windows, waving flags and screaming.
For a small, demure, chocolate-loving country, Switzerland sure knows how to celebrate its soccer (or, as the Europeans all insist, football) victory.
Hop Suisse!!!!!!!!

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