I forgot to make this thread over the weekend; I remember 4 years ago a couple people didn't even realize that there was even a World Cup going on until I posted the results of the finals (sad too, it was a great tournament).
Today is day 3 in Canada, and the main thing you'll probably notice if you haven't been paying attention during the build-up is how bad the fields are. This year's WWC is being played exclusively on artificial turf, a strong point of contention for many of the players but unfortunately they withdrew their lawsuit when FIFA refused to budge on the issue (honestly I wouldn't be surprised if threats were also levied).
As far as play on the pitch goes, we've had two days that couldn't be more different. Day one saw Canada and Netherlands pull out 1-0 victories (Canada needed a controversial 91' penalty). Day two, on the other hand, saw two blow outs by Norway (4-0) and title-favorites Germany
(10-0). Today we have four games, including returning champions Japan taking on Switzerland and the USA taking on Australia. Both games should be very fun to watch.
On a more personal level, I'm really going to pay attention to Canada's reactions to
Sydney Leroux and if we'll have a
repeat of 2013. I admit I never paid special attention to her until I
saw this video on ESPN. I love the ending especially; you really don't see a ton of obviously mixed-race stars in sports, usually they're pigeonholed into one race or the other. As someone who was born to a Caucasian/Brazilian-American mother and an African-American father, it's a welcome sight. While I understand Canada's frustration in her always wanting to play in the USA, it's not like she's the first/only star player to be born and raised in one country and then join the senior team of another, "better" soccer nation.
It happens to everyone.