With all the doom and gloom, it’s nice to see some bright spots for the US from the Cup. It turns out our contingent is making a splash acting like soccer fans should – loud.

WorldCupBlog has a number of video clips up from a group partying hard before the match. Gotta love the Viking – must be from Minnesota. Sean notes some things that struck him about our presence:

Passionate: Tonnes of flags, singing, dancing and rapping out songs as well as face paint and outfits that match any country.

Knowledgeable: They knew the game, know when to cheer, and are not sitting around asking "Why can’t they use their hands" and "I wish there were more goals". The folks I met and talk to were soccer/football savvy.

There were loads of them. USA supporters easily outnumbered the Czechs at this game despite having much farther trek.

I have a feeling a number of the fans are ex-pats living in Europe who are exposed to football on a regular basis and know the drill. But obviously there are a LOT of Americans who made the trip from the states. I expect if you’re going to shell out that kind of money and time to catch the USMNT in action, you hopefully know what soccer is about. But you can’t learn passion – so it’s good to see our fans holding their own.

One such fan is DF in Deutschland. He decided to make the trek to Germany after a friend offered to put him up for the duration and then managed to score tickets to the first US match. DF has written a few posts about his experiences so far in Germany and they are a lot of fun to read.

DF clearly loves the game. Reading about his exploits as he tries to make kickoff and the people he runs into is a treat. FWIW – The girls deserved a red card. Welcome to the BlogRoll DF! Here’s hoping your blog continues on into 2010!