For the next couple weeks this square has a “Fan Park” set up with rows of sausage stands, beer on draft, blow up soccer goals and games, and then a huge screen in the middle with whatever game is on. This whole “Fan Park” was put on by Hyundai and was free to watch and play the games. For the two days that we were in Prague we had to pass the Old Town Square multiple times a day and each time we would see a different crowd of people standing in front of the screen in anticipation for the game that was on. We didn’t even have to look at the screen to figure out which team was playing for we could tell from the spirit of the people, many of them had face paint, their flag caped on their backs, and horns constantly making noise. On the second day we passed by and realized that the American flag was flying around, we decided to stop and support our country. The Americans had already sectioned off a part of the square off for standing and cheering, all these fans had USA painted on their face, wearing red, white and blue. I have to admit I don’t really follow soccer or the world cup, and haven’t exactly been interested in watching it until now. 
As I sat down to rest my legs from walking and watching the people cheer, I began to get more and more into the game, cheering at good plays and joining in with the USA chants, and soon enough I was their to watch the game and cheer, and my quick resting stop turned into a symbol of my nationalism to my country. It seemed like many of the Americans that were touring Prague were all there in the square to watch their homeland play. There not only were American fans but there was a section of Slovenia fans as well. Early when we had passed there were German and Syberia fans watching their game, it amazed me that for each game there were enough fans visiting Prague to take time off to watch their teams play in the city square. As we have been talking about in geography, it seems to me that this world cup, FIFA, is not just a sporting event, but an event that is bringing countries together both internally and externally. Having been sitting in that square not only was I able to share the same American pride with others, but I was able to share that space and interest in soccer with the Slovenian fans and other people watching as well. Seeing how passionate people were getting about the game and showing pride all the way over in eastern Europe made me want to join in on the dedication, made me want to follow the US through their journey in the World Cup and continue to cheer and show my spirit.FIFA Rankings: http://www.fifa.com/worldfootball/ranking/lastranking/gender=m/fullranking.html
Schedule: http://www.fifa.com/worldcup/matches/calendar.html
Good Job Maudie! I liked how you incorporated nationalism into the game of soccer. Seeing all the different people from each country cheering their team on at different times in the square was a pretty surreal site. It's good that you put the map of where the Old Town Square was and the picture of the kid wearing the American Flag on his back with everyone else sitting around him is a really cool picture too. Like we talked about in class, it doesn't matter if you know a players name or their ranking, but if they're wearing your country's jersey you're going to cheer as loud as you can for them. It was awesome to see that "Fan Park" and be able to watch a USA game there and being in that moment when they almost won was unbelievable!
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