The Day After a loss is always hard - whether it is nursing the hangover from consuming bier or facing the harsh reality of your own feelings of anger, betrayal and disappointment. Such a day has it been for the American soccer fan.

After a public volley of criticisms and finger-pointing by Il Bruce and several members of the USA starting XI yesterday, Bruce Arena stood before the world's media and told them it was all his fault.

I ran the gamut of emotions on this one and spent the better part of my morning apologizing to my European co-workers for our horrible performance. They were kind, saying that we didn't play badly (ha!) and that the Czech's are number 2 in the world.

As lunch time approached our attention turned to the matches between France / Switzerland and Brazil / Croatia. Many of our office are from France so they, of course, chose to watch this match-up during their lunch hour.

However, the Brits, our one Mexican and I opted for a late lunch and a much needed dose of joga bonito. Brazil did not disappoint and played well enough to replace the bitter after taste of the USA loss with a sense of wonder.

Kaka, Ronaldhino, Roberto Carlos - the sound of their names alone evoke excitement.

Thank You Brazil!
My faith in the beautiful game has been restored!