The Ant Blog

Episode 4:  Deleted Pasts, Tim Howard Saves and Christ the Savior: History Lessons in Salvador Watching the Belgium vs USA match in Salvador was a slightly awkward experience. More than two thirds of the stadium was there to cheer for a Soccer team, while everybody else was watching a football match. It was a foregone conclusion that the “Football” team or Équipe de football, to be precise, would beat the “Soccer” one. But for a short while it seemed that there was nothing that Tim Howard, the brave American goalkeeper, could not save. (as illustrated in the adjoining image) Exhilaration at watching your last world cup football match in Brasil paired with a strange sense of unease that neither team playing deserves a place beyond the round, for various reasons. In retrospect that could sum up the entire Salvador experience. Something exhilaratingly beautiful and incredibly exotic, that you  wouldn't  trade for anything else, paired with that itch in the g...