A St. Louis Guide to the World Cup

With the most important sporting event worldwide upon us, Americans, and in particular St. Louis, now have to decide who to cheer for.

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While the obvious pick is Team USA, we here at Arch Authority wanted to give you more baskets to put your eggs in. Since after all… Team USA is in the dreaded “Group of Death.” We now will give you a few teams to cheer for from a local angle.

First off is the previously mentioned Outlaws of Team USA. Obviously one must cheer for their home country. Team USA has performed solidly in their tuneup games and understands that they face a huge task ahead. Not only must they play Germany and Portugal, but the dreaded Ghana Black Stars have knocked America out the past two World Cups. Team USA will need all the support they can get, especially in the game against Portugal, because it will be in the town of Manaus. The stadium isn’t completed and the field is in terrible condition. The conditions will be brutal and may just be the game that decides the fate of Team USA.

Also, you have to cheer on the local kid Brad Davis. He played his college career at St. Louis University and will be one of two former SLU soccer stars on the pitches this upcoming World Cup.

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Next up is the source of all that is delicious in St. Louis, Italy: Italia fans should cheer loud (in between bites) for the red, white, and green. Not only do they have an easy group, they get the toughest game out of the way early when they face England June 14th. Cheer for pasta, cheer for the Hill, cheer for Toasted Ravioli’s. Final reason to cheer for Italy: they have a Mario and Luigi on their roster. If you cheer against great food and the Mario Bros… you live a strange life.

Outside of England they are a heavy favorite since Costa Rica and Uruguay should be easy matches.

St. Louis should cheer for both it’s largest international sector and its hometown products right? Meet Bosnia-Herzegovina. St. Louis saw a large amount of Bosnian immigrants a few decades ago and today many of the second generation children or ones raised predominantly in St. Louis have taken to the pitch and helped grow the soccer culture in St. Louis. So while this is not only one of the biggest demographics in the city, the second of the local products, Vedad Ibisevic, will be playing for Bosnia and was responsible for the lone goal against Lithuania in their recent tuneup match.

Bosnia will get a group that holds Argentina, Nigeria, and Iran. It is highly possible they win two maybe three matches and move into single-elimination play.

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Finally, one last team that you should cheer for is Germany. The Germans…the guys in the same group as Team USA…hold on friends. Little do many St. Louisans know, but in the mid-1800s, Germans were immigrating to St. Louis in large numbers. A lot of local breweries popped up from that, and so did the beer culture of St. Louis. While thanks to Prohibition, most of these breweries were lost forever, the city’s beer culture has made a comeback, and Anheuser-Busch has been a staple of the city for years. So if anything, cheer for beer.