With fat red and yellow stripes painted on his face, a Spanish flag wrapped around his waist, the jersey of La Furia Roja and la bufanda España to boot, he extended his collapsible vuvuzela to his mouth and sounded the horn of a true fan.
A week has passed since my beloved Spain became the best fútbol team in the world with its defeat of the Dutch, but I can’t get the unlikely image of this local guy at Mariachi’s restaurant in Nawiliwili out of my head.
Last Sunday morning I was simply in search of breakfast and a TV to watch the game with my brother and his fiancé. The first few places we scoped were either closed, didn’t serve breakfast or had bowling on TV instead of the World Cup.
Determined to catch the final, we finally found ourselves at Mariachi’s. When I heard the TV announcers speaking Spanish and saw the chorizo-filled omelet español on the menu, I knew we had come to the right place.
But none of us expected to see the fully-decked-out fan there, or at any restaurant on Kaua‘i for that matter.
He would have easily fit right in with the crowd of 84,490 at Soccer City Stadium in Johannesburg.
His enthusiasm enriched the environment for us and the few dozen other Mariachi’s patrons who similarly decided to make a morning of the game.
Empty breakfast plates, chips and salsa got pushed aside as the nail-biter entered extra time with the scoreboard still at 0-0.
Spain fans had Paul the Psychic Octupus on their side, the tako picking La Roja to win against The Oranje. But it was pins and needles till Iniesta found the back of the net on an 8-yard blast with about seven minutes left to play.
Visitors, local families, the three of us, and, of course, the True Fan collectively filled Mariachi’s with applause and cheers as the TV cut to scenes of similar jubilation from Madrid to Miami. What a morning for us, what a night for them on the other side of the world!
And so it goes… still coming down from soccer fever a week after the championship game. For the first time, I find myself counting down to the next World Cup… 2014, Brazil.
In the meantime, Viva España!
