American fans versus

Word was that more Americans had bought World Cup tickets than any other nationality besides South Africans. But fans in red, white and blue were hard to find when the event opened in Johannesburg. Had they decided not to come after all, or were they dressed inconspicuously?

Over the first week of the World Cup I did discover a few Americans, only after I heard them speak and pinpointed their accent. Few of them were dressed like the soccer fans I'd encountered from other countries. Leonardo, my roommate at the hostel, wore a different Argentina jersey everyday. Peter, from Ghana, had a jacket colored red, yellow and green like his homeland's flag. Some German students actually wrapped themselves in their flag even as they watched a match between other teams on the television. I didn't know if American fans were afraid of terrorist plots or if they just hadn't known where to buy the US soccer team goods.

At the US vs. Slovenia match at Ellis Park in Johannesburg on Friday, however, American fans appeared in full regalia, as if they had been saving the show for the stadium. There was a guy dressed as Bill Clinton, a cowboy and an Indian. There was an Elvis. One couple wore matching stars and stripes aprons. Three US fans arrived in NASA astronaut costumes. The Americans were loud too. They sang songs: “Oh when the Yanks go marching in …” and even the Biz Markie classic, “Oh baby you, you got what I need, but you say he's just a friend.” But especially there were military-style chants of U-S-A!

Unlike at the Argentina vs. South Korea match I attended before, US fans did not cover the railings with banners and flags. The stadium actually looked a little empty because of that. Nor did Americans sit in colored blocks, where a thousand fans would be seated together, all in baby blue for Argentina, or red for Korea. American fans were just sprinkled throughout the stands, begging a reference to the nation's reputation as individualistic.

When that Argentina vs. South Korea match had ended, the Argentine players bolted off the field for the exit. It seemed almost disrespectful. But the South Koreans acknowledged their fans with appreciation. At Ellis Park on Friday, the American national team spent even more time than the South Koreans rounding the field and clapping up into the stands, more time than any other team I'd seen thus far. Soccer is not the national sport in the US that it is elsewhere, but the US national team seemed exceptionally grateful for every American who made the trip to the other end of the world to support them.