The Golden Boot is awarded to the top goal scorer in the World Cup. Nico officially scored 8 goals in 7 games. Had his first goal against Indonesia not been ruled an own goal (his shot deflected off an opponent before going in), he would have shared this year’s award. Nonetheless, he had an outstanding tournament by any measure and is universally regarded as one of the top players in the world today. There are several professional amputee soccer leagues in Europe and Nico is thinking about using the remainder of his leave of absence from teaching to play professional soccer abroad.

The USA faced perennial rival Mexico in its final match. We most recently lost to Mexico in the World Cup Qualifying tournament. That was not the case today as we scored the game’s only goal in the final 10 seconds of the match. The kids and I watched the live stream from the Brussels Airport while waiting for our return flight connections. It would be hard to script a more dramatic ending to the World Cup for Team USA which finished in 15th place. Had either of the tied matches gone our way in overtime, the outcome would have been very different. In my opinion, the US now has a starting team that can compete with the best in the world. We will need a deeper bench, however, to place higher in a World Cup tournament where teams play 7 matches over 9 days and where so many outcomes are determined in overtime.

Our trip to Turkey proved to be a wonderful wedding anniversary celebration, a thrilling World Cup tournament, and a family vacation that will be remembered forever.