Congratulations to Germany on winning the 2014 World Cup! They are worthy victors and the winning goal was phenomenal. In 1994 and 2010 I got to watch the runners-up play but this is the first World Cup where I saw the eventual winners play a match in person.

I have had multiple people ask me if this has been my favorite World Cup. I think World Cups are like wives, they have their good points and their bad points but the best is always the one you’re married to. So, yes, this has been my favorite. It’s not because I spent a full month in Brazil. It’s not because I got so lucky with the matches I attended. It’s because I made some really good friends there who welcomed me as I was, who took care of me and, by the end of the month, made me feel like Salvador was my city too.

Muito obrigado, Brasil! Até breve!