It's interesting to note that there are many winemaking countries that qualified for the World Cup this year: Chile, Spain, Italy, France, Australia, USA, Greece, the list goes on. You'll find a winemaking country in the majority of the Group Stage matches. Since I have no real affinity for any specific team, I'm going to follow along-and drink along!-to the winemaking countries by uncorking a bottle to celebrate team wins by Chile, Australia, Italy, France and the USA (let's face it, if I drank a bottle in honour of every winemaking country that wins a game in the tournament, you might as well throw me into rehab!). Those are my top 5 choices. However, if Spain, Portugal, Argentina, Germany or Greece make it to the Quarter-finals, I will cheer them on at that point too. In order to pace myself, I've scheduled out the games I will celebrate-drinking multiple bottles mid-week really isn't responsible when you're a parent and work full-time. So here's my celebratory schedule for the Group Stage:
Fri June 13: Chile vs Australia, 4pm MST
Sat June 14: England vs Italy, 4pm MST
*due to a French-themed dinner party I am hosting that night, I will drink the Italian bottle on Sunday the 15th if Italy wins
Sun June 15: France vs Honduras, 1pm MST
Mon June 16: Ghana vs USA, 4pm MST
*Liver break for 3 days. I'm getting old!*
Fri June 20: France better win so I can celebrate hard at a French wine festival I already have tickets to that night!
*If Italy wins their game vs Costa Rica, I will drink on Sat June 21
Sun June 22: USA vs Portugal, 4pm MST
*If Portugal wins, I'm drinking port!
*2 day liver and probably wallet break*
Wed June 25: Ecuador vs France, 2pm MST
Thurs June 26: USA vs Germany, 10am
*If Germany wins, I'll toast them instead
All bottles opened for a win will be tweeted. I'll revisit the rules for the 2nd stage when the standings are finalized.
Best of luck to my top 5 picks, my liver and my wallet, although this will definitely make football more fun! Cheers!
