The wait was up to an hour, and for four Americans waiting at Chili's in Warner Village, a table in the bar area with access to a broadcast of live World Cup action wasn't a priority.
"I said it at the beginning, the World Cup is mostly a big letdown," said Taipei resident Les Arthur.
He was here mainly for the food, a triple-play appetizer combo and chicken Caesar salad, caring little about the match overhead featuring Argentina and Serbia and Montenegro.
Flummoxed
Arthur, a self-professed sucker for international sports tournaments, said he was flummoxed by how "falling down on purpose is part of the game."
Others at his table had a similar uninterest, mostly due to the nightly coverage, as well as lopsided early round matches.
Magnus, a Swedish national, was planning a trip to Hualien this week to get away from the World Cup.
"Sweden has never lost to England in 40 years, and now they were even smart enough to get our coach too," he said, referring to Swede Sven-Goran Eriksson, who has coached the English team in successive World Cup campaigns.
At half time, he walked out of a Netherlands-Ivory Coast match at Underworld, a small subterranean pub located on Shida Road where two dozen college-aged youths and a half-dozen foreigners watched a Chinese-language broadcast on an overhead projector.
A girl in white knee-socks was cheering throughout most of the first half, letting out a loud cheer or "Aiya" whenever a team threatened to score.
She admitted to having no particular favorite team, nor any opinion about this match nor any other World Cup competition for that matter.
Strong man legs
Floaty, an American who DJs at Underworld every Friday evening, guessed that women are attracted to the sport because they like to see men in shorts, or "strong man legs" as he described it.
He said most patrons to his bar cheered for the underdogs rather than supporting one specific team.
Floaty doesn't play music during World Cup matches, allowing for uninterrupted Chinese-language commentary, though he does spice up half time with selections like AC-DC's Dirty Deeds Done Dirt Cheap and a little bit of scratching -- despite a broken right hand.
Even a recent Brazilian gathering at Bliss proved to be less spirited than the team's earlier opening round match.
Brazilian supporters arrived in taxis, carrying noisemakers and other soccer paraphernalia packed away in backpacks.
But the supporters seemed lethargic only two hours before kickoff, with just one woman demonstrating the required team spirit by scurrying about the bar ordering drinks in a gold lame headdress.
It was a big change from the opening round match for Brazil, a party which Bliss proprietor Barry Smit said ended at 6am.
Shohei Ohtani and his wife arrived in South Korea with his Los Angeles Dodgers teammates yesterday ahead of their season-opening games with the San Diego Padres next week. Ohtani, wearing a black training suit and a cap backwards, was the first Dodgers player who showed up at the arrival gate of Incheon International Airport, west of Seoul. His wife, Mamiko Tanaka, walked several steps behind him. As a crowd of fans, many wearing Dodgers jerseys, shouted his name and cheered slogans, Ohtani briefly waved his hand, but did not say anything before he entered a limousine bus with his wife. Fans held placards
Taiwan’s Tai Tzu-ying yesterday advanced to the quarter-finals at the All England Open, beating Kim Ga-eun of South Korea 21-17, 21-15. With the win, Tai earned a semi-final against China’s He Bingjiao, who beat Michelle Li of Canada 21-9, 21-9. Defending champion An Se-young defeated India’s P.V. Sindhu 21-19, 21-11. An on Wednesday cruised into the second round, unlike last year’s men’s winner, Li Shifeng, who suffered a shock defeat. South Korea’s An, the world No. 1, overcame Taiwan’s Hsu Wen-chi 21-17, 21-16 to set up the match against Sindhu. In other women’s singles matches, Taiwan’s Sung Shuo-yun lost 21-18, 24-22 against Carolina Marin of
EYEING TOP SPOT: A victory in today’s final against Storm Hunter and Katerina Siniakova would return 38-year-old Hsieh Su-wei to the world No. 1 ranking Taiwan’s Hsieh Su-wei and Elise Mertens on Thursday secured a spot in the women’s doubles finals at the BNP Paribas Open after dispatching Nicole Melichar-Martinez of the US and Australia’s Ellen Perez 6-2, 7-6 (7/5) at Indian Wells. Hsieh and her Belgian partner Mertens, who won the Australian Open in late January, coasted through the first set after breaking their opponents’ serve twice, but found the going tougher in the second. Both pairs could only muster one break point over 12 games, neither of which were converted, leaving the set to be decided by a tiebreaker. Hsieh and Mertens took a 6-3 lead,
DOUBLES PAYBACK: Hsieh Su-wei and Elise Martens avenged their defeat in the quarters at the Qatar TotalEnergies Open against Demi Schuurs and Luisa Stefani Taiwan’s Hsieh Su-wei on Wednesday advanced to the semi-finals of the women’s doubles at the BNP Paribas Open in Indian Wells, California. Hsieh and partner Elise Mertens of Belgium dispatched Demi Schuurs and Luisa Stefani 6-1, 6-4 to set up a clash against Nicole Melichar-Martinez of the US and Australia’s Ellen Perez for a spot in the final of the WTA 1000 tournament. Hsieh and Martens made a blistering start to their rematch after they lost to Schuurs and Stefani in the quarter-finals at the Qatar TotalEnergies Open last month, winning three games without reply at the start of the first set