Editor’s note: Joe Vardon compiled a journal during his time in China covering Team USA in the World Cup. This is the final installment. You can read Part I here and II here.
From Beijing, the Eastern capital of the world…
We are mere steps from the Great Wall of China.
Beyond the winding drive out of the city and the back roads, where farms and shacks and run-down shops dot the roads. Beyond the walk through town, where the great wall has been commercialized, past not only a Subway and a Baskin Robbins, but also a mailbox for Subway. The climb up the hill, toward the cable cars, with a glance upwards toward the mountains, was a road to Damascus moment when my eyes first set sight on the wall. And the ride in the cable car, gliding over the trees, ascending toward heaven, I’m more than ready to meet a wonder of the world.
ESPN’s Brian Windhorst and I, two Americans in China covering Team USA, have done everything we were supposed to do…
