Jordan 8 USA 4 – Wadi Rum Bedouin Camp | The Brighams Of Baltimore

Following a camel trek through the Wadi Rum desert of Jordan, and another day of climbing through canyons, Dune-surfing, and seeing evidence of Lawrence of Arabia…we paused with our three Bedouin guides to watch the sunset.

A soccer ball appeared, and Greer knocked it over to one of the guides. Things slowly inflated until the Bedouins unearthed a patch of rocks and stacked them to make goals. We, the Brigham men, began shaking out our limbs as Harry trashed talked our adversaries…..our chances were made especially slimmer when he mentioned that we were “Team USA” and they were “Team Jordan,” because for some reason that really took everything to a different level. In our defense, we are North Americans who have grown up in a society where taking off your shoes is something of a taboo at times, and while we have padded around in our floppy, comfortable shoes, they have grown up in an unforgiving desert assumedly without shoes for a decent percentage of that time, while wearing simple sandals for the other part of the time.

We fought hard, scoring one goal for every 2 or three Jordanian goals, but we held up our dignity amidst the elbows, spearing rocks, a face-plant(Harry), painful, foot-embedding thorns, (of which you’d be giving quick yanks at whenever the opportunity arose) and the many other hazards of playing soccer in a geographical setting where you’ll find a considerable amount of plant life in the shadier areas, simply because they just can’t survive in the scalding sun.

At one time or another, we each were able to accelerate into a fast break, which really came down to who was willing trash their feet more for their team. Even if we missed the goal, it was always relaxing to watch the ball bound into the distance so we could nurse our feet and feel the painful sting slowly subside–until the ball was kicked back into play.

As the sun gradually sank downwards, the game drew to a close. We estimate that “Team USA” had put in about 3, maybe four goals. “Team Jordan” pulled away with a narrow victory, having scored only 8 or 9 times.

Details aside, it was immensely enjoyable for both sides to have made such an ice-breaking, powerful, yet simple connection to throw both parties off the beaten path and dissolve the many miles and cultures between Wadi Rum and Baltimore.