It was nice to have one sleep in but two in a row? In the middle of the World Cup?! What’s up with that?
Thankfully we’re back into it tomorrow with the first of two quarter-final days and wouldn’t you just know it… we have one final term 2 session of mini-kickers football in the morning, which is going to cut right across the Brazil v Colombia match. No sweat, you might say, just tape it and watch it after. Well, Nathan had the temerity to be born on July 5 and we’ve organised a McDonald’s (gratuitous World Cup sponsor plug) lunch then a trip across to Hamilton to go rock climbing (the kids, not me, climbing…).
I’m going to have to organise things pretty well if I’m going to fit everything in tomorrow.
At least I’ll be able to get up early again for Germany v France. I’ve missed those early starts. And what a game it is to start with. I honestly have no idea who’ll win this as both sides have been far from perfect. The progress of the French has probably been more serene, but the German’s have come through a much harder group and have been forced to dig a lot, lot deeper to get where they are. Of course, they’re the Germans too and that counts for a lot.
I still can’t separate them and my gut is telling me it’ll be level after extra time and we’ll be going to penalties and (cliché alert) we all know what happens when the Germans go to penalties…
It’s tomorrow’s second game that is making me nervous. All the historical signs point to a Brazil win. Colombia has never beaten them in Brazil. Brazil hasn’t lost a competitive match at home for something like a million years. Brazil are the hosts and just have to win. Everything says the Brazilians will be in the next round…but will they? Can they?
This is not a great side, like in 2002, or even 1982 (the two best Brazilian sides I’ve seen) and Colombia are flying. Both sides are carrying immense pressure into the match, and it’ll probably be how they respond to that that determines who wins. Brazil has 1950 and all that stuff to deal with while Colombia is in unchartered territory – they’ve never been this far and it’s questionable how they’ll respond once that hits. Some sides, great sides, thrive on doing what hasn’t been done before, while others collapse. We’ll know very soon which side of the coin the 2014 version of Colombia is.
The great thing about tomorrow is that I’m a neutral observer. I don’t have any skin in the game, so I can just sit back, watch and experience the drama, without being a sick, nervous wreck. There’s a lot to be said for having your side in pressure situations like this, but sometimes it’s also quite nice if they’re not.
Whatever way it goes tomorrow I’m sure we’ll have another layer of heroism and tragedy to add to what has already been a stunning event.
Picks for Day 22
France 1-1 Germany, Brazil 2-1.