Today's World Cup Menu
Bavarian Smoked Ham, Bratwurst, Brahma Cerveja do Brasil, Mentzendorff Kummel, Colombian Percol Fair Trade Coffee
Quarter-final Day 1
I wonder what it would be like to get to a World Cup quarter-final, get all worked up, analyse, pontificate, debate, discuss tactics and team selection, bite your nails and then find the whole thing has been for nothing 'cos the other team hasn't bothered to turn up. That's how Germany must feel this evening after a nothing game in which France fell behind after Mats Hummels' headed in after 14 minutes; Les Bleus barely broke sweat after that.
Germany were obviously good at pretty much killing the game without really threatening again and France...well, France seemed to think it was all too much for a hot day in Rio and barely did anything except, inevitably, in the last few minutes. Even then, Manuel Neuer in Germany's goal was hardly bothered and he had the air of a man who doesn't expect to pick the ball out of the net again this tournament.
All very well if you're German but tedious for the neutral.
A different affair in Estadio Castela where Brazil overcame Colombia 2-1 and James Rodriguez joined the pantheon of those who have shed Gazza tears; the poor lad getting scant protection from the referee in a match littered with fouls that went unpunished. It's good for a ref to let a game flow but this got left to the stage where players realised they weren't going to see a card and just carried on with the alehouse stuff. Nevertheless, it was rip-roaring fayre, with the crowd roar creating a great atmosphere that easily transferred itself to the TV and the game became unbearably tense once Rodriguez pulled a goal back to make it 2-1 after 80 minutes. The hosts hung on but Colombia looked the equal of the men in yellow throughout.
The result was that, once again, you're left wondering if Brazil really are any good. I suspect the Germans will tell us.
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