Football

More work. More football, that is how the time since my last blip has been. The madness continues. I slept some too, when I could. There is a large sleep deficit that won't be caught upon.

But what a day at the World Cup yesterday was. After the absolutely riveting Brazil-Holland match I couldn't believe what a treat we were in for with the Uruguay-Ghana match. What drama, what irony, ending in tears as so many football matches do. The long distance shocker in the dying seconds of the first-half, another "Hand of God" thingy in the last few seconds of the second half of extra-time, and the devastating missed penalty-kick... It was too dramatic to believe. Not to forget that both sides approached the game rather positively and there were a lot of attacking moves on display. I didn't feel particularly sad for Ghana's loss, but with the degree of coincidence in the events, the role of Fate is surely to be talked about.

For today's big match we decided to visit a pub at South Delhi. We did well to make reservations otherwise we would simply be scrambling between all the over-crowded noisy pubs in the area and struggling even to find a place to stand. The atmosphere was definitely there, but the football from Argentina simply wasn't. It was disapppointing to see them eliminated but this German team wihout a doubt were absolutely incredible. I felt, that the German approach was very smart, methodical and planned with great clarity. Argentinians perhaps, depended more on individual brilliance to make things happen. And they were just not able to perform either as a team or as individuals.

I am watching the Spain-Paraguay match as I type this and the football doesn't have a smooth flow yet. I was rather disgusted with the Paraguay-Japan match in the previous round, given how negative the football was. With each team I want to see go through losing, I wouldn't be surprised if we have a Uruguay-Paraguay final. But I would be very disappointed.