My Sunday Is Set

I surely would have watched the World Cup final this Sunday regardless of who played, but with Germany coming off an unprecedented blasting of Brazil going and going against fellow super-power Argentina, there is no way I won't be at the Rathskeller of the German Society of Pennsylvania.

Unfortunately I missed most of yesterday's game and all of today's while at work, but received text updates from Debbie, who was mesmerized by the action.  The Germany-Brazil match was splashed on the front page of the New York Times.  I heard people talking about it at Starbucks and elsewhere.  It was a good day to be German, or in my case of German ancestry.

The Times' superstar soccer writer, Sam Borden, wrote in today's editions that Tuesday was supposed to be a magical day for Brazil, playing at home and one game from reaching the final.  "No one could have guessed the tears would come before halftime," Borden wrote.  "No one could have imagined there would be flags burning in the streets before dinner. Certainly no one could have envisioned that any Brazilian fans, watching their team play a semifinal in a celebrated stadium, would ever consider leaving long before full time.  It all happened."  He compared the Brazilian side to an "overmatched junior varsity squad that somehow stumbled into the wrong game."

Borden quoted Moacir Barbosa, the goalkeeper for Brazil when it lost to Uruguay in the 1950 final (also played in Brazil) as saying before he died in 2002 that ever since that game he felt as if he spent the rest of his life in prison.  "That cell just got more crowded," Borden wrote.  "Every player in a yellow jersey on Tuesday, many of them superstars, will most likely be defined, and imprisoned, by those 29 minutes."

Another Times article, this by Simon Romero and Seth Kugel, described the reaction in Brazil. A sports newspaper there called it the "largest shame in history."  Meanwhile, in Germany, Alison Smale and Melssa Eddy reported the opposite emotions of the crowds watching the game around Berlin.  The owner of a small pub had bought mini-bottles of schnapps to hand out to guests with each German goal.  After 3-0 she had to start handing out small drinks in glasses.

Given the exciting nature of so many games in the tournament thus far, I can only imagine what the final will be like.