World Cup

[Diane CBPFC]

It was like the 4 teams who were supposed to win won.

The refs calls were just but not necessarily equal. The incidents they let slip by were what nudged the games in the directions they were meant to go. Haaland who dragged the world along with his Cinderella story let us all down, especially his teammate Heggem when he sabotaged his own team's potentially winning goal.

I will see this World Cup out, but I think it will just be a one time fandom for me. Being a football is suffering 90 mins of anxiety and generally a feeling of disappointment. 

Out of the 4 teams going to semi-finals I think Spain has the most gentlemanly, zippy and accurate team.

Who is everyone rooting for now?

[Mince]

> Who is everyone rooting for now?

The rain.

[Roger Kettle]

I'm going for France---birthplace of one of my grandmothers.

[Tarquin Thunderthighs lll]

You're spot on, Diane - we've now whittled it down to the four FIFA top-ranked teams before the tournament even started (although the top three have shuffled a bit, but England remain in 4th place). Which basically means the past month has been a complete waste of time, and I've been depriving myself of sleep for nothing so far. I think Haaaaaaland wasn't well. Why else would you hook the best striker on the planet with 15 minutes left to grab an equaliser, when he'd hardly done anything throughout the game?

Being a football fan is suffering 90 mins of anxiety and generally a feeling of disappointment. 

  Welcome to the world of Scotland fans everywhere, Diane - in my case (and no doubt, Roger's) for well over half a century.

Who am I supporting now? Well, I always say never write off the Germans, since I'm half Deutsch. But I'm afraid the horse bolted on that one weeks ago now. So it has to be Argentina for me. They've always been very welcoming to Germans, particularly after World War Two.

[Diane CBPFC]

My husband is also 1/4 French and 1/4 German (or Romanian depending if there was a war on and a flexible border).

I love to see Mbappe smile after he scores a goal, you can see his real joy in game.

My Dad was also very welcoming of the Germans after the war, after being a POW himself and losing half his body weight - then escaping to Switzerland. He was in charge of a team of German POWs who were working on the sea wall in Wallasey. He and my mother somehow managed to scrape up Sunday dinners for them each week.

I had fun in my Pokémon world this past weekend - it was the annual GO Fest - big game rewards. Met up with local players in town, some stayed all day and some came and went on lunchbreaks etc) and we drove around all day from raid to raid and also went out for lunch. I made GO Fest badges. We would pull up 4 cars wide with our windows down to communicate or huddle on the sidewalk, we had one little excited boy with us who would shout out "We're going in!" and "Shields Down!" along with the rest of us.  Brilliant summer day :-)

[Mince]

Is it generally quiet and sane in Scotland now that they have lost?

[Roger Kettle]

I've never seen the words "quiet", "sane" and "Scotland" in the same sentence before.
Diane, your father must have had some amazing tales to tell!

[Diane CBPFC]

Is it generally quiet and sane in Scotland now that they have lost?

Lost is quite a harsh term. They WON hearts :-)

[Diane CBPFC]

I've never seen the words "quiet", "sane" and "Scotland" in the same sentence before.
Diane, your father must have had some amazing tales to tell!

He sure did, his friend wrote two books, my Dad was featured in the first one and the second was about Dad's escapes.

[Mince]

Lost is quite a harsh term. They WON hearts :-)

Scotland took the scenic route to a heroic second place, and their triumph in the battle for our affections was marred only by their exceptional skill in not winning.

Is that better?

[Tarquin Thunderthighs lll]

No.

[Tarquin Thunderthighs lll]

And now Spain are in the final. If they end up meeting England I might have to leave the tent. I may be some time...

[Diane CBPFC]

Lost is quite a harsh term. They WON hearts :-)

Scotland took the scenic route to a heroic second place, and their triumph in the battle for our affections was marred only by their exceptional skill in not winning.

Is that better?

Much :-)

[Diane CBPFC]

Spain winning restored some of my faith in the competition. In my new-to-this humble opinion, I think they were the only one of the four quarter finalists that had a "fair" game. I am rooting for them to win the whole thing now.

I don't know what this "leave the tent" soccer term is and if it would be a good or bad thing.

[Tarquin Thunderthighs lll]

Spain winning restored some of my faith in the competition. In my new-to-this humble opinion, I think they were the only one of the four quarter finalists that had a "fair" game. I am rooting for them to win the whole thing now.

I don't know what this "leave the tent" soccer term is and if it would be a good or bad thing.

Not actually a soccer term, Diane, but a borrowing of the quote by Captain Lawrence Edward Grace "Titus" Oates. Google can explain it far better than I can.

My reasons for 'leaving the tent' should England win tonight are to spare me from having to endure whatever outcome a Spain v England final might bring, and my 'tent mates' from my own shortcomings as a result. Suffice it to say, my long-held antipathy towards Spain is entirely personal, illogical and petty, and has nothing to do with football (sorry, I can't use "soccer" twice, even though it is actually an English word, not an American term as so many people seem to think), although they are also guilty of perfecting the most mind-numbing form of the game ever (Tiki-taka), where they literally bore their opposition to a state of stupor through multiple innocuous small passes around their own half of the pitch until their opposition fall asleep, and then pass their way forward to score an easy goal. For that alone, I will never be a fan.

As for England, they have inflicted their 60 years of hurt on we Scots for at least six decades now, and if anyone presumes winning the bloody thing again will make that stop, they're only kidding themselves. It'll be 'rinse and repeat until long after I'm gone, but for the rest of my days at the very least. I should stress that it's the English commentators and media, and not the players that are the problem. Although Jude Bellingham adopting a crucifixion pose after scoring a goal to once again 'save' his team from abject humiliation doesn't help. I know the joy of scoring goals (I have a long enough memory), but the "worship me now!" stance never entered into it before. Very distasteful, and pretty embarrassing.

Rant over - thank you.