Is it wrong to hope for the worst and expect the best? That is what I did yesterday. I sat watching the quarter final hoping that Portugal would win, knocking Germany out and putting me out of my misery, but expecting that I wouldn’t get what I wanted and Germany would prevail.
A German defeat would have pleased me for two reasons; because I would have been right about the Euros for once and I could have genuinely watched the Euros without having any hope of one particular team winning. However, a German victory actually pleased me more for numerous reasons; Germany won, Portugal lost, Ronaldo bottled it and looked like crying, now I don’t have to put up with the horribly hyperbolic hype surrounding him, Ricardo was shit, now the Germans won’t think about playing Gomez, etc.
So I sat there with conflicting emotions, being scared that if I actually willed Germany on to win then they would succumb to a Portuguese come back that we English know all too well about. I am sure I’m not the only person who watches football on the telly and feels that they are in some way in control of what is taking place, no matter how far away those events may be unfolding – part of me still believes Steven Gerrard scored that last minute equaliser in the 2006 FA Cup Final just because I went to the toilet. Oh the pain. But if you think that is crazy talk then tell me this; why do you shout at the telly when that pass goes astray? They can’t hear you...Or can they?
But all the excitement of last night made me realise something. There is no way I am going to get away with watching any of the games left to be played in Euro 2008 without hoping that one particular team wins. Of course who I want to win can change during the course of the game, for example, when the Czechs were 1-0 up against the Turks I was very happy about where the game was going, then Plasil doubled their lead somewhat unfairly, given that the gaping hole in the Turkish defence was left by a player going off injured and not being allowed to return to the pitch until after the goal was scored. With that I thought the only way for things to be right with the world was if Turkey pegged the game back to 2-2. I would have then been happy if they lost in extra time or on penalties, but the manner in which they came back, and the sheer quality of Nihat’s eventual winner made me sure the right team were winning. BUT THEN the Turkey keeper pushed Jan Koller in an act of pure idiocy and my favour swayed back to the Czechs. Turkey held on and I was left a bit disappointed, but they (apart from the keeper) did deserve it.
If Germany had been knocked out last night I wouldn’t have just stopped supporting anyone in the tournament, despite what I said about not supporting anyone in the last blog. When England crash out of every major tournament we get to you don’t just write it off do you, you pick another team to follow and hope they can do what England can NEVER do. If Germany had have gone out I would have supported Croatia, because of my mate Slaven, meaning that if the Croats do the business tonight, the Germany vs. Croatia semi-final will be a strange game for me to watch.
We will always have our favourites.
Mine are as follows:
1. Germany – because Michael Ballack is the best player in the world, it’s just that nobody knows it, not even him.
2. Croatia – because Slaven Bilic is the best manager in the world
3. Holland – because are the defining factor of this tournament
4. Russia – because they are pretty average but play some lovely football
5. Spain – because they should do so much better
6. Turkey – because I still hate Rustu
7. Italy – because they’ve won enough to last a lifetime
So don’t be too surprised to see Italy beat Turkey in the final.
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