Friday, July 11, 2014

Lessons of life #1288790

Prayers can give you peace of mind. But it cannot give your favorite team a place in the World Cup Final!

Argentina! I hope the Germans thrash you like the way they did Brazil.

Tide of emotions

The Germans are ecstatic. What a win for them to move into the World cup final. Thrashing the Brazilians in their home ground with a 6 goal margin! No one could have predicted this score line even in their wildest of imaginations. Of course, a crushed vertebra took out Neymar and the sharpness in Brazilian attack. To add to the agony, a very smart move by the captain in the game against Colombia also ensured that their defense was left vulnerable. The Germans knew exactly how to take advantage of these, and boy did they make the best out of it.

I am not an ardent fan of Germany or Brazil, but deep in my mind, I wanted Brazil to lose. Two reasons - 1. I did not like the way they have been playing in this tournament. They did not have any emphatic wins, but managed to scrape through most of the time. 2. Home advantage. That should be applicable for the smaller players. I would like Nigeria or Ivory Coast or Japan or Korea to get that sort of advantage. A team like Brazil does not need that and should not have that.

So as the Germans scored the first couple of goals I was happy. But with the third and fourth goals, I started feeling a bit worried. This is not how Brazil should go out of the world cup. I wanted them to lose, but not like this. They were humiliated! Insulted! By the time the final whistle was blown, I no longer was happy with that German victory. I felt sorry for the Brazilians. The injury to Neymar, the big mistake by Silva, and now crashing out to the Germans in such a fashion! I hope the Brazilians will be able to handle this. So with high emotions, I turned off my TV before the post-match analysis. Yes, life did teach me a lesson or two about holding on, but this was an occasion to mourn. Seeing those 7 goals again will only add to the agony. I still don't wish if Brazil had won this game, but would have loved to see them put up a great fight and lose. A margin of 2-1 or 3-2 would have been great. 7-1 is too much. They should lose, but not like this. Certainly not like this!

I should have been writing about the German tactics and Klose's record, but instead, I am writing about Brazil! I hope they will never lose like this again.

Lessons of life #1288765

Wow! Life has taught me so many lessons. Look at the serial number of this one. Now, this lesson is about love. If you love something/someone dearly, just hold on till the end. And when I say "end", I mean the very end. Not until the whistle blows, but until the post-match analysis is over and the fans start ranting about the win/loss on facebook and twitter.

On Jun 29 night (or 30th morning based on your time zone), I made the biggest mistake of my life! Well the biggest mistake after the previous biggest mistake of buying a pair of shoes online. The mistake this time was that I switched off the TV at 72 minutes! Regardless of how boring a game is, I have never really turned off the TV before the final whistle. I did this time, not because the Netherlands was losing, but because they never looked like winning. I was so disappointed with their gameplay. But because of that, I missed the late drama. So as Sneijder launched that rocket, I was sleeping with a heavy heart mourning the loss of my favorite team. As Huntelaar drove the ball past Ochoa, I was sleeping with a heavy heart mourning the loss of my …. Wait, I already said that, right? So lesson learnt well. If you love something/someone dearly, hold on till the end. The very end!

By the way, will Netherlands consider including Robben for their swimming team?