it's been a fantastic world cup to watch. i gotta admit, over the last few years, my passion for football dimmed a bit. my father tells me it's normal to outgrow our childhood passions and perhaps he's right. all i know is i have watched more football this month than in the last 2 years, and it's been nice to feel that sense of excitement minutes away from the beginning of an important game once again.
although it was a shame italy didn't give a good account of themselves, their early elimination gave me a chance to focus my attention on teams i wasn't familiar with. i haven't watched all the games (far from it infact), but i enjoyed almost all the ones i got to watch.
the only sad chapter of this story was brasil's demise. last year, after the confederations cup, i realised this team couldn't have lived up to its country's football tradition, but that blackout against germany was almost too painful to watch.
on the bright side, they still had a good run. reaching a semifinal is a tremendous achievement, and in the end, they lost to a better team, so there's no shame in that.
i haven't huge expectations on tonite's final, because... well, because it's a final. i wouldn't be surprised if fear, pressure, and fans' expectation would weigh too heavily on the players' shoulders and get in the way of our desire to watch some good football.... but i'd love to be proven wrong.
if they were playing against any other team, i'd love to see germany lift the cup. it would be the fitting ending to a beautiful 8 years long story, as this group of players (and their coach) deserve the cup probably more than any other team. over the last few years, germany has been the team which football i enjoyed the most (alongside italy) and the world cup would be the most appropriate stage for spain to pass the baton to them....
.... but i just can't bring myself to root against argentina, so i guess i'll be albiceleste tonight.
the third time he'll officiate an argentina game this tournament (think he did well in the previous two, though).
