Sunday, July 15, 2018

Quarterfinals Day One

Ohhhh no no no no this cup is rough.  I dreamt about the soccermen last night, shrouded in darkness, chanting an a-melodic dirge.  Standing all in a line, three deep, their threnody a susurration of insanity and despair.

Wait, no - quarterfinals.  France over Uruguay 2-0.  At this level every team has just about the best offense one could ask for - every now and again the stars align and you get a player like Pele with a team like Brazil to support them, but we've seen the super-stars in the Cup not get their offensive support and go down.

Imagine a didgeridoo, that kind of sound.  Now add a theramin.  But with a choir of voices, and not quite as loud as you might expect. 

So it comes down to defense, and goalkeeping.  Uruguay has a reputation of a tight defense but we didn't see much this game; France's was good.  Not super-awesome like Belgium, but good.  But compare the French and Uruguayan keepers with similar shots - the Uruguayan keeper couldn't get behind it, but the French keeper did.

And then the second French goal went of the Uruguayan keeper's hands and into the goal, so there's that kind of misery too.

Like I said, at this level everyone has a good offense.  Some teams also have a good defense and we'll see which are which in the finals.  And a very few of the keepers are magical.

You remember static on a TV - or maybe white noise?  If you focus and concentrate, your brain will find patterns in the chaos, because that's what we're good at?  That's the feeling I got from their dirge.

Brazil is fun to watch, when they're on and dancing.  Belgium is technically solid and tight, if a bit conservative.  Oh, the score was 2-1, Belgium over Brazil, and it came down to defense.  Brazil took 26 shots to Belgium's 8, but the Belgian defense was like trying to kick through a fucking wall, and it was, bar none, the best example of keeping I've seen in a game.  Both Belgian goals were scored in the first half hour - and the Brazil just could not get anything in.  Well, except one, in the 75th minute, but 26 to 8 on shots you do not expect to go the way this game did.

Sonya and I walked to one of the bars for this one, and I'm glad she did:

"Hey Sonya - do you see that cloud of like bat-winged forms fluttering morosely over the goals?"

"No - what are you talking about?"

"Oh - okay.  But what about the yellow-robed monks behind the Brazilian coach?"

"Yeah - aren't those the cheerleaders?  Strange how they just sway side to side with their heads down."

It helps with an objective observer, you know?  I mean FIFA is a nightmare of corruption, chthonic horror, and the abyss, but maybe some of it is really inside me?  Maybe I can get through the next five days of the Cup and emerge - well, emerge in some semblance of mental health.

Okay.  France and Belgium will play in the semi finals Tuesday.  Belgium will win: anything can happen in the cup, of course, but I am as sure of this prediction as any I've made.

Tomorrow is Sweden vs England, and Russia  vs Croatia.  Wednesday is the winners of that; I'm guessing England vs Croatia.  Then the winner of that (England?) will face Belgium in the finals.

Good luck out there.  It is a dark time, this Cup.  Bring light and a friend.

  -Dave

No comments:

Post a Comment