Watching England and Germany yesterday was certainly an emotional affair. Not just because of the dismal result, but the practicalities of watching the game!
First came the decision of where to watch it and with the sunny skies above we opted for going in a friend's garden, a fridge full of beers and a TV under an umbrella to ease the glare from the sun.
We set up the Freeview box and everything looked ship shape and we were ready for the big encounter.
With five of us watching, there was the usual banter/debate about what the team should be, how we can win and whether we had a better side than the Germans.
Then the match started. The two German goals silenced our chatter and the only noises from the garden became the occasional expletive at England's performance.
About 25 minutes in we had our own drama. The signal on the television began to flicker and we were left with very little picture. Not what you want in such an important game when hours before kick off it looked trouble free.
We frantically moved the TV back into the living room, followed by the scart lead and tried to set it back up. In the midst of the chaos we heard a cheer from next door and thought we scored, so moved with more speed and less haste.
Finally we hooked it up and low and behold we had scored. 2-1. Game on. We were greeted by debate in the commentary about goal line technology and came to the conclusion that England's goal was contentious, but because of Blatter's decision not to have technology, we had got off scot-free. There were shouts around the living room of '66 all over again and we were making predictions of 4-2.
Then they showed the replay, and the short-lived praise of Blatter turned into the more familiar cries of "What a pr**k."
We went into half time having caught up with the rest of the world and the feeling of injustice, but also hope that England now had the bit between their teeth and could go on and win.
Unfortunately we couldn't have been more wrong and Germany seemingly cruised to the 4-1 win, with the only relief that I wouldn't have to think about rearranging my 4th team cricket match next Saturday afternoon. My friend Tom summed it up when he said that England would have given it more of a go in this World Cup with 11 Championship players playing.
While the raw emotion has gone from this World up from me now. There is still plenty more to enjoy and it started at 7.30pm watching Argentina and now, as I write, watching Brazil. The team I backed to win, Holland, are still in the tournament with a 100% record. Good times ahead, although nothing like what we hoped.
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