Accidental Blogger

The past one month has been an embarrassment of riches for sports fans 
who love soccer and tennis. Being one  of them, I have been majorly
distracted lately, mostly by the fast, furious and elegant action on the soccer
fields of South
Africa. In fact, my favorite tennis tournament at Wimbledon went by without
my paying too much attention to the earlier matches. (The tournament ended
satisfactorily with two of my favorite players winning the men's and the
women's championships.)  

It is soccer which has been on my mind mostly. The first World Cup Soccer event
in the continent of Africa has been full of drama, defined mostly by upsets.
Several top teams have been toppled unexpectedly. Of the last four teams standing, three are
from Europe and just one from South America where soccer is only next in line
to the Vatican as an institution of influence. The only Latin American team
still in contention is neither the fabled Brazil nor the flamboyant Argentina.
It is Uruguay who will go up against the Netherlands in the first semi-final
match today. This is the same Uruguay who beat the valiant Ghana team in a rather
questionable way. (Why do the "hand of god" fouls always seem to favor South American teams?)  

I am rooting for Germany, now that many other teams I
felt kindly towards (US, Japan, Ghana ) have been ousted. Brazil's unceremonious defeat against the Netherlands was a bit of a shock, of course, but the Dutch squad is powerful. Normally I don't like most European teams and was very happy to see France, Italy and England make early
exits (France, very early). However, Germany has earned my respect as the tournament has progressed. It
is a young, diverse and disciplined team which actually plays like a
"team" in seamless unison, which is why both their defense and offense have been
impressive. They are also not carrying any baggage from previous tournaments.
Consequently, they were unafraid of Argentina's formidable reputation
and showed that in the one sided 4:0 whacking of Maradona's famed boys in blue and white. The bookies are giving better odds to Spain and the Netherlands. But I am sticking with Germany even though one of their best players got a
second yellow card in the last game and will miss the semi-final against
Spain.  We'll see.

My partiality to a German win is actually rooted in a bit of self serving superstition. I didn't
have much of a favorite going into the World Cup this year. When the games had barely begun, during a casual exchange with a friend about teams and predictions, I said that the 2010 World Cup would be won by "whoever beats Argentina." Now that Germany has handed Argentina a convincing drubbing, I am making that a serious prediction. We will soon find out if I have prophetic powers. But one thing I am dreading is that if Germany is the eventual champion, we are going to hear a barrage of WWII analogies of military precision, the Wehrmacht, the blitzkrieg and so on. Ugh!