The real reason why Germany lost yesterday...

I first saw them coming on to the field dressed in their conventional garb of white on black. And maybe I should have gotten the hint.

The contenders were the same as those of the Euro 2008 final. Germany vs Spain. Back in 2008, Spain was a strong team. Now, a fraction of that genius team remains supported on the able shoulders of Casillas. But then somehow, after the showing against Argentina, the German side looked infallible! Fine, so you trounced England 4-1. But in comparison, England was a weak side. And then you beat the side that was expected to win the World Cup 4-0. And that was when the dream got ignited. I rooted for Germany even before the Euro final, and spent a day after Germany's loss feeling very sad. I flew the German flag on a car, spent hard earned money buying a German jersey. I believed in the team. And then came Paul!

Now, Paul the traitor German octopus, who perhaps has a bigger audience than the German team itself, had been correct in all its predictions thus far. But if you looked at precedents, he had predicted a German victory in the Euro final and he had been wrong. So when newspapers screamed of Paul predicting a German loss, I felt that maybe he was half German and half Spanish, and so, his psychic powers were going skewed when it came to choosing between Germany and Spain. I felt that he was wrong in 2008 and maybe he would end up being wrong this year. My flag and the use of my jersey sooooo depended on his being wrong.

And then they turned up not in their black on black garb, but rather in their conventional white on black outfit. Red flags and panic signals went off there and then. I wondered why. If the black on black clothes hadn't been washed, big deal at least the stench might have kept the Spanish defenders away! And then it appeared as if the German team wanted to prove Paul right. It looked as if they had a duty towards ensuring Paul was right. As if Paul had pleaded to the team saying, "Please let my projection be correct, or my owner will sell me off to the sea food restaurant." And I must applaud the compassion of the German team. Man, had Maneka Gandhi or PETA seen their resolve towards protecting Paul the octopus, they may have received the Magsaysay award for social good! And they managed to keep Paul alive, by losing pathetically to a Spanish team that in a crunch match played like a team possessed. Although thus far, their game had been strictly mediocre, suddenly yesterday, they stepped up their game to the 'Germany-Argentina' level. And complacence or compassion ensured that Germany played football with only foot and no ball!

At the end of the day, my jersey is still tucked in, as good as new, with no occasion to wear it. I don't want to walk around wearing it with people saying, "Oh they lost soooo badly to Spain!!!" I've had enough of derision and sympathy on Facebook to want any more in the real world. The flags, however are still flying on the car, not because of any reason, except that no one can find any more Spanish or Holland flags at any store anywhere! And Germany still cowers with pain at the mention of the word Spain.

Black beat Blue, black and blue

Black beat Blue, black and blue! Argentina was touted to lift the World Cup and get the golden trophy back to Latin America. Maradona declared that he'd go dancing naked on the streets! YIKESSSS! I guess the cosmos wanted to spare humanity that horror and made Argentina meet the Men in Black for the quarter finals.

(Pic courtesy The Globe and Mail).

Anyone who had seen Germany had perhaps discerned that the team had a certain spark about themselves. But all along, no one spoke about them. Then they said Argentina was a sure shot. Lionel Messi was Magical Messi. The Maradona - Messi combination was supposed to be the next best thing since penicillin! Each time I'd tell anyone I know that I rooted for Germany, they'd say 'Boo... Argentina is the team to watch out for.' They even said England were favorites! But I admired the German team. One of the youngest squad of the lot, with Mueller being just 20! The oldest player in the squad is perhaps 26! Before being tackled by Ghana's Boateng in the FA cup, Ballack was supposed to be playing. And then when he was ruled out with a busted ankle, I was devastated. According to me, Ballack is one of the best captains the sport has seen and I must say, Lahm has lived up pretty well too. And then Germany lost to Serbia and people started telling me 'Podolski kicked a penalty shot into the goalie's arms! And you fly a German flag on your car????' But I stood my ground and then the match against England happened.

4-1, and the German team suddenly came alive. And today, they beat the best football team in the world, a team that was supposed to be unparalleled, a team coached by the legend Maradona. And that too, 4-0! The German defence was made of concrete! Even Magic Messi couldn't get close to getting anyone to score! Maybe the German goal in barely 3 minutes by Mueller rattled the guys in blue. But technically World Cup winning hopefuls shouldn't let their nerves get to em, right? And as for the goals? Well, Klose was missing in the game against Serbia, which was my reason as to why they lost. And true to thought, Klose scored 2 goals today and that too with inch perfect precision! It was a treat watching them indeed. This match was perfect testimony to the power of team work. Not one person looked to score for himself, unlike in case of Argentina, where passing for scoring was not seen as often as in the case of Germany. Mueller, Klose, Klose and Friedrich, all scored as if adding a cherry to an already perfect icing!

So the German octopus Paul was right. Again. (Look here). Wonder what it's prediction will be going forward. But this Indian says - 'It's been Deutschland this far. And the journey has been nothing short of dramatic.' Go Dramatic Deutschland!!

Bad Michael time!

A bad Michael day. It looks like all possible sport misfortunes have come bundled up together. First Michael Schumacher. Now Michael Ballack. Two sportsmen I truly respect.

I felt Michael added a dash of fun to an otherwise dull and drab business-as-usual Monaco Grand Prix. Technically race control said - 'Safety car in this lap'. Usually that means that the safety car would be pulled in in that lap. Besides, there were green flags waving which implied people would race to the finish line. It is true that overtaking behind a safety car is not allowed. But the race engineers in the pit garage were seeing the goings on and they got their information from race control. So how could that be all wrong? And we're speaking of Ross Brawn for God's sake. A man who built the man and the machine combination - Michael at Ferrari. He could not have gotten it all wrong! And, a penalty should be commensurate with the error. The lines were murky and overtaking behind a safety car is disallowed because it can lead to damage to man and machine! But here, the road was clear, the lights were out, the green flags were waving and it was an itsy bitsy overtaking manoeuvre. It could not have hurt anyone. The penalty - 20 seconds meaning, 12th position, meaning all points lost. Last time when Lewis Hamilton raced Vettel in the pits, that was dangerous. It could have knocked both cars out, and hurt the pit crew! The penalty - a stern warning. Now that according to me is unfair. Everyone in the sport should really be treated equally - be he an F1 legend or a rookie! Fine, if Michael was violating article 1.2.4. whatever, he perhaps needs a penalty. But commensurate with the crime committed.

And now the second Michael. I remember the Euro cup final where despite a bleeding brow Ballack came out to play for his team. He is a great captain indeed, responsible for getting Germany all the way up to the Euro 2008 finals! Pity the day didn't work out his way when the team lost to Spain. He is also a guy chosen by no one but Pele as one of the 100 greatest players of all time! With hardly a few weeks to go before the World Cup in South Africa, what has happened to him is terrible! Knocked out by injury sustained in an FA cup final. Well, Chelsea won the EPL and the FA cup. But at what price? And the injury was caused by a tackle in response to a slap! Again, let's have some equanimity here please! Ballack slapped Boateng. Wrong. Ok. But the tackle that resulted in such a bad injury was certainly not a commensurate rejoinder! A slap will tingle for a few minutes, the hurt ego will perhaps tingle a bit longer. But that's all. It can't stop you from playing in a tournament as critical as the World Cup! I sincerely hope that this isn't the end. For I remember how Batistuta cried in the 1998 FIFA World Cup after being knocked out by the Netherlands. For it was his last ever World Cup match. We all also remember the 1994 FIFA World Cup, where Roberto Baggio's penalty shot went over the cross bar handing over the championship victory to Brazil. FIFA World Cup matches that happen once in 4 years are too precious to let go of. And certainly not in such a painful way as in the case of Ballack.

All in all a terrible time for all Michael fans. Hope this is it, though and the happy Michael times come back soon!