German tragedy, octopus victory

Well, I learnt a few things tonight. One of these things is always to check the safety of the reclining chair before sitting in it with a beer in hand. The second is always to check when informed that beer is going to be available, that it is the normal beer with actual alcohol in. And the third was to trust in predicting cephalopods, as Paul, the so called psychic octopus, who has now correctly predicted every game that Germany has partaken of in the world cup, correctly divined tonight's defeat against Spain. Hats off Paul. Perhaps you will avoid that Spanish paella dish for a while to come yet.

I had heard of a rival to Paul, some sort of radio show based hamster (clearly football punditry is open to random species in Germany), who had predicted a German win. I suspect he may be re-evaluating his career options.

So, Germany went out. To be honest, watching the game, they never really felt like they were in it. The team that destroyed England and Argentina didn’t seem to be on the pitch for most of the game. Spain were, from my point of view, the team that deserved to win it all the way through, and it could have been by a larger margin.

This, therefore, should mark an end to a lot of the football related news on this site. The German flags will come down, the car horns will be dampened, the street sounds of vuvuzelas will ring no more. Sad, but a semi final finish is nothing to sniff at. Next up, the world croquet championships. Assuming such a thing exists to report on…