TWO SEMI-FINALS

"The semi-finals of major football championships are always dull, tense affairs, with few goals," I confidently said to my bridge partner on Tuesday evening, "so it won't matter that we only get to see the second half of Brazil v. Germany". Arriving back around 11.00 pm, I was startled to find the score 5-0 to Germany. And we weren't finished; three more goals arrived in what was both a 7-1 thrashing and the biggest ever semi-final score.

Would Holland-Argentina be the same last night? Unfortunately, it was one of the most boring football games ever. At the end of normal time, with the score 0-0, Holland had not had one shot on target. I thought about watching extra time, but I couldn't keep my eyes open, and had to go to bed. It ended 0-0 and went to penalties (won by Argentina), but I was beyond caring.

Football without goals is very dull. Germany deserve to win the tournament, and I hope they do so on Sunday.

Walter Blotscher