Three goals later…

Taking a late lunch, I got home at 1:00 — just in time to turn on the World Cup semifinal between Brazil and Germany. With Germany up 1-0 in the 23rd minute, my computer froze. I could still hear enough to hear the Ian Darke call of the Miroslav Klose goal.

OK, 2-0 Germany. Apparently, Flash had crashed. I restarted my browser.

I logged back in. And looked at the score in the upper right of the screen. It had only been two or three minutes.

4-0.

Holy crap. I don’t know what I expected out of this game, but I don’t think it was that.

"It's like amateur hour." "They've just completely given in" Good for the announcers for not going easy… #Brazil

— fansmanship (@fansmanship) July 8, 2014

The final was 7-1 in a game that will go down in the record books for all-time beat-downs. This was an NBA team losing by 50 in the Finals. This was a team losing 18-2 in a World Series Game 6. This was an NFL team giving up 600-plus yards and losing by 40 or 50.

So, a few thoughts as one of the semifinals is over:

1) It’s not over. Germany only beat the United States 1-0. They haven’t been playing GREAT before this game. The Germans caught lightning in a bottle, but in soccer this kind of momentum doesn’t always carry over match to match.

2) I’m not a big fan of post-game trouble. If I was a German fan, I’d buy a Brazil jersey and learn how to speak Portuguese really quickly. I’d blend myself into the Brazilian crowd and get back to my hotel bar as quickly and quietly as possible. I don’t mess around with that stuff when it comes to soccer. Wait ’til you’re back home or give it a few months before you talk trash in Brazil.

3) Ian Darke and his partner were really good. They contextualized the real situation in Brazil for the first time. Soccer gives a commentator 90 solid minutes, but it isn’t always easy to get the right words in at the right time. These guys did it splendidly.

4) Brazil looked like they quit. Darke said as much. They were described by more than one commentators as “amateurs.” The term “amateur hour” was thrown around, and justifiably so.

5) The more I see other teams break-down, I think the more proud of the United States team I am. They could have done better, but clearly they could have also done much worse.

6) On to semifinal number two: Argentina vs. Netherlands. As I see it, whoever wins this game will have the decided advantage in the final. Today’s game had an air of finality to it and I’ll be really impressed if Germany comes with a great performance in the final. Robben and Messi on the same field is not to be missed tomorrow.