Kevin Whitcher
We arrived in Rio at 3am on Thursday morning and took a taxi to the hotel. The taxi driver wanted to charge us a set fee of 70 real, but we insisted on him using the meter. It was 40 real on that and even then, we think he might have slightly elongated the route. Our hotel was in the centre of the city, a long way from the beach, although not too far from the Maracana. It will be easily reached by metro for our final match of the trip on Saturday evening between Uruguay and Colombia. The area around does not look very inviting, but we can simply head to nicer parts by metro or taxi as required.
After about five hours' sleep, we caught the tail end of the hotel breakfast before Sanj and Adam headed to Ipanema Beach. I stayed in the room to catch up with some work before the 1pm kick off of the final group G matches. I chose to watch Portugal play Ghana, and occasionally hopped channel to check whether USA and Germany would play out a convenient draw. The latter game went ahead in spite of torrential rain in the morning in Recife which left some streets under more than a foot of water. It was bad enough our reaching the stadium there to see Italy v Costa Rica on a dry day, so credit to all the spectators that actually made it for this one. It is 17km from where the bulk of the hotels are (and even futher from where we stayed in the less salubrious part of town). Apparently, some spectators abandoned their vehicles and started walking. Still, the game went ahead and it did look to me like the ball bounced truly enough from what I saw of proceedings. Germany delivered the required result - a victory - to give the two teams in the other match a chink of daylight and possible qualification.
Cristiano Ronaldo has not had a tournament to remember, and has been outshone by Messi, Neymar and his own team-mate Karim Benzema. Anonymous in the game against Germany, possibly due to injury, he was a little better against the USA, setting up the last minute equaliser, but was still not the player we know him to be. Against Ghana, in fairness, he was unfortunate. Portugal needed to win by maybe four goals, and he came close to scoring about five times, hitting the crossbar, missing by a whisker, forcing saves from the keeper etc etc. He did score one in the 80th minute, but his lack of celebration said it all. Ghana had the better mathematical chance of progress due to goal difference, but their failure to win put paid to that. Ultimately, both teams' failure to beat the USA proved decisive. Adam later told me that some estimated 200,000 people had made the trip to Brazil from the States for these finals, quite obviously most of them not attending the actual USA matches. However, even as an individual that is not a lover of the USA, the argument for them to be awarded the 2022 World Cup ahead of Quatar is obvious. There seems so much more enthusiasm for football there now than I suspect existed in 1994. I wonder if the decision is reversed regarding Quatar the recipients of all the funds buying their votes will have to pay the money back!
I caught the metro to Ipanema myself after the game was completed. I later found out that one M. Wenger had been playing beach volley-football - or whatever they call it - on that very stretch of sand earlier in the day, presumably a stunt for French TV. Adam and Sanj did not spot him either. I was emailed a great pic of him with a bikini clad female with a comment about Le Boss being in Brazil talent spotting. I am sure it has been widely circulated back home.
As for the beach itself, let's just leave it as saying it is a place of outstanding natural beauty, much of it wearing a bikini. And there were some lads from England who had hung their St George flags up between poles normally used for volleyball. I met up with my two travelling companions at the Fan Fest at the far end of the Copacabana and we watched the first half of Russia v Algeria on the big screen. There was a large group of people chilling out sitting on the sand to catch the game except for three pricks in the middle who insisted on standing. Don't you just love people who think the whole world revolves around them? They were politely requested to sit down but were not having it. Confirmation that there are arseholes the world over. We were hungry so went to watch the second half, ironically, in an Arabian restaurant. Algeria got the draw they required to go through the Fabio Capello managed to do even worse than he had with England four years ago. And before 2010, I had him down as a results man who could achieve. Not at international level. It meant that two African teams had made it through to the last 16. At one stage, it appeared than there might not be any.
It was dark by this time - although only 7pm - but still pleasantly warm. Certainly not oppressive. Still, this is Rio in the winter. God alone knows how little the women wear when the temperatures rise. We strolled around the shops as I needed to buy gifts for the folks back home. By this time, a trendy pair of Haviana flip flops I had bought in Manaus were cutting into one of my feet, so they won't be used extensively again. You can't 'wear in' flip flops like shoes can you? Anyway, I liked the buzz of the place, even the traffic. The shops all being open when it is dark and the feeling that you are in the midst of something vibrant and feelgood. The other lads are of the opinion that the girls here are better looking than anywhere else we have been in Brazil. Not being young, free and single, I couldn't possibly comment.
Around about 9pm, we took a cab back to the hotel, somewhat knackered from the four hour flight the night before. The traffic was pretty clogged, even at that time. A fact of life here. We had plenty of time in the midst of it to practice Portuguese pronounciation when our driver produced a card with standard phrases, which gave us a bit of a chuckle. Friday is a day without football. We will do a bit more of the tourist stuff and relax a bit.
As for the tournament itself, so far, so good. The final stages look to offer some classic match-ups if the more fancied teams progress to the last eight. The potential semi-finals - Holland v Argentina and Brazil v Germany/France - look very tasty indeed. Of course, it might not pan out that way. In a sense, the tournament is Brazil's to lose, given the favouritism they seem to be getting from the officials. Key decisions can decide a tight game. The teams mentioned above have all shown they can score a hatful of goals, and I am uncertain any of them have a rock solid defence. One suspects as the stakes get higher, caution will come to the fore, which would be a shame, but that might be the way the cup is won. If I had to stick my neck out, I would say we will see a Brazil v Holland final, with the home team triumphing. That Messi fella seems to be showing a bit of form though, so who can say...
