Twenty-eight down...

DISCLAIMER: This is another post about soccer. I promise my non-sporting readers that the next one will be about something else.

I was a little disappointed by the two World Cup games today, primarily because I no longer really have a horse in the race. I started the day with two of the four teams I was hoping would win (England and Brazil) still alive. (The other two were the US and Mexico.) Anyone who saw the games knows things didn't work out so well. The England game was sad because you hate to see a team go out on penalty kicks. But at least that provided some drama and excitement. I'm afraid the Brazil-France game had precious little of either, and Brazil definitely deserved to lose that one. There was nothing bonito about the way they jogo'd.

As for who to support the rest of the way, I think I'll go with Germany and France. I like France because they're definitely the underdog at this point, and it's always good to root for the underdog. Especially when they knock off the pre-tournament favorite. As for Germany, I have a couple less rational reasons. The first is that I can't with a clear conscience support Italy, which makes me very sad because I'm a quarter Italian (does that only make me 25% sad?). But the Italians play a grinding, unattractive version of soccer that I can't support. Also, I'm still a little jaded by their game against the US in the first round. The second reason is the less rational one. We're planning on having some people over for the final next Sunday, and we were planning on serving food that reflects the teams that are playing. I like to eat sausage with sauerkraut when I watch sports, so it's clear I need to support Germany. (Another reason I should support France over Portugal is so we don't have to serve our guests salt cod.) I'm not too strongly motivated by any of the final four teams, though, and I'd just be happy to see some exciting soccer in the four remaining games. Too bad all the teams are from Europe, though.