I'm beginning to see a trend here. First I backed Portugal to win, but they were knocked out by Germany, and then Turkey to beat Germany, which never happened. Turkey made a valiant attempt, though. Briefly going ahead after 20 minutes, and then pulling back an equaliser to go 2-2 after 80 minutes. But the German team proved overwhelming in the end and Turkey let in a third goal in the final minutes of the game.
It was really sad to see them lose, they had done so well, especially in their win against Croatia - wasn't it Croatia who effectively knocked out England? The Portuguese commentators were saying that the German tactics were "efficient", there was no spirit to their playing. Whether this was pandering to a German stereotype, I'm not sure, but at the end of the day the German team won, which of course is the aim.
We went for a coffee at the Café Santo Antonio in the afternoon, the owner is Portuguese, and her husband is German. After the quarter final, she made him sleep on the sofa, and she was really behind the Turkish team last night. I wonder if he slept on the sofa again?
Now the next match is between Russia and Spain. Most of Portugal is supporting Spain, but I am in two minds. I am really not in favour of Spain winning, I'm not sure why, they have done nothing to me, but perhaps it is because they put on such a lacklustre performance against Italy. OK, so they hadn't won against Italy for over 80 years, but it was almost like watching England play their usual defensive "let's not lose, but we don't have to win," kind of game. On the other hand, I don't want Russia to win either. Mainly because Russia has already won the Eurovision song contest this year, so surely that is enough? I suspect that the final will be between Germany and Spain. If this is the case, I will be backing German "efficiency" this time, and I will be vastly outnumbered by all of the Portuguese. Still, It's my telly.
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