It's coming home, the story continues

We have four games to look forward to over the next two days, I am actually not going to dwell on them too much and instead focus on what happened on Tuesday night.

Today, we have the yodeling cheese maker’s fresh from their titanic escape from the jaws of defeat, and their subsequent victory over the world champions from the land of the snails and frogs legs. Once again the white flags were quickly raised as Les Bleus succumbed to defeat on Penalties. In the crowd, there was a verbal slanging match going on between the parents of some of the players as to who was to blame. As I had written there is nothing like the Froggies losing it.

Their opponents today are the Toreadors, who escaped the ignominy of giving away a two goal lead themselves and suffering the same fate as the froggies, by beating Croatia in extra time. They have now scored ten goals in their last two matches.

Have the Swiss shot their bolt, have the Spanish run out of ammunition, will this be a score bore? So many questions and I have no idea. I went with Les Bleus beating the Swiss, but they showed the bravery of William Tell, to come through, can they do it again?  I doubt it, by I hope they do.

The late game today is, according to most people, the game that will provide the winner of the tournament if you don’t subscribe to the theory that it is coming home.

Brussels Sprouts or Gelato, what do you prefer? I actually like Brussels sprouts and have a very good recipe for them. The Belgie will be missing KDB and the Eyeties have been very solid.  A lot of people are tipping Italia for this one, but I’ll go with the dark chocolate makers.

Tomorrow kicks off, with the Cinderella team from Denmark riding on the Ericksen wave against the workmanlike Czech Republik. The Vikings should have too much for  the Skodas, but again who really can predict these games.

The game that closes out the quarter finals sees EnGerLand take on the surprise package from the steppe, Ukraine.

The setting for Tennyson’s epic Charge of the light brigade was the Crimea, nominally a part of the Ukraine unless of course you are the Russian bear.

We know how that went and what it was about, the foolhardy charge into the valley of death. Let us hope that it is not an omen and EnGerLand can survive their trip to Rome, and return to Wembley on Wednesday.

Tuesday night was, I suppose, what an out of body experience might feel like. EnGerLand fans were transported to a place that none under the age of fifty five had ever been to before, a Utopian paradise, Nirvana, the Garden of Eden, call it what you want. EnGerLand had finally overcome Ze Shermans in a match that mattered.

It is irrelevant that EnGerLand still have to win three more games before they can be called champions of anything, Ze Shermans….

We shall come back to this shortly.  I have been reading lots of articles by football correspondents describing their feelings after Tuesday, so I thought why not, I can share mine as well.

Firstly, we need to explain to the uninitiated, what it means to be a football fan. Football fans are pessimistic by nature, they always think the worse can happen because it once did in the depths of history. EnGerLand with good reason are an extreme example of this phenomenon.

As I wrote in the preview, since 1966, EnGerLand have faced Ze Shermans four times in knockout games and contrived to lose them all.

This is how it works, you start watching the game, your nerves are a wreck, those not in the know would think, you obviously want your team to score early. NO, we say it is too early, and we are bound to lose because we can never hold a lead, a good example of this was in the world cup semi final against Croatia in 2018 where EnGerLand score in the fourth minute and lost. Case in point.

The game continues, on the one hand you are happy the score is still level, but on the other hand, you are more worried about the opposition scoring and having less time to do something about it.

Half time comes and you can relax and take on board some refreshment, in our case an excellent selection of meat and chicken pies gracefully provided by our generous host.

The first half action is analysed and advice given on what to do differently in the second half.

The action resumes, more beers are sunk, we all return to our places, football fans are a very superstitious lot. Lucky items of clothing are worn. We all return to exactly the same seat, you cannot move because that might bring bad luck. When will the manager make a change. Twenty minutes to go and both managers bring on substitutes, you could cut the tension in the room with a knife.

I had two of my three sons watching with me and my daughter, a new mother herself, watching in her flat with her American husband. My children, since they have been old enough, have sat through the disappointment of watching EnGerLand lose, they are in their twenties, and they get it. There were a bunch of young teens in the room, they get it. None of these children were even born in EnGerLand, but they have imbibed the feelings, it is a part of their DNA.

EnGerLand are on the attack and it happens, they score, around the world EnGerLand fans explode in a rhapsody of ecstasy, singing and dancing and hugging each other. However, we know, fifteen minutes still to be played plus injury time, and it is after all  Ze Shermans, we have been here before and lost.

The tension is actually worse, those who chew their nails have none left, an almost eerie silence envelops the room broken by the occasional shouted expletive at the doubtful heritage of the referee.

Then it happens, the moment we all knew was coming, a mistake, Ze Shermans are away, clean through on goal and not just any Sherman, but one called Muller.

Muller was head of the Gestapo and was never found after the war, Muller was the name of the player who scored the winner for Ze Shermans in 1974 against the Orangemen. Moller was the name of the player who scored the winning penalty at Wembley in 1996. 

This particular Muller has won many games both for the NationalMannSchaft and his club side. He races towards the goal, the groans are already spreading around the world. In Berlin, Ze Shermans fans are up on their feet, already cheering, he shoots and would you Adam and Eve it, he misses. We go mental, Ze Shermans are bereft.  

Reaction in a Biergarten in Berlin

The tune to the Great Escape film, begins to be heard, followed by Hitler only has one ball, etc starts to resonate around the room, we do not need to worry about political correctness.

At that moment, we began to believe, but still would not get ahead of ourselves. Three minutes later EnGerLand score again through their talismanic captain, “H” Kane. Those who remember the Falkland’s war will recall that the Victoria Cross won at the battle of Goose Green was posthumously awarded to one “H” Jones. "H" stands for leadership apparently.

Even Boris knows who H is

Two goals to the good, but it is not over. We only needed to look at the games from the day before where both Croatia and Switzerland had come back from such a deficit with five minutes to go.

One minute to go in injury time, the game is all but over, but fans all over the world are still screaming at the referee to blow his F***ing whistle.

It is over, EnGerLand have beaten Ze Shermans for the first time since 1966 in a game that matters. It is irrelevant that they have not won anything yet. This is a psychological barrier which has been smashed. This was the proverbial monkey on the back, the ridding of the inferiority complex.

The feeling of euphoria and elation is hard to describe to those who do not like football. 

The games go on and maybe "it is coming home" who knows? Even if EnGerLand contrive not to win the title, they will never be able to take away this victory. We will all remember where we were on that fateful day.

The blog will return on Tuesday, with a preview of the first semi-final.