#365DaysOfWriting – Day Sixty
Tonight’s a big night.
Last night, Portugal beat Wales 2–0 in the first semi-final of Euro 2016. That was expected, given that half the Wales team was sitting out thanks to unnecessary yellow cards. But Portugal (and Ronaldo, who scored one goal and set up the other) played well.
Tonight is the big game though. France v Germany. Flair v efficiency. Great forward line v big guns in midfield (including that goalkeeper of theirs). But neither team has played to 100% potential yet. Which is a scary thought for Portugal. No matter who teaches the final though, my gut feeling is that Portugal might, just MIGHT win the Euro. They remind me of Imran’s ‘cornered tigers’ Pakistan team of the 1992 Cricket World Cup. After a very poor group stage, where they barely managed to scrape through to the knockouts, they’ve improved steadily to reach the final. And Portugal have worn green mostly through the tournament, so even that connection’s there.
Back to tonight’s game. I’ve been seeing a few stats, such as:
France have never kept a clean sheet against Germany in major tournaments.
France have never beaten Germany in a World Cup since 1958.
Germany have knocked out the hosts in major tournaments 7 times. 6 of those times have been in semi-finals. The most recent one was the 7–1 drubbing of Brazil in 2014.
So clearly, the stats and stars are aligned for Germany to progress. Can France break the hoodoo? Only time will tell – 90+ minutes, to be precise.
