this world cup was so awesome so far (as i mentioned somewhere before too) because the formbook was being followed more or less rigorously. teams which should had won on paper were winning, and those people expected to score goals were scoring goals.
 but every world cup has it's share of upsets, those matches when you just sit and stare as the supposedly better team simply self-destructs. this happened on the 3rd day of quarters. and it happened how!

eng-portugal. geiselkirtchen or gisele-r-kitchen. 0-0 (1-3 pen.)

a match being labeled as a walkover for england, with portugal hampered by suspensions to 2 players and threats of suspension to 5 more. england were managing to find the net at least once in every match so far, and 1-0 were the predictions.
the match turned out to be a yawn from the start. a big gaping yawn. lampard, beckham, rooney, gerrard- the STARS were just not finding any touch whatsoever. the very fact that hargreaves and crouch were the best two players in the english side tells the story, doesn't it. there was just no passing in place. now portugal were not playing well either- god no! they were as awful as england. but i didnt care, because i believed england were capable of so much more. rooney's red card was a bit harsh true, but then he was being a spectator anyway! besides, the game was much livelier when crouch came on after rooney (i never thought i would say this ever, but it's true!)
england's jinx in shoot-outs continues. scolari recorded his third consecutive win against england- wc 2002, euro 2004, wc 06. sven goes out. boo, england. boo for raising my hopes unnecessarily. and boo for an awful display.

bra-fra. 0-1. frankfurt.
this was labeled as a grudge match- the memory of 8 yrs ago, when france's humiliiation of brazil still fresh in people's minds. the messer-in-chief of that time, monsieur zinedine zidane, had been unusually low-key and almost a non-entity so far in the world cup. malouda and ribery, the two young french wingers had never really clicked. henry was trying too hard to be thierry henry when he should had just been himself. brazil were coasting, although the form of kaka and ronaldinho was a bit of a problem. clearly the odds were stacked heavily in brazil's favour.

but there was a problem in this analysis, one fatal miscalculation you see- zidane. the bugger is aging, having announced his plans to retire after the world cup. but then he is not a mere mortal, is he? age has made him forgetful. it does to some people. and so zidane just forgot that  he was supposed to be a fellow who is in the twilight of his career, a person who'll be always remembered for his heroics eight years ago. a person who has the respect of everyone in the league he plays, but is feared by very few. a person who people talk of in the past tense. a player who couldn't last for longer than 70 minutes for madrid. he just forgot.
and zidane's forgetfulness effectively spelt doom for brazil. the energy, alertness and enthusiasm with which zizou played was back. and it was mind-numbing, mind-boggling and (once you accepted that france were going to win) a treat to watch. mesmerising play, deft and yet pinpoint passing, those trademark turns, those stepovers, that lazy elegance, vintage zidane was on display. and france simply lapped it up with glee as zidane controlled the whole game!! everyone else just played around him (even henry. which speaks volumes about his dedication too). the french defence was awesome- to limit brazil to just ONE shot on target, which came right at the end too speaks volumes of thuram and co.

my dislike of france diminishes in no way- i will still continue to cheer against france for sure. but they deserved this victory every one bit. and brazil deserved to lose. formbooks-shmooks all were irrelevant. and i hail zidane, for just proving why he is, in my opinion, right up there in the list of footballers of the decade, rather past two decades! brazil never knew what hit them :-)

the irony- ronaldinho and lampard, voted this year world's best and second best player respectively, put up awful showings and were eliminated on the same day!  klose has a very good chance of winning the golden boot for sure, unless henry does something incredible- which he might very well do. 4 european teams in the world cup semis for the first since i was born. awesome :-)