We are roughly fifty days away now.....from the World Cup.
For an American....what the heck does this mean? Well....it's the soccer championship that occurs every four years. It rotates around and this time....it's down in Brazil. For German folks....it's like the Fourth of July, Christmas, and the second coming of Christ. Well....it's pretty dramatic, and around forty percent of German society will be frustrated, talkative, and stressed-out during this month long period.
Some details that matter? First, in this bracket deal....there's three games that matter for the Germans. There's the Portugal game on the 16th of June....starting at 1PM Brazil time, meaning a prime-time event for Germans as they sit and watch the game in comfort and with an ample supply of beer and brats. PLEASE do not call your German male associate during the game hours. It would be very displeasing.
I should note.....Germany is expected to have a tough game, but by some miracle....will beat Portugal. If they lose....it'll be a fairly dramatic moment, and frustrations will be shown the next day at work.
Game two? 21st of June....against Ghana at 4PM Brazil time. This means an awful late game to watch in Germany, with Germans likely up to 1AM and awful tired as they stroll into work the next day. The odds on beating Ghana? Well....Ghana usually shows up with one five-star player and gives everyone this brief moment that he might be enough to beat standard soccer teams. It's a German win.....with the experts already calling it that way.
Game three? 26th of June, at 1PM, against the US. This will mean a prime-time TV event, and enough sleep rest for Germans to typically recover by the next day. As for beating the US? It's not likely to occur unless two or three of the big names on the German squad get into red-card episodes (thus disqualified from this game) with Ghana. Throwing a couple of prime but lesser subs onto the field against the US....might go heavily against Germany. Expectation? A German win.
After this series.....the first and second place winners go into a new pool, with new participants, and the games start to go later for Brazil prime-time. This means a midnight start-time here in Germany. This has suddenly gotten to the union bosses across Germany, with most now demanding some type of schedule change for major industries....on the mornings after such games.
Companies will tell you that they will cooperate to some degree, but they aren't happy about it, and it will reflect in some minor trade-off later with the unions.
So you....as the typical American living around Germans....will come to wake up around 1AM and realize that there's sixteen apartments around with the houselights still on. It'll seem odd and you stand on the balcony to hear a singular TV audio coming from all the apartments. The secondary series will lead onto the semi finals, and then the finals.
The odds of the Germans going all the way to the finals? I wouldn't want to speculate.....but the Italians always tend to be one of the final four in this business.
For four brief weeks....simply prepare for soccer discussions, and tired Germans on the day after games. Then, it'll be over and we can all get back to reality. Oh, and I should note.....only ten percent of the German female population has any interest in the outcome of the games, and most will be a bit hostile over this lengthy and odd behavior from German men.
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