Germany vs Argentina Who are You?: (2) ‘don’t cry for happy underdogs’

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Camporetro.com capture the star
Camporetro.com capture the star

So the 2014 World Cup climaxes on Sunday evening with Argentina’s overwhelmingly European-based team taking on Joachim Low’s Germany, the mighty conquerors of Brazil. Which of the semis will it most resemble: the goalscoring orgy of Tuesday night (one German player has said they eased off to stop it becoming even more embarrassing for the hosts) or the no-score bore of 24 hours later? You have seen the German ‘Who are You?’ with James Brock. Here is the balancing interview with Sebastián Masquelet,* an Argentinian writer on holiday in London. It was clearly optimistic to try to draw him on matters Sunderland …

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Germany vs Argentina Who are You?: (1) ‘why Die Mannschaft are invincible’

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What Campo Retro* would put on his back
A Muller we made earlier: what Campo Retro* would put on his back

We did it in 2010 so why not again? The World Cup final is not, as we all know, as important, say, as MUFC v SAFC or SAFC v WBA were last season, or indeed a season-deciding match featuring Sunderland Ladies or the reserves. But it’s been, on the whole a grand tournament, and we are proud to present the first of our two Brazil 2014 ‘Who are You?’s. James Brock* is an American with whom I worked in Abu Dhabi. he is much-travelled, as that would suggest, and spent part of his early life in Germany. He is an out-and-out supporter of the national team (while also sparing some patriotic allegiance for the USA) …

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Brazil 2104: whoever you supported, choose between Argentina and Germany now

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The 2014 World Cup final: choose you team
  
pollcode.com free polls 

It is a brand new poll for the purposes of votes cast so you can tick the box that appeals to you – the Mullermen or Messiahs – even if you voted in previous rounds.

The dreary second semi-final is out of the way, though I did come across a Sunderland supporter at Twitter, Chris Weatherspoon (“recreational writing – usually on SAFC – alongside various modern life moans”) who thought it had been good: “Think I’m the only person who actually enjoyed that match last night.”

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Summer Gold: (2) goggles for Robben, pink mittens for shirt-tuggers

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This photograph from the Flickr files of the National Media Museum may or may not show Arjen Robben making one last attempt to perfect his technique ahead of tonight’s World Cup semi-final against Argentina.

Our Summer Gold series, recalling timeless highlights from Salut! Sunderland‘s archives, harks back to August 2011 and Ken Gambles‘s entertaining manifesto for cutting out the things that irritate him about football. Nothing’s changed …

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The face of anguish as Germans hit Brazil for seven

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Courtesy: TF1
Pure agony, but is the lass behind her laughing? Courtesy: TF1

Just like watching Sunderland “defending” at Crystal Palace last season, said Pete Sixsmith, and it may only have been two or three by then.

Like them or not, though, the German humiliation of Brazil was as clinical as it was excruciating to follow.

It was torture for the home fans, of course, but painful enough, too, for anyone with a passing preference for Brazil. I kept thinking of those people who cannot properly enjoy Fawlty Towers. They appreciate John Cleese’s comic genius and the superb writing of Cleese and Connie Booth, then his wife and Polly in the series. They just wince too much at the agonies of Basil to be able to laugh at the gags and slapstick,

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Stand by for a manufactured shock: summer’s here, no big signings yet

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Jake: 'this is the place where you find true support, unconditional commitment'
Jake: ‘this is the place where you find true support, unconditional commitment’

M Salut writes: thanks to ‘Dinlow’, an error that crept into this report has been corrected (I misled myself into writing that Fletch had not played for Poyet, a ridiculous error – I was there often enough when he did – for which I apologise) ….

Around this time of each year, a few things happen.

Wimbledon’s gone, summer holidays are about to get into full swing, some fan sites abandon joined-up writing and run such pre-school headlines as Never Trust a Mackem: The Reason Why … and people starting moaning about the lack of signings.

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