Wish I watched

 Unfortunately been having some health problems lately, so given this and time difference I was unable to watch the clash between Bayern Munich and Real Madrid in the Champions league. I suspected it would be a memorable encounter, and indeed it was, as I was only able to watch detailed replays later on.

I missed a great match with amazing goals. As always and annoyingly, Real Madrid are never really beaten, and the fought hard to get back from the 1-2 defeat in Madrid. Arda Guler scored twice within the first half hour: punishing a serious mistake by Manuel Neuer, and a wonderful free kick, with Mbappe scoring a third just before halftime. But Bayern Munich had also struck: Aleksander Pavlovic had scored on a header where the Real Madrid goalkeeper Lunin also looked out of place, and Harry Kane had scored on a splendid pass by Upamecano.

Just first half had already been epic as I just lay crying.

Second half continued with attacks from both sides, in particular Real Madrid trying to take a definitive lead, and Manuel Neuer saving the day more than once. But it took a splendid strike by the Colombian Lucho Diaz to equalize and effectively eliminate Real Madrid, who in the last minutes nevertheless attacked, leaving space in the back for the best player of the match: in the 94th minute the splendid Michael Olise could have taken time, but instead went towards scored on a marvelous strike that gave Bayern Munich the 4-3 victory.

Epic.

Bayern Munich sign in as favourites, but also in footballing terms; they are a true joy to watch, but also make many mistakes, thus making them enjoyably vulnerable... 

The semifinals are as follows:

• Paris Saint Germain-Bayern Munich
• Atletico Madrid-Arsenal

 

Bayern strikes first

Real Madrid versus Bayern Munich are always intense matches, and tonight's CL first-leg quarterfinal in Madrid did not disappoint. 

Bayern dominated the match from the start; at the same time there were many individual mistakes that could have cost goals. In particular Luis Diaz seemed absent from the match, but it was him who scored first for the Bavarians when they counterattacked quickly following a lost ball by Real Madrid. Soon into the second half Harry Kane scored a second for Bayern Munich, and at this point it almost appeared that they could humiliate Real Madrid. But one has to respect Real Madrid, who facing adversity nevertheless pushed forward, and good old Manuel Neuer (who nevertheless did also look shaky at the start of the match) had to pull some spectacular saves. In the end Kylian Mbappe managed to score one for Madrid, but pushing forward they also opened for chances in the back, where Bayern could or should have sealed the match. Young Jamal Musiala returned to the Bayern team as a substitute, but after a long injury pause looked a bit afraid, while Michael Olise was the best player of the match (Real Madrid is apparently very interested in signing him, and today's match must only have reinforced their interest).

A 1-2 lead for Bayern Munich should put them with one foot in the semifinals before next week's match at Allianz Arena, but in the end Real Madrid showed that they can still rise from adversity, even when Bayern has all the aces.

Walk through the desert of World Cup ticketing

I am one of millions of people who have tried to get tickets for the World Cup. And this is just the people with sufficient income who can hope to make it; the ticket prices effectively put 95% of the world's football fans from even consider going to the World Cup, and it seems understandable that Mexico's president, Ms. Claudia Scheinbaum, has announced that she will not attend the opening match, but give the ticket to an indigenous woman. 

In general I understand FIFA; they are non-profit organization, but want to make money from the tournament to better promote football for the fans... That said, considering the hundreds of millions that they make from sponsors and TV deals, would it not be better to do a more "democratic" ticketing system, that is both transparent, accessible for the majority of fans, and with price ceilings? It seems completely out of place that tickets for the final are being re-sold for 11000 USD!

Attending a World Cup football match is not for the common fan... 

I have managed to get one ticket for a match, through a friend who won the FIFA lottery, but otherwise was unable to get anything. A few days ago I logged on to FIFA to try to get leftover tickets (basically to any match in Mexico) but was left disappointed after five hours in line as only tickets to wheelchair users seemed to be available. At the same time FIFA says re-selling can only happen on FIFAs own platform (I have nevertheless not found this platform of people re-selling tickets), but one can buy tickets for almost any match at disgustingly high prices on platforms such as stubhub.mx or vividseats.com.

Why is this even possible...?

It is a sad state of affairs and it creates the massive distrust of FIFA, and accusations of greed and not being there for the fans. I do not think FIFA is like that, but there seems to be a problem with how they are managing this.

Bayern on record course

Trying to forget a bit the whole World Cup, yesterday I watched a match from the German league: Freiburg versus Bayern Munich. 

Mighty Bayern are on the way to take the title yet again (their 13th in the last 14 seasons) in record format. Before the Freiburg match they had 97 goals, well on the way to beat their 1972 record of 101 goals. But it was not to be easy against Freiburg. After 0-0 in the first half the side from Baden-Wurttenberg managed to get ahead 2-0 by way of Johan Manzambi and Lucas Höler on two mistakes by the now rather old Manuel Neuer. 

Freiburg was still leading with 10 minutes to go when the young Tom Bischof scored his first two goals ever for Bayern Munich, and made it 2-2 on two great strikes from outside the box to the massive disappointment of the Freiburg fans. And it was to get worse: 8 minutes into added time another youngster, Lennart Karl, scored the winner and 100th season goal for Bayern Munich as the Freiburg defense just waited for the match to end.

Bayern Munich will be champions again. 

The Un-qualified

Well, the last four teams from Europe have qualified. Personally, very disappointed that Denmark did not qualify, but at the same time gotten a bit tired of Danish news and commentators saying that Denmark were a better team.

They were not. 

Denmark had three straight chances of qualifying. Had they defeated Belarus at home, they would have qualified, but they tied. Had they not lost to Scotland away, they would have qualified. They lost after penalty kicks to the Czechs, who were both more cold-headed when taking penalties, but also seemed to want it more.

If you have that many chances and you don't make it, it is not because you are a better team. You are simply not good enough to be in the World Cup!

And if you really believe you are a better team, but did not make it, then the Manager is to blame. Mr. Brian Riemer repeatedly said that Denmark should and would qualify to the World Cup, but in the absence of qualification, he should take responsibility and leave.  

Other sides were successful in their qualification: Sweden took advantage of its Nations league option, even though they ended last in the World Cup qualifying group, to defeat Poland and make it to an unlikely World Cup where, frankly, they do not belong. 

Czechia, who lost to the Faroe Islands in the group stages, may have defeated my favourites Danes, but are not a team that will add anything in terms of football or fans to the World Cup; they are just there to take up space. 

Turkey, defeating Kosova, are in their first World Cup since their memorable 2002 World Cup, but have struggled to be there, and is unlikely to add anything either. 

Finally, while one has to respect Bosnia-Herzegovina for their heroic win against Italy, they will be nothing but an addition to a tournament with too many teams. Italy, again disappointing with another hapless qualification, is simply not good enough to be in a World Cup, despite Mr. Gattuso's previous criticism that South Americans had it too easy to qualify... I saw Bolivia play, and they were surely better than any of the eight European sides who were in the last round of play-offs, and would surely have added more to the World Cup that even the last four European teams who qualified.

The World Cup has too many teams with 48; but it has way too many European teams as well, and in a tournament of 48, it would have benefited much more with four less teams from Europe, and four more from the rest of the world.