Nicholas Laughlin's blog etc.

Not watching the match, Part 7

My father's not happy about how the team is playing. He's wondering if coach Leo Beenhakker has told the players to "take it easy".

Snatch of TV commentary from the next room: "The sun was very, very hot."

In the half-time crowd shots, it looked like people were partying with a kind of grim determination--jumping up & waving their flags not for fun but to show they weren't dispirited.