The Run of Play is a blog about
the wonder and terror of soccer.

We left the window open during a match in October 2007 and a strange wind blew into the room.

Now we walk the forgotten byways of football with a lonely tread, searching for the beautiful, the bewildering, the haunting, and the absurd.

[contact-form 1 'Contact form 1']

Halftime, 2-0.

Bart: Wow, my father an astronaut. I feel so full of…what’s the opposite of shame?

Marge: Pride?

Bart: No, not that far from shame.

Homer [quavering]: Less shame?

Bart [happy]: Yeah…

— The Simpsons, “Deep Space Homer”

[EDIT: Still applies at full time, 2-3. More on this match and the tournament as a whole tomorrow.]

by Brian Phillips · June 28, 2009

[contact-form 5 'Email form']