Early days in the second quarter-final and the Brazilians had Big Ron enraptured. He sucked in the intoxicating rhythms and let loose with the inevitable. "I tell you, if this is a taste of things to come, we could be in for a CRACKER," he enthused. Obligingly, Bebeto glided home an equaliser leaving Ron beside himself with joy. "And if this is a taste of things to come, we could be in for some night," he shouted, willing another goal. Nothing happened, but Big Ron was in the throes of ecstasy now and his every utterance was coated in marvel. "I think that might be the highest I've ever seen a Brazilian kick the ball," he purred before turning to the qualities of Dunga as captain, applauding his readiness to give Bebeto "a good lashing" after a previous game. Dunga had, in fact, taken it upon himself to launch a physical attack on Brazil's fear beag. But nothing could dull Ron's enthusiasm.
At half-time, John Giles and Liam Brady were poring over the finer aspects on RTE. Chippy was adamant that Rivaldo had allowed for a bobble on the ball before striking Brazil's second. Gilesy, in less generous humour, contended that the lad had been a bit lucky. "Well, maybe he's a better player than I think he is," he relented, cheering up a little at last. During the earlier match, Gilesy had been in miserable old form. Possibly he was disgruntled by the fact that he had plumped for Italy to win the match, while Chippy was in upbeat form about the French prospects.
Brady felt that Pagliuca would make a hash of things at some stage, giving France the opening, while John Giles, although hinting at sudden misgivings, decided he'd stick with the Italians. "Just because you made that prediction?" sniffed Bill testily. Once the game began, Pagliuca showed remarkably steady form for a man about to make a hash of things, parrying shots and pulling down crosses as though he had been at it all his life. Affairs quickly began to degenerate into the realms of long-term stalemate and over on ITV, Clive and Kevin ordered pizza and settled in for the long haul. "Oh, he's got it where he doesn't want it," chuckled Kev as Petit collapsed after receiving a particularly poorly placed kick from one of his own players. At half-time, both studios were lamenting the preponderance of shirt-pulling and diving. "In the Olympics, you get a lot of medals for diving like that," smiled Ruud Gullit on ITV. "Look at that from the lad, eh, Yazoo," sighed Kev in the second half. "I think that might be Lizarazu," ventured Clive. "Eh, yeah, thanks." As the match inevitably crawled into extra-time, Kevin pulled on his manager's cap and offered an invaluable evaluation of the predominant mind set. "It's dificult to know how to approach it - you obviously want to score the goal that wins it but, em, you don't want to give one away at the other end either." Hard to disagree. As evening set in, Clive's tone grew more wearisome, lightened only by a flash strike by Henry. "Oh it's Annnnreeeiiiii," yelled Clive, buoyed at the prospect of being let off early. Penalties. "Well, I started with Italy, so I'll stick with them," said Gilesy huffily.
"I wonder is David Batty watchin'?" laughed Kev on ITV, as Baggio strode up. Baggio didn't do a Batty, but things didn't get any better for poor old Yazoo - he missed.
Albertini redeemed him with a lame kick. "He was confident - confident he was going to miss," mused Chippy Brady. All agreed the afternoon had been none too enlightening. "Cynical," concluded Bill with a shake.
