It took a team led by Dutch Captain, Dutch Coach, French and Croatian scorers and an injured Dutch superstar to bring back what was seemed lost: you play football for 90 minutes and then the Germany wins.

I was not disappointed by the final score but mainly by the lack of effort by the United players. For both teams it was also a preparation for a crucial league game on the weekend and for the first 60 minutes it seemed like Bayern is preparing United for a game against Bolton, not Chelsea. There was nothing that I saw yesterday that can make me believe that Bayern can win next week.

Of course everything changes if Rooney is really hurt. It would be sad to lose but that’s why it is important to look at football through historical perspective: Munich was never a good city for United destinies. We have lost here much more.

meanwhile on a side note: throughout the game. there were major problem with the internet access at the stadium. We went to the person in charge and he just shrugged his shoulders and replied that there was no internet and there is nothing he could do. He claimed that there were too many journalists (really, it was Manchester United against Bayern Munich in the quarterfinals. What did they expect?) He never offered an apology for our struggle to work and send the articles back home.

I am writing this because I would like you to imagine such instance in June in South Africa. Can you imagine the rage and questioning of Western journalists about the stupidity of granting the games to a third world party?