One World Cup I watched a Brazilian match in a bar full of Brazilians. As soon as the final whistle blew the TV was turned off, the music turned on, and everybody in the place got up to dance.
Yesterday I watched the Poland-Colombia match in a house full of Poles. As soon as the debacle was over, cartoons began appearing on two of the Poles’ smartphones. One showed the white Polish eagle against a red background, its left wing folded over its face in shame. Another featured a series of photos – a car sitting on a roof, a horse stuck in a fence, the Polish national team posing on the pitch in Russia – under the heading: “How Did They Get There?” A third showed a man looking at a World Atlas in front of the television and saying to his wife, “There must be some country in the world that we can beat.”
Some countries know how to win, others know how to lose.
