Hooray!

I am not a football refusenik (unlike Roba in Amman from whom I borrowed the image above), although I am not an ardent fan.Very often I have enjoyed watching Bundesliga matches broadcast by Sky Sport shown on big screens in one of the cafés I frequent.

Yesterday I watched the Germany versus Portugal game for a while, leaving when the score was two-nil which was very much to the liking of the others watching in Café Venezia.

NowI have read that this edition of the World Cup will be marked by high-tech innovations and the promise of a massive deployment of the very latest television technology. However my first impression was that these resources were being used in a way which was very disappointing. There were ultra-wide shots held for far too long. With almost the entire pitch framed it was almost impossible to follow details of the action. The director's selection of alternative and closer angles seemed often to be made quite at random.

In my view the televisual presentation of the game lacked the compelling and fully informative dramaturgy I always appreciated in the Sky coverage off football. Add that the disadvantage posed by the architecture of the stadium. The strong midday sun blazed down and illuminated a bright circular zone of the playing area. But the rest of the field was cast into deep shadow and it seemed that the camera operators were unable to compensate adequately. I saw the tw German goals scored more ot less in the dark.

Grumpy? I guess so. But on the web this morning I enjoyed the photos I have added below.