Hot

If you're wondering why I use such short titles, it's to save characters when I post the link in Twitter.

Anyone with any lingering doubts about the impact of the heat on the tournament must have found the events of the last two days hard to explain. The earlier Friday game, France v Germany, kicked off at 1:00 pm local time. It was played between two European teams, and occasionally rose to the level of languid before rapidly reverting to sluggish and dull. The later game, Brazil v Colombia, kicked off at 5:00. It was played between two South American (and therefore comparatively heat-resistant) teams, and was one of the most entertaining games of the tournament.

The temperatures may be one reason for the noticeable trend towards fast-paced, thrilling climaxes to games. Take last night's game between Holland and Costa Rica, which was boring for 85 minutes then suddenly came to life at the end. Fortunately no-one scored before full time, which meant we got a brilliant extra time, with goalmouth scrambles and plenty of vibrating woodwork. Might this perhaps be partly because the stadium started to get a bit cooler as afternoon turned to evening?

It's hard to see the impact of heat directly. Commentators complaining about it would help if any of them had the ability to make facts vivid with words, but as things are we have to infer it from the torpidity of the actual games. The only other clue is when sections of the seating have to be left empty because they're directly in the sun. If it's a bit too hot to sit down and watch, it may not be that conducive to highly co-ordinated running about.

Looked at in those terms, it's perhaps surprising that England weren't even worse, given that English players are only really happy playing in a slight drizzle with a hint of sleet. But the climate's impact on competitive advantage isn't really the point, even though discussions among those paid to discuss have mainly been about which teams will wilt and which will flower. For us actual spectators, the biggest factor is the impact on the spectacle as a whole.

The times are dictated by the TV market, which for football is most remunerative in Europe. Rather than playing from early afternoon to late afternoon, the logical time to play would be late afternoon to evening, but then the broadcasters which pay FIFA for broadcasting rights would lose revenue. Of course, if the pleasure of the spectacle is reduced then everyone loses out in the end, but then why would FIFA care about that? To care about that they'd have to have some collective sense of being the custodians of something precious to billions of their fellow global citizens.

Meanwhile, after the usual excitement about dark horses, the usual pale old mares have got through to the semifinals. Belgium, Colombia and Costa Rica have gone, along with France, and we now have Brazil (5 wins) v Germany (3 wins), and Argentina (2 wins) v Holland (no wins, but three lost finals). The total number of finals between them is 21, shortly to be 23. For those of us who wanted a new winner, it's Holland or nothing. Let's root for them, and some snow.