Hail Dida

Ronaldo displayed awesome skills when he scored the first goal of Brazil against Ghana the other night in the round of 16, but for me, the real hero for the team in that game was goalkeeper Dida.

My choice is not anchored on the fact that years after college I found myself keeping goals again for my club - Queen City United and also the Dads United, but on the way he kept his cool and composure against the relentless attacks of the Ghanians.

For a goalkeeper of a World Cup defending champion to be harassed like Dida was against Ghana, he had all the reason to fire tirades and curse the defense.

Although you cannot see everything that goes on in the game on the TV screen, during the instances that Dida's image was flashed, I never saw him shout or hurl invectives at the defense despite obvious lapses that could have resulted to a disaster for the champions.

Known for his ability to stop penalties, Dida religiously stood his fort and with a little luck, even managed to block a shot that could have snaked into the goal against lesser mortals.

Brazil's win over Ghana proved that the team is really strong as they won it despite playing poorly.

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I so much wanted to stay on and watch the final round of 16 game between Spain and France, but since it was scheduled to start at 3 am, it was best to just head home.

Although the two sides are considered to have a fairly even chance to win that match, I picked Spain owing to the team's performance in the group stages. It was just a surprise to see that the French won the match, 3-1, when I woke up early morning and tuned in to CNN.

I actually joked about the French winning the game during a chat with my friends Sito and David Ugarte before leaving Cielo after the Brazil-Ghana game, but never thought that it could really happen.

Even Ricardo 'Jun' Dizon, who was among the many people watching the Brazil-Ghana game in another venue that trooped to Cielo after the air-conditioner of the bar they were at conked out, believed Spain would win it.

Now we are going to see a rematch between 1998 finalists France and Brazil in the quarterfinals of the World Cup. Eight years ago, the French shocked the highly-favored Brazilians to win the title.

Brazil has a score to settle against France, while the French probably want to give Zinedine Zidane a perfect retirement present before he hangs his soccer shoes and such would make the match very interesting.

I still feel that Brazil will breeze through this one, but only if they play so much better than they did against Ghana.

The Ghanians may have bowed out of the World Cup, but definitely not with their heads down.

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There was a pretty good crowd at Cielo the other night composed mainly of teenagers, whom I often see in football tournaments.

Expect even bigger crowds in the places that show the FIFA world Cup games live as the tournament is now in the last three stages.

The quarterfinals will start on Friday (RP time) pitting Germany against Argentina. The game is scheduled to kick off at 11 pm.

Football fans will be walking like zombies this weekend.

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MILESTONES: Belated birthday greetings to a long-time friend Carmela Costales-Alonso (June 26), my classmate from our elementary to college years.

Belated birthday greetings also to The FREEMAN'S Catherine Grace 'Caecent' Noot (June 28).

More power to both of you!