Mr. Brightside || João Félix

T W E N T Y - S I X

Thursday, December 1st 2022 8:15PM

The Mexican national team and I just came back from watching the Croatia vs Belgium game which unfortunately ended in a tie but Croatia would still be moving on. It wasn't the entire national team, just a few of the guys, the ones I was closest to, Memo, Vega, Alvarado, both Alvarez, Frankie, Chavez, Herrera, Lozano and Montes, Guardado had to get back to Spain and a lot of the players just wanted to go home.

We were currently on our way to the Germany game. We had to chose between that one and the Spain one; we decided to go to Germany because Spain would have at least one more game while Germany wasn't looking too good. We arrived shortly and meet Cris, Hugo, Sophia and João; Nessa and Cooper had decided to go with the group of tiktokers that had come with me (Kio, Alejandro, Matia, and Santea).

9:00PM   C O S T A   R I C A   V S   G E R M A N Y

"Why didn't we practice today ?" I ask João as the game begins.

"No clue," he shrugs.

"Do we have practice tomorrow ?" I ask.

"No, it's game day," he says.

"I'm so confused, I don't understand why practice was canceled," I sigh.

"Me either, but I enjoyed the day off," he laughs and so do I.

In the first couple minutes, Germany has us loudly celebrating their first goal this match.

"Does Germany have a chance to make it to round of 16s ?" Kevin asks me.

"Yeah," I reply.

"There's no excitement in that yeah," Luis laughs.

"Because it's between them and Spain," Frankie informs the group.

"I love both teams equally, I'd hate to see them leave," I sigh.

We continue watching the first half as there's a few more chances, especially from Costa Rica, but no more goals.

"I'm so anxious," Sophia, Kai's girlfriend said, bouncing her leg as we enter halftime.

I smile at her, "Germany is playing good, they can score again but they have to make sure to not concede any more goals," I say. Germany has conceded a total of 3 goals this tournament while Spain only has conceded 1. "Spain scored," I say checking the score on my phone.

"What's their GF/GA ratio compared to Germany ?" Hugo asks.

"Spain's GF/GA is 9 to 1 while Germany's is 2 to 3," I sigh.

"High hopes," Sophia smiled, "they still have a chance.

I quietly scoff because hope seems so silly now, perhaps I'm salty because Mexico got eliminated. "Is this what I was like yesterday ?" I quietly ask to no one in particular.

"Yes," Memo quietly laughs, "it's okay to have faith in your team," he tells me.

"Imaginémonos cosas chingonas," (Let's imagine cool/ great things) I smile to myself.

The second half begins and a few changes are made from both teams. We watch on as Costa Rica ties the game.

"Fuck," I hear Sophia mumble, and I see Alexis encouraging her to keep her high hopes, while she begins to scream at the coach to put Kai in.

"Costa Rica has no chance in making it to the round of 16s, what's the point I'm trying ?" I ask.

"You don't come to the World Cup just to half ass it, even if you don't stand a chance," Hector tells me.