The Impossible Dream

Just like last summer when France beat Brazil in the World Cup playoffs, something no one expected, the unbelievable happenned last night over in Cardiff, Wales.
France, who was being crushed by the oh-so-powerful-and-intimidating New Zealand All Blacks, with a score of 13-3 at half-time, came back to win and thus advance to the semi-finals in the Rugby World Cup.
I admit that my lack of comprehension about the game (see previous post- you know, throwing backwards, letting the ball "live", all those legs moving around in clumps) didn't dampen my enthusiasm last night. Quiet screaming by me, my husband and friend Pierre was the best we could allow ourselves since Estelle was asleep right next door in her room.
Just like last year during the World Cup, the streets were howling last night - the difference is that it is not the sweltering heat of July, and i am not 9 months pregnant.
This was one of the best games of ANYTHING I have ever seen. A nail-biter right down to the end. The underdog doing the impossible and coming back to beat the mighty foe. Thomas went from a state of almost tears to jubilation, dancing out of the balcony, you know, the usual, singing that damn Marseillaise (which is a bloody song, by the way, have you ever listened to the words?)
Frenchmen and women up and down the street, out on their balconies, hollering and hooting to each other.
What national team in America do we get this excited about? Maybe that infamous hockey game at the Olympics in the 80's against the Soviet Union?
Well, moving on - as a certain niece of mine who has just moved to England for the year & was quick to shoot off an email to me last night said, on to the next fight: Semi-final match, next Saturday, vs. England, who also pulled off an impressive victory yesterday in another quarter-final head-to-head against the other superpower, Australia. Now the All Blacks and Australia go back to their Hemisphere with their tail between their legs, eliminated in the quarter-finals both of them, a surprise to everyone.
And so, the age-old enemies meet once again - the French and the English. A very even match - could go either way. "We crushed them in.....(insert some year here)", my husband repeated several times last night, in the dark, falling asleep.
God save the Queen.