Well, we got a miracle and a thunderstorm. The thunderstorm was in Köln. It was so violent that it took out the TV reception completely and it was so near that we had to unplug our TV and the internet ISDN box. (We lost both last time we got hit by lightning). The miralce is that England are through because of a goalkeeping error. They never came close to scoring in the first half or in the last ten minutes, which I saw.
They looked dead on their feet at the end. Beckham made it look like hard work to walk to the bench. That is the fourth time they have failed to get their game going, yet the third time they have won. They have not made many new friends here, but their luck seems to be holding.