On Thursday, Germany’s earliest exit from the World Cup in 80 years and Brazil's entry into the knockouts for the 13th straight time happened.
While the two powerhouses were involved in life-and-death battles, India’s cricket team obliterated Ireland during a massive T20I win in Dublin.
Yet, not many may chosen to watch the India game over the nerve-wracking Germany match, even if the latter were most unimpressive and deservedly thrown out by South Korea.
It is not that the Koreans were fighting for their own cause. They had no chance of making the knockouts after losing their first two games. But they played for their pride. And how well they fought, when most sides would have taken it easy if they had no chance of moving up.
The sensational loss will be remembered more for the use of VAR, which awarded Korea both their injury-time goals.
Surprisingly, Germany looked out of sorts when faced against Korea's dogged defence, and they had no clue as to how they should use the flanks to send out crosses into the box. They tried to copy the Spanish style of football — short passes — to make inroads, but that did not work. They rarely used long balls.
Sport can be cruel. Joachim Low would have known about it as he put in place his team and strategy to get a result better than Sweden's. But they failed. The Swedes outplayed Mexico 3-0 to top the group.
Unlike Germany, Brazil gained confidence and upped the ante after their draw against Switzerland, winning against Costa Rica and Serbia comfortably. Costa Rica almost did a Korea against Switzerland with a 2-2 draw, but that couldn't stop the latter from moving up as the second team behind Brazil.
The World Cup has already provided enough thrills and disappointments. Nothing can better Germany’s ouster, though the European challenge is still there. All eyes are on the Diego Costa-inspired Spain and Cristiano Ronaldo's Portugal. Not to forget France and the tough-looking Croatia, who slammed Argentina 3-0.
Argentina recovered just about to win their next two matches, but they were not convincing. Jorge Sampaoli and Lionel Messi have to regroup their players to face France. Whereas Brazil coach Adenor Leonardo Bacchi — born on May 25, 1961 and better known as Tite — should be more relaxed than the Albiceleste while preparing for their Round of 16 clash with Mexico.
Football in this World Cup may not have been all that inspiring. So is cricket for the Indians, who opened their long British summer against Ireland, against whom they play two T20Is. They then move on to England, where they first play three T20Is and ODIs each before commencing a five-Test series.
Trust Virat Kohli to send out teasers before a tour. Now, he's talking about surprising his opponents by shuffling India's middle-order. Only openers Rohit Sharma and Shikhar Dhawan are safe, as he doesn’t want to touch them. "The middle-order is something we can experiment with in T20 games," were his actual words.
Kohli elaborated: "I've got a good mindset regarding who's batting where. So in the next few games, not just the Ireland ones but also against England, we will look to be flexible and use batsmen as and when the situation requires them."
Generally, we hear about India springing a surprise in terms of including unexpected bowlers, with the likes of Kuldeep Yadav and Jasprit Bumrah being pertinent examples. Now a KL Rahul or a Dinesh Karthik can bamboozle the opposition one day, and on another, it will be a Suresh Raina or a Manish Pandey! Kohli is so considerate, no player in the squad will go back home after being a tourist. Everyone will get a chance to play. So nice of him!
(The writer is a veteran commentator and the views expressed are personal. He can be reached at sveturi@gmail.com)