A Last Forlorn Hope

So the Dutch flags and orange bunting form a new stratum above the St George's Crosses in the Ritual Hole of Broken dreams.

And faced with the weekend's approaching game - Germany v Argentina - we make the awkward decision about who we want in the final.

So we have considered the patterns in the clouds. We have studied the entrails of a (frozen) chicken - from Waitrose, we're not barbarians. And we have cast the lots, and the die. And we have consulted the wisdom of the elders.

We're gonna support the ref.

Unless, of course, it's Howard Webb.