Brazil/England outrage – readers offer support

Pain eased by declarations of international solidarity

Letters Thanks very much to all of those readers who expressed sympathy with my plight as I struggled to reconcile World Cup defeat with the need to maintain a viable relationship with my Brazilian wife.

Less thanks, it must be said, are due to the many Brazilian sysadmins who found that they had time available to express their delight at my discomfort. Try this one out from João Santos

Hello Lester. I'm an avid The Register reader and couldn't avoid noticing your article on your wife being Brazilian. I have to congratulate you on your choice. Brazilian women are the best, and you shouldn't blame her because as you KNOW Brazil played a lot better soccer than England. I could go on and on but I think you already got someone to remember you on this great game. Say a big OI from Brazil to her, will you?

Please go welcome the guys at the airport. They need your support now. While us brazilians need more BEER!!!

Thanks for that João. The wife says hello. Regarding the beer, I don't believe your need could possibly be greater than our own - really. Enough of the crowing, let's hear from Martin Chapman, a man who knows:

Lester, I feel your pain!

My fiancee hails from Rio and I too am in Brasil hell! (Plus our first baby is ready to drop any moment, but managed not to kick throughout the match... again, a sure sign of neutrality!!!)

At least work seems a mighty good option at present ;o)

Yes it does. Still, there's always someone worse off than yourself, as Colin Cruickshank proves:

Take heart. A good friend of mine, his wife is Italian, and I am surrounded by them at work.

Ugly does not even begin to describe it...

It is ugly, but is it ugly enough? No. Try this from Vincent Pickering:

Just read your article. Having a German wife, I can only sympathise with your predicament. Your only consolation is that the samba is much more fun to look at than lederhosen.

Yes, it's true that the daughters of Copacabana certainly have the jump on the leather-clad sons of the Tyrol. Nevertheless, both are a clear penalty shootout ahead of the good burghers of Netherlandia, home of football oblivion:

It can always get worse: You could have been dutch...Like me..Now all of holland has to follow the red bunnies of korea since their coach is dutch.. How's that for very pathetic?

Pretty good. If the future is bright, it's certainly not orange, boom boom!

But enough of this frivolous banter. Let's put this World Cup to bed with a final offering from Thomas Mason, who's obviously got his heroes mixed up with his icons:

"Now, if you'll excuse me, I'm going to lock myself in the shed for a week with a photograph of Bobby Moore."

Why? Are you gay for Bobby Moore? If I was going to lock myself in a shed for a week and was allowed to take only one photo, it would at least be of someone like Natalie Portman. Come on, get a grip man.

You're right. Now, if you'll excuse me, I'm off to lie down in a rain-filled ditch for three weeks with a fold-out poster of Victoria Beckham and a biography of Lord Nelson. ®