Note, please, that this first game is televised on ESPN2, not on ESPN. In today’s first World Cup quarterfinal, France and Germany, which emerged from the Group Round leading their divisions with identical 2-0-1 records and won their initial knockout round games rather easily (against, respectively, Nigeria and Algeria), now face one another. Both teams are dangerous, crafty, and intermittently explosive – and the fact that the U.S. team couldn’t make it this far should leave us with respect for the teams that did. Don’t stop watching now: This is the time to embrace athleticism, not jingoism.