The whole thing started because I got the fear. Like, real, actual fear. My buddy, let’s call him Mike, has been going on about the classic games he missed over the years, and World Cup 2014 always comes up. He missed the semi-final. You know the one. He still gets mad about it.
I was just snooping around, trying to figure out if there was some easy API or a clean website to grab the 2014 fixtures, just in case he ever asks again. He always blames me for not sending him a reminder. Seriously. I figured, hey, it’s ten years old, someone must have it archived neatly, right?
Wrong. Total disaster. I started by hitting up Wikipedia, which is usually fine for lists, but the times were all over the place. They listed the local kick-off, the Brasília time, and then some weird GMT offset that didn’t make sense for my local time zone, which is UTC-5.
The Scraping and the Spreadsheet Mess
So, the simple plan went out the window immediately. I had to abandon the single-source idea. I opened up a blank spreadsheet—Excel, not Google Sheets, because I like the pain—and I started a new file named WC2014_Fixtures_*. I know, super exciting name.
My first step was to cross-reference at least three different major sports news sites. I won’t name them, but they were the obvious ones. The issue? One site would have the date correct, but the time zone noted was wrong. Another had the kick-off right, but the actual date shifted because of the time difference crossing midnight. It was a complete goulash of conflicting info.
I ended up compiling a master list of all 64 games. This meant creating columns for:
- Match Number
- Date (Local Brazil)
- Time (Local Brazil)
- Teams Playing
- Venue
- My Adjusted UTC-5 Kick-off Time (The critical column)
- Notes (i.e., “Classic Alert” or “Must-See”)
The real pain in the butt was the time zone shift. I had to manually apply the conversion for every single match. Some days, the games were at 1 PM local, some at 4 PM, some at 6 PM. And because Brazil has this huge span of time zones, even within the country, you couldn’t just apply one simple offset. Most of the games were in the Brasília time zone, UTC-3, but I still had to double-check that every single time. It took me a solid six hours, and I missed lunch just to be sure I didn’t mess up the crucial semi-final time.
I finished the spreadsheet by highlighting in bright red the games that Mike had called “classic.” The Brazil vs. Germany 7-1 game? Highlighted. The final, Germany vs. Argentina? Highlighted. The U.S. vs. Belgium game? Definitely highlighted. That way, if he ever asks for the times again, I can just send the sheet and say, “Look, here’s your classic list. I even did the math for you.”
The Real Reason I Did This Stupid Thing
Look, the technical process was simple but annoying. But why did I actually waste a Saturday afternoon doing fixture data entry for a tournament that finished years ago? Because of what happened during the actual 2014 tournament. That’s the real story.
Mike and I were supposed to watch the final together. We had planned it for weeks. My schedule was clear, I even took off work. Mike, being the piece of work he is, called me at 1 PM that day, saying, “Hey, what time is the game tonight?”
I told him, “Dude, the kick-off is 3 PM sharp. Why are you calling me now? Get over here!”
He blew up on me, said I gave him the wrong time a week prior, and that he thought it was a late kick-off, like 6 PM. This led to a massive, unnecessary shouting match over something so stupid. He missed the opening goal, arrived 20 minutes late, and was salty for a week. He still brings it up. It’s like a running joke, but it’s not funny, because I got blamed for it.
The argument got so bad that we didn’t speak for two months. Two months! Over a misplaced kick-off time from a tiny text message I sent him about a month prior. After that whole mess, I decided, never again am I relying on some third-party website or a quick text message to relay critical sporting information.
So, this spreadsheet? It’s not just a set of fixtures. It’s an insurance policy. It’s proof that I did the work, checked the data, and created a document that is mine and therefore, accurate by my own verification. If he ever asks about 2014 or any other historical tournament again, I’m just sending him the file. I can literally just send the document and say, “The proof is in the pudding. Or, the Excel file, in this case.” I’m not getting the blame next time. I’m covered.
It sounds dramatic, but seriously, the lengths you have to go to sometimes just to keep the peace and enjoy a simple sports match with your friends, it’s nuts. Anyway, if you also hate missing classic games or just like having clean, verified data, maybe just build your own fixture sheet. It’s a pain, but worth the peace of mind.