It's the game that's been 8 years in the coming!
Tonight, at 9 pm, the French national team takes on the Brazilian national team in what might be the tensest game of the 2006 World Cup tournament--and certainly the most anticipated match-up for both France and Brazil.
In World Cup 1998, heavily-favored Brazil met France in the final...and France pulled-off an upset and was the WC champions.
They haven't met since.
And the Brazilians are back for blood.
(For those of you not up on international soccer: The World Cup is kinda like if March Madness happened only once every four years, and all the pro-players went back to play for their universities: Shaq playing for LSU, Jordan back at Chapel Hill, Kobe playing for...wherever he came from. I'm thinking I should know where Kobe came from. Somewhere near home?
But, for WC, you must add some ancient international bitterness into the mix. It can get UGLY. If France wins tonight, the "World" Cup will be entirely European. There is something vaguely unsettling in watching the European teams dance all over the teams from former colonies. There is some truth to the notion that international skirmishes (read: wars) are often reflected, or even instigated, on the soccer pitch.)
The "pre-game show" is England (not "UK." Will someone explain that to me?) vs. Portugal. Should also be a rousing game. England's victory last week was 1-0, with the sole goal shot by Beckham on a penalty kick. How more sterotypical could you get?
Yesterdays' Argentina vs. Germany seemed more like WWF than anything soccer related. One player had a ripped jersey only 3 minutes into the game. FYI--in fair play, no one would have his clothes torn. But, both teams were equally violent, so I couldn't feel bad for anyone. The first half--which ended 0/0--was rowdy and fast, with Argentina having control of the ball 2/3 of the time, but never getting a shot off. Germany had one shot on goal, which skimmed the goalpost and rifled into the bank of photographers.
At about 60 minutes (I think), Argentina scored on a beautiful corner kick, with a fake-out header confusing the goalie into blocking a non-existent shot, and missing the actual header. (Does that make sense?)
But, after their goal, Argentina relaxed and Germany took control of the game. After Germany scored with the game's 2nd text-book goal, Argentina couldn't rally. The standard 90 minutes of play ended with a score of 1-1, and no one scored during the extra 26 minutes of overtime. The game ended with a shoot-out, which was over after the 4th set of shots when the Argentines mathematically could not pull it off. The German fans (who dominated the stadium--as the competition is being held in Frankfort this year) went NUTS. The German players danced around the field, and the Argentinians cried.
If only they could have remembered that Evita was still with them.
Italy walloped Ukraine yesterday, 3-0. It was boring. That's all the commentary you get.
For further (and more "American") insight into the World Cup, visit here.
9 years ago
3 comments:
Bryant never went to college. He was drafted by the Hornets in 1996 right out of high school. Pretty darn talented, eh?
So, I take it you are big WC fan? We enjoy WC, too, though were very disappointed that the US got knocked out so early on. They were ranked 6th in the world, right? Alas.
I enjoyed the play-by-play here. Where will you be when France plays? In a pub with friends?
Annie, have you considered becoming a sports writer? Anyway--I learned that England plays as England and they use the white flag with a red cross. I guess Scotland, Wales and Ulster must each compete as "nations" on the world stage.
Did someone mention a pub? I just ran to Carrefour between matches (yippee for Portugal) and got two six packs. ALLEZ LES BLEUS!
nancy
Nice post - we should have turned the volume down on the French telecast and let you do the color. You even call the field a 'pitch'. We're not worthy!
I have at last found someone who can explain 'offsides' to me.
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