Fallimento Italia

Too little, too late, but whatever: I'll take it.

Allez les bleus.

Top 2 in each pool qualify; our Group B consists of France, Italy, the Ukraine, Scotland, Lithuania, Georgia, and the Faroe Islands. Having beaten Georgia 3-0 last week and now Italy 3-1 (hip hip hooray), we're at 6 points. Scotland is too, on goal difference having beaten the Faroe Islands 6-0 last week. Top 2 in each pool qualify. Eat it, bitches.


I'm listening to:
David Bowie- Ziggy Stardust

France v. Italy (again)

I will not be watching today's France v. Italy match. The fellow I am dating couldn't understand this for the life of him, so I broke it down for him into the three possible scenarios:

1. we beat the shit out of Italy. it's a pyrrhic victory after having been denied so brutally the world cup that we most assuredly deserved, and further adds to the Italian myth that the French can only win on their home soil. fuck that.

2. the Italians cream us. Fuck that, too. Were the world cup final a boxing match, they would have won the first half and the French would have won the second half and both the overtimes. Since the world cup actually works on aggregate score, the French lost but we certainly don't merit to lose twice in a row.

3. it's a boring draw with no spark. This is the one that's most likely to happen. And that won't make me happy either.

So instead I would be stuck studying for my Pediatrics oral exam (ha! I'm back in medical school! and it's kicking my butt!) were it not for the whupping I'm going to watch Raphael Nadal administer to Youzhny. Hip hip hooray.


I'm listening to:
David Bowie- Hunky Dory

Some thoughts on the end of the world cup. I still can't shake the bitter taste in my mouth days later. Charles Barkley always proclaims that American basketball stars are not to be revered as heros. They are just basketball stars. We turned Zidane into an idol, especially this last year as he came back to the French team. 'Dieu est de retours' said Thierry Henry; 'God is back.' Even as he slowed our game against Mexico and then in competition against Switzerland, he was still controlling the match. Raymond Domenech doesn't seem to take shit from anyone, he's a man who (is not a great coach but at least) speaks his mind. But even Domenech couldn't take Zidane out of a game when he wasn't performing up to his expected perfection.

I digress. I'm trying to say that the headbutt brought Zidane back down where he belonged, on earth. Materazzi is a primo douche bag, I've thought that throughout the competition. The French commentators in looking for a feeble link in Italy chose him, and I agree. Too bad their feeble link robbed me of my great happiness. Materazzi is a douche bag and it is my supreme hope that we learn whatever nasty comment he made to Zidane, if only to burn that motherfucker forever.

Other comments:
1. I'm obviously glad things turned out the way they did, but Scolari, honey, you watched Nuno Gomes perform in the cake game gift to Germany; now will you finally put him in your starting lineup? I've been asking nicely now for a while. Just because Pauleta has the stats doesn't mean he has the desire.

2. At least Ribery was hungry for the ball for the first 5 games, that covered for his complete lack of finesse. In the bar in San Francisco at which I watched the France-Brazil match someone catcalled, 'Ribery' everytime he had the ball which only highlighted for everyone his persistent fumbles, his overshoots (did I blog about how he's playing rugby out there?), and his lame passes back to his idol (see above), Zidane.

3. We missed Cisse. We missed him badly. That spark on offense was missing throughout. Of course, Italy had no Cisse, certainly not in Luca Toni. You can't win a World Cup with only one striker goes my father's adage, well the Italians proved that one wrong.

4. At least we showed that 1998 wasn't a mistake, that we belong up there with the other World Cup winners (and maybe, if I may vaunt, in spite of our draw to them in the 2002 World Cup), above Uruguay.

5. I especially liked Thuram's quote from before the match, something like 'It'll be the first time 6 players from Serie C play in a World Cup final.'

6. Allez les bleus, allez les bleus. La victoire est toujours en nous.

The WaPo remarks on sloppy, sloppy Gattuso, just as I love him:


Marcello Lippi totally agrees: "He's kind of a rough guy. That's just how he shows his joy."


I'm listening to:
Radiohead- No Surprises/Running from Demons

When it comes to Serie A Italian soccer, I'm a Juventus girl all the way. Chic uniforms AND Zinedine Zidane? OK, so he's gone now, but so is Edgar Davids, the soccer player who inspires so much venom in me that I'll have to save my wrath for another post (more than likely during some prolonged procrastination session in the middle of both the World Cup and my USMLE Boards study time.). Still I silently cheer for the blessed boys of AC Milan every time I watch them. It's not just because they're all so handsome, but because they're just such an all around stellar team from front to back (and my is that Pippo Inzaghi's front one to be marveled at).

The great eyesore on the team has been Gattuso for quite a while, but here's why that doesn't bother me: mine is a world ruled by onomatopoeia. And what do you think the words Hugo Gattuso should look like?

This here is a pretty good estimate, don't you think?

At any rate, I couldn't make myself wrap up my laundry during the last 10 minutes of today's (particularly boring) match between Olympique de Lyon and Milan AC. I just felt like something exciting was going to happen. And sure enough, there comes my boy Inzaghi and the unfortunately named Kaka to pull out the game in the end.
Aww, damn.


I'm listening to:
Blur- Country House

always on the ball

Rhymes with Dead School has discovered YouTube. While this development clearly does not bode well for this writeup on Actue Myelogenous Leukemia, it does mean that I can now relive the best goal I've ever seen, the goal that had me convinced France could win the 2002 World Cup in Korea, the goal that allowed me to finally contact my ex-something to gloat- anytime I like.

Awww, damn.

Aside from planning my summer around the World Cup, I haven't paid the least bit of attention to the sport in seemingly months. Arsenal is sucking pretty hard, at least as far as I can tell, and that's all I need to let me ignore this season entirely. I did, however, catch this article on Soccernet today, stating that our man in the back Sol Cambell has an ankle injury. I'm actually only posting this to make myself feel better; this season is clearly a wash for Arsenal, but at least this way England may suck a little harder than France at the World Cup. And since France's victory over England was for me the highlight of the 2004 Euro, I'll just accept that I'm willing to root for injuries as long as they help my team. I have no soul.


I'm listening to:
U.N.K.L.E.- Psyence Fiction

Hells yeah!

World Cup draw took place this afternoon.

France will face Switzerland, S. Korea, and Togo in the first round, with the hardest match first on June 13 against the Swiss. I'll grant you that we couldn't score against the Swiss a few weeks ago, but we beat them in the quarters (?) of the Euro in 2004. Togo is, of course, a no go (I'm going to regret saying that, aren't I? Because history does show that we lost the first match of the 2002 World Cup against an equally unknown West African team, by friends the Senegalese). South Korea is the team to whom we lost immediately before the last World Cup, setting off our streak of suckage. They're also the bitches that injured Zidane leading to downward shit spiral that was Japan/Korea.

Crappy luck for the US against both the Czech and Italy. Never liked them anyway. Portugal, my second favorite team, should do well against Mexico, Angola and Iran. No group of death that I can discern, but I've been on vacation from soccerness, with the exception of noting that that punk El-Hadji Diouf was pulled over for drunk driving this week. That kid has learned nothing from the blessings his feet have given him, they totally got away with petty theft in a jewelry store at the last word cup.

I'll be back on Monday with my picks and at some point later even my Top 25 albums of the year (in progress) and then songs.


I'm listening to:
The Arctic Monkeys

Stop the Fucking Presses

Heavens to Murgatroyd!







Robert Pires is single!

Here's the proof from L'Equipe:

Fâché avec Raymond Domenech pour des propos tenus dans la presse en octobre 2004, il explique qu'il vivait à l'époque une période difficile et que la soupape «devait exploser. Mon début de saison n'avait pas été très performant. Je devais également régler mon divorce. J'ai certainement été maladroit dans mes propos. J'assume et ne me cherche pas d'excuses. Je n'étais pas bien. C'est tout», ajoute-t-il.

How could I not hear about this until now? I've only been in love with Pires since 1997. October 2004 would have been plenty early to drop out of school while only accruing a few dozen thousand dollars of debt. What am I going to do now?

I say it's a good thing I'm already going to London for spring break. Looks like the cards might just be aligned for me...



I'm listening to:
David Byrne- Grown Backwards

On a gagne
On a gagne
On a gagne

at least for today :)


I'm listening to:
Bjork- Debut
Un nouveau debut pour les bleus, peut-etre?

Allez les bleus!

Not to turn this in to a soccer blog (what do you mean I have nine hours of testing under a week from now, half of it on the scary, scary heart?), but here's a shout out to my boys in blue, the FFF. To quote the front page of L'Equipe on the eve of our elimination from Euro 2004, Suivez le Guide:

We qualify as long as:
1. we win tomorrow
2. we tie and also Ireland and Switzerland don't tie

(calculate it yourself on this nifty program)

Pragmatically, it's probably better for me if we don't qualify as I'll be studying for the boards. June 9 - July 9 2006 are going to be mostly very unhappy days for me. But good grief, I dealt with that shit in 1990 and again in 1994 (if Isreal eliminates us from the World Cup again, I will scream).

Remember fellows, La victoire est toujours en nous.


I'm listening to:
Max Richter- The Blue Notebooks

Put On Your Red Shoes

Liberia holds their first democratic election today, and our man Georges Weah of AC Milan and PSG is in a dead-heat to win. Ellen Johnson-Sirleaf is imminently qualified as well; it looks like either way the election will be a wonderful success.

The best excuse ever to break out my ridiculous red Gola boxing shoes.


I'm listening to:
The Pixies- Trompe le Monde