Devastating result for the Azzurri, but Italy will be over it a few days after the Cup has finished. Contrast that with the French and the existential crisis its collapse has brought on. They’ll be gnawing on this for years, agonizing over what it means for French culture, society, and world stature — while the Italians are off chasing women/men, eating pasta, and sacking their governments. Maybe it’s something in the soil — Italians make happy wine; the French make anxious wine.
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Group SummariesVideo
Group F Summary – Italy/Slovakia/Paraguay/New Zealand
Group F fixtures & results:
- Mon June 14 (Day 4): Italy 1, Paraguay 1
- Tues June 15 (Day 5) : Slovakia 1, New Zealand 1
- Sun June 20 (Day 10): Slovakia v Paraguay
- Sun June 20 (Day 10): Italy v New Zealand
- Thurs June 24 (Day 14): Slovakia v Italy
- Thurs June 24 (Day 14): Paraguay v New Zealand
Video highlights of completed matches below.
Commentary
Sunday’s News
A big day for the two teams who were in last tournament’s final. France refused to train in solidarity of Anelka’s sending home (after calling Domenech a “son-of-a-bitch” when taken off during the 2-0 loss to Mexico). Italy looked lifeless today against the All-Whites, until they were scored upon and need to level. They dove, wow did they dive, their way back to a 1-1 scoreline, then sat back and relaxed again, never really threatening for the whole 3 points.
What can you say other than, WTF? We’ve all seen the players on both these teams at club level, and they are fantastic week after week. They play beautiful team ball and are punished if they don’t. Then they throw on the national team jersey and everything goes to hell.
Dispatches
Dispatch from South Africa: Well that was a wet one…
Sometimes seats above the roofline are a good thing. But, first, let’s rewind a bit. Winter found its rhythm today, managing sun, wind, rain,and hail, rotated nicely about every hour til the sun went down. The other three left him behind without missing a beat.
Visited the & Union for the Netherlands v Denmark match. It’s the brewpub of sorts for a South African craft brewer, but, strangely, their product is actually brewed in Germany according to their bottles. Both the Amber and Dark Lagers were perfectly drinkable, yet lacked depth, leading to quick finishes. Sadly, in a bid to maintain some sort of sanity and coherence, I had to cut back, and those were the only beers tried.
Live Blog
Liveblogging Italy v Paraguay
Big excitement for us here today, as we don’t have to travel far to be in the heart of Italian Brooklyn (only as far as my couch, in fact). We’re eating cannolis and drinking Moretti, and we’ve got a pot of marinara on the stove to dip our bread in.
Let’s see how the old men of Italy perform. They tend to start off slowly in these tournaments.
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