The world cup is over. The ‘diving queens’ won over the ‘lao (old) bleus’ and the best player of his generation saw red, leaving the field in disgrace. The 2006 final was a drab affair, perhaps even on par with 1994 in its ability to bore. Interestingly, Italy was present then as well. Aside from its surprises, this world cup has also seen some great goals and Bastian Schweinsteiger’s brace against Portugal provided a nice finishing flourish for the host nation and the team they support.
Zidane is not the only one to get riled up over the world cup. The China Daily (July 8-9) quoting the Fujian Daily notes: “A fight occurred between a father and son in Fujian Province when their favorite football teams clashed in the World Cup in Germany. The father was a big Argentina fan, while his son supported Germany. After Germany beat Argentina in the quarterfinals, the son commented that Argentine players performed badly during the match, which annoyed his father. The father beat his son on the bottom [emphasis mine], and his son then fought back. Local border guards were called because neighbors, hearing the commotion, thought burglars might have been in the house.” Apparently, both were let off with cautions, though their actions merited red cards.
If only I had the time to mine papers from other countries...
Subscribe to:
Post Comments (Atom)
No comments:
Post a Comment