Jun 22 2008
Speaking of the Italians
I had to, of course, check out the Euro Cup semis this afternoon, and was treated to another round of the awful Forza Azzurri football. The Italians lost to the Spaniards on penalty kicks, as was well deserved given their slow, defensive play. Now, the defense was incredible, shutting down a brilliant Spanish attack for 120 minutes, but it is excruciating television. It’s almost as if they play for penalty kicks; somebody should tell them that it’s perfectly acceptable to win a game by scoring during the actual fucking game. While I’m sure the Brooklyn Famiglia is in mourning for the fall of the Blues, I’m actually a German soccer supporter, so my squad’s still in, and looking very good. They play Turkey on Wednesday for a spot in the finals, and seemingly the entire Turkish A-team is injured or on suspension. I do admit that there would be something quite wonderful – given the situation of current and former Gastarbeiter in Germany – in seeing a depleted Turkish team defeat the mighty German soccer juggernaut, but I’d still like to see the Germans in the finals. In any case, the Germans, unlike the Italians, seem to have this strange pre-occupation with scoring actual fucking goals, which – in practical terms – means they play the ball toward the goal of the opposing team, so I tend to enjoy their play much more. It’s also true, on a side note, that the Italians play a dirty game, holding, hacking, diving, and fouling as brutally as I’ve seen. In the funniest comment of yesterday’s ESPN coverage, Luca Toni, who was barely touched, practically jumps to a horizontal in the air before crashing down gently in faux pain. The Scottish announcer deadpans, as the replay goes to slow motion on Luca Toni’s expression of absolute agony: “He looks like he’s been hit by a sniper.”
OK topspun, now that your beloved Krauts are in the Euro final against Spain, maybe you could break down the game for us. Will Spain dominate possession? Will the Germans once again score off free kicks because of superior strength and height? Will it be a good match? Will we avoid a dreadful penalty kick shootout? Go on mate…in your best British accent…
Ha! I wouldn’t presume to tell YOU anything about the game; I’m a dilettante, and you know it.
I did, however, catch the Germany-Turkey game among a crowd of crazed Germans in a very German bar, so that was fun. Needless to say, people were very nervous, because the Turkish squad outplayed the Germans for about 65 of the 90 minutes.
After watching Spain-Russia today, I can see that sluggish German team getting hit up for 3 goals pretty easily. The question is whether they will score any of their own.