|
Post by lagatta on Jul 1, 2014 19:34:19 GMT
|
|
|
Post by Deleted on Jul 1, 2014 19:46:54 GMT
If only the score turns out that way on Friday, Lizzy!
|
|
|
Post by lagatta on Jul 1, 2014 21:35:56 GMT
Speaking of philosophers, there was a rather unusual and intellectual Brazilian footballer known as Socrates. He actually trained as a medical doctor while playing professionally, and was active in the fight for democracy.
|
|
|
Post by Deleted on Jul 1, 2014 22:37:09 GMT
And so little Belgium has sent the United States home. They made it to the semi-finals just once, in 1986. And of course, now they have just advanced to the quarter-finals. I think they have to play Argentina next.
|
|
|
Post by fumobici on Jul 2, 2014 0:40:13 GMT
Belgium not a huge surprise making the quarters, they were picked as a danger team from the outset. Their players looked better than the US side, I thought the US netminder made it look a lot closer than it was, he was brilliant.
Quarters are now set: Brazil-Columbia, France-Germany, Netherlands-Mexico and Argentina-Belgium. I know nothing about football aside from having played some so this is pure guesswork-- Brazil, Germany, Netherlands, Argentina, based more on meaningless reputation than anything else. The teams from here on are all very good, the dodgy ones got shaken out. I actually hope I am wrong on all four and Columbia, France, Costa Rica and Belgium make the last four. I have a Columbian friend and she is a huge fan so it'd be great to see them move on, they are really fun to watch and of course look effective as well. "Hipster" labeling be damned!
|
|
|
Post by bjd on Jul 2, 2014 6:38:43 GMT
There's an old Monty Python skit with philosophers playing football.
I hope Colombia (note spelling, Fumobici!) wins.
|
|
|
Post by lagatta on Jul 2, 2014 23:44:06 GMT
That's an easy error for someone from the Pacific Northwest to make, given the Columbia River and British Columbia.
As for me, I have a good friend who is Argentinean. Other than that, I don't have any personal favourites - I would have liked Algeria to go through, but that was a bit too much to hope for.
I was going to say "I don't have a dog in that fight", but the reference is as unsavoury as "il n'y a pas de quoi fouetter un chat". I'm a bit PC about cruelty to animals.
|
|
|
Post by fumobici on Jul 3, 2014 1:25:43 GMT
Thanks for the cover lagatta. I was actually disappointed there were no matches today. Every quarter has significant potential to be very good.
|
|
|
Post by Deleted on Jul 3, 2014 3:47:50 GMT
Now the matches are going to be more and more spread out to heighten the withdrawal symptoms.
I have a French friend who is going to be on a plane between Brazil and France during both the the France-Germany and Brazil-Colombia matches. I'm trying to imagine how often the pilot is going to give updates on the score. I was on a British Airways flight once during an important match, and the pilot gave us more information about the score than about the flight.
Meanwhile I have been reading that FIFA regrets very much having obliged Brazil to authorise the sale of beer in the stadiums during the World Cup. This was due to the sponsorship by Budweiser, which twisted arms to get its way. The sale of alcohol had been banned in Brazilian stadiums since 2003, and there was a good reason for that.
|
|
|
Post by questa on Jul 3, 2014 3:57:21 GMT
Lagatta, you may prefer the Oz version, "I don't have any skin in that...game/fight/contest"
|
|
|
Post by lagatta on Jul 4, 2014 16:34:37 GMT
Yes, I do prefer the Oz version, as one is talking about one's own skin.
Dogfights are very ugly, as was the torture of cats.
In the meantime, Germany is leading France. I have friends in or from most of the countries left, so don't have any serious preferences. Obviously here, if France wins, there will be much more of a party. There is a large community of (recent) French immigrants here, and they have even more Québécois friends.
There used to be a lot of resentment of "le maudit Français", the stereotyped arrogant loudmouth from la mère-patrie, but that is far less than in decades past, and young Français de France don't act like that at all.
|
|
|
Post by Deleted on Jul 4, 2014 16:48:41 GMT
I had stopped at the tabac/newsagent to buy next week's television magazines (one for myself and a different cheaper one for the nursing home, just to help me find something to watch on the weekend when I spend more time there) when Germany scored. It has a TV as well so there was a little group to be disappointed (although none of the other customers nor the shopkeeper were French). Walking the last 100 metres to my flat, I passed another 5 or so cafés where people were watching, but what I thought was interesting is that a number of Maghrebi women were out taking their children home and going to the boulangerie (very few men in the street for obvious reasons), and just like me they would peer into each doorway to see what was happening. "Oh my goodness, the Germans have scored" one woman muttered to her oblivious children. In spite of all of the negative international press that we have all seen, the vast majority of the local immigrant community took France to heart long ago.
|
|
|
Post by Deleted on Jul 4, 2014 18:21:31 GMT
Au Revoir France.......
|
|
|
Post by Deleted on Jul 4, 2014 18:53:25 GMT
My only regret is that the German victory was so weak and indecisive. I would have preferred them to crush France with talent if such was their destiny.
|
|
|
Post by htmb on Jul 4, 2014 19:12:21 GMT
It is eerily quiet on the streets outside my rented apartment. Certainly different from the aftermath of the last French match. It certainly could have been much worse, but France seemed to play great defense except for early on. I had a hard time following the words of the coach for France (Deschamps?), but am I right in thinking he is a very gracious and positive-type person in his manner and words?
|
|
|
Post by Deleted on Jul 4, 2014 19:54:03 GMT
Well yes, that is among the qualities that allows one to reach such a position over time. He was also one of the team members of the 1998 French team that won the World Cup.
|
|
|
Post by htmb on Jul 4, 2014 20:40:45 GMT
Was he really! Interesting.
|
|
|
Post by lagatta on Jul 4, 2014 22:01:46 GMT
Yes, I remember that. Lots of celebrating then.
I've always felt the different immigrant communities in French cities to be profoundly French. Also in terms of what they eat, how they dress (even the girls in headscarves) etc.
At a small supermarket in the 19th arrondissement, where I was staying, I saw the same "saucisses de Strasbourg" in "normal" (partly pork), Halal and Kosher versions.
htmb, where exactly are you staying?
|
|
|
Post by htmb on Jul 4, 2014 22:05:41 GMT
I'm in the 3rd, Lagatta.
|
|
|
Post by lagatta on Jul 4, 2014 22:43:07 GMT
That is nice, in the "upper" Marais (less heavily touristed than the 4th). Not that there is anything wrong with staying in a tourist zone when we are being tourists, but it is less convenient for how I like to travel. I don't like to have to eat out three times a day. I know that can be a holiday for parents, but it reminds me too much of business travel. I like having everyday amenities close by.
|
|
|
Post by htmb on Jul 4, 2014 23:12:07 GMT
Well, right now a bunch of presumably drunk-and-drowning-their-sorrows young men are down the street singing the Marseillaise over and over and over again. I'm hoping they will stop soon since the damn lovely seagulls, thinking the buildings on the rue des Archives are the white cliffs over the Seine, will be up in four hours screaming overhead in a way I have never heard seagulls back home. But, all in all, I've been really happy with my neighborhood. It's certainly much more French than most places I've stayed.
|
|
|
Post by Deleted on Jul 5, 2014 13:52:19 GMT
With Colombia now out it's Brazil vs Germany in the semis. Brazil's star offense player Namar is out with a broken vertebrae which really hurts Brazil big time. They also have another player whose name I can't recall who won't be able to play because of too many yellow cards. It's going to be a tough match.
|
|
|
Post by Deleted on Jul 5, 2014 15:56:56 GMT
I would say that all of non-German and non-Dutch Europe is solidly behind Belgium right now, because it would be so nice to see the little team that has never won finally sparkle.
That was how we felt when Greece won the European championship in 2004 even though it was Greece that eliminated France. In the final, they beat Portugal which was the favourite by far, as well as being the organising country. I love underdogs.
|
|
|
Post by Deleted on Jul 6, 2014 18:34:34 GMT
So, we are down to the last four -- two South American teams and two European teams, as usual.
|
|
|
Post by Deleted on Jul 8, 2014 20:34:19 GMT
I know a Brazilian who just arrived in Paris 2 days ago for a holiday and this must be absolutely the worst night ever. Germany 5 - Brazil 0 after just 30 minutes! OMG!
|
|
|
Post by Deleted on Jul 8, 2014 22:36:58 GMT
7-0 last glance. The Brazilian children are crying in their seats....
|
|
|
Post by Deleted on Jul 9, 2014 4:59:46 GMT
Sooner or later, every team has a day of infamy that will be engraved in all memories for decades, and this was it.
|
|
|
Post by lola on Jul 9, 2014 13:27:01 GMT
Dismaying.
|
|
|
Post by Deleted on Jul 9, 2014 13:56:44 GMT
My only regret is that the German victory was so weak and indecisive. I would have preferred them to crush France with talent if such was their destiny. I am so glad that I was able to write this about the German victory over the French rather than if France had endured what happened to Brazil.
|
|
|
Post by Deleted on Jul 9, 2014 14:39:46 GMT
I can only imagine. i did feel badly for Brazil, with 2 key layers out. It was painful. No reason to have riots though...
|
|