Full circle

A Wikipedia article is saying:

[Zinédine Zidane's] career ended on a sour note when he received a red card and was ejected after headbutting Italy's Marco Materazzi in the chest in the 110th minute. ... His team members later reported to French media that Zidane was reacting to a racial slur from Materazzi. The Italian side has catagorically denied that Materazzi had any role in the provocation of Zidane, but both the French coach and many other members of the media believed that Zidane had snapped due to Materazzi.

Like most Wikipedia entries that just plagiarize news articles, it turns out the source for the entry is FOXSports.com's Jamie Trekker: "According to members of the French media, French players told them that Matterazi called Zidane a racial slur which prompted the headbutt."

From the Australian Broadcasting Corporation: "Meanwhile World Cup chief organiser Franz Beckenbauer said Zidane must have been provoked. "Something must have been said to Zidane. He is actually a reserved and inoffensive person," Beckenbauer said."

Here's the Guardian: "He had surely been provoked - there were suggestions last night that Materazzi had called him "a terrorist" - but Zidane will be right to curse his stupid reaction."

Wow. I just found out today that Zidane's parents were Algerian immigrants to France; the Wikipedia article also says Zidane describes himself as a "non-practicing Muslim."

Well, this changes everything. Yeah, Zidane may still be a hothead--but now there's a context within which to put his reaction. This is no longer a story about Zidane, it's now about racism in sports.

There's a long history of white players using racial slurs to try and get an unfair advantage on the field. The governing bodies usually turn a blind eye to it--and of all sports, soccer has had a particularly bad track record on this issue.

So what usually happens, as in this case, is the white player wins. He gets to the non-white player, who as a human--with emotions the athlete is not always in control of--responds, which of course is what the officials see.

In sports like soccer it's as if non-white athletes are always playing with a 10-pound weight around their neck--who knows when the guy next to you will slug you below the belt. Whites aren't hit by racism the same way; for a whole host of historical and political reasons, calling a white guy a cracker simply doesn't have the searing effect that using the N-word has.

And so it goes--time after time in sport after sport, it's always the non-white athlete who is expected to have thicker skin and put up with more than white athletes, always the non-white athlete who is turning the other cheek, always the non-white athlete who is told to keep it inside of him, it's just words.

Until we know more about what the Italian player said or did not say to Zidane, I'm not sure what to think of Zidane's reaction. There are certain situations where any adult male knows a physical response is warranted, even expected.

If the Italian player put Zidane in one of those areas, the blame and any penalty should fall on the Italian player--even in the eyes of the law, let alone the culture that is sports, there are actions that, while normally banned, are justifiable depending on context.

To say mere words should never warrant a physical response is naive and again, places all the burden on the non-white individual since it is always going to be non-whites who have to show restraint. It's always easy to say 'he should've just' when you're not the being screamed at.

Not to mention what right does any member of a group that's always the ones guilty of using words have to judge a person who's always on the receiving end? You may as well pass judgment on the Jews for how they responded or did not respond to the Nazis.

Some Italian fans are being quoted tonight that Zidane's expulsion makes their victory bitter-sweet; since he played in Italy on the club many Italians revere him. Hopefully those same fans will still feel a bit sour if it turns out there was a racial incident.

Any fan of Italy who doesn't feel like this incident tarnishes their victory is an idiot (although given the country's history, there may be some who think this enhances their win). Heck, given that Materazzi scored the Italians' only goal in regulation, I wonder how his teammates feel knowing that they may have well won the World Cup because of a racist?

I guess it's only appropriate--given the amount of racism white Europeans are showcasing in society-at-large, why should we expect the sporting field to be magically exempt?

It's amazingly ironic because Fifa has not only started every match at this World Cup with both teams standing in front of 'Say No to Racism!' banner, and had star players reading (in multiple language) a statement against racism, but it's also said at this World Cup that it was going to penalize the team of any player that used racial slurs (Fifa to use World Cup to fight racism is among many articles that mentions this).

Fifa said we can't and won't stop fans from throwing bananas at non-white players, but don't worry--it's the 21st century, so guess what--we've decided it's time to stop coaches, officials and players from openly racist behavior.

Well, here we have it. Anyone think Sepp Blatter and his Fifa cronies are going to take any action? After all, we know that the refs consider a head butt a serious enough offense to warrant after-the-fact video review.

If they really wanted to send a message about zero-tolerance for racism, take away Italy's trophy. Sure, people would call it a harsh overreaction--but it would probably end racism on the playing field on the part of the players. Isn't that a worthwhile goal that's worth some pain, or is too much at odds with always expecting the non-whites to make the sacrifices?

At the very least Fifa should check the audio for racial slurs and publicize what you hear. But somehow I think Fifa will live up to its long tradition of empty words.

Think I'm harsh? Check out the first few paragraphs of an article in the Irish Times (there was just no Jesse Owens in the winner's circle this time):

On the dark stone slopes of Hitler's stadium the flashbulbs popped and a heedless generation sang Que Sera Sera as they waited for extra time to begin. Then all hell broke loose, writes Tom Humphries in Berlin

This was to be the game that put history to rights. In the stadium where Jesse Owens dealt with racism 70 years ago, the issue rumbled on last night as Italy won the World Cup for the fourth time and the first time since 1982.

The story though was Zinedine Zidane, whose personal journey in this campaign has been from superstardom to comic book superhero to villain/martyr. Deep into extra time last night Zidane tussled innocuously with Marco Materazzi, the Italian defender. Some words were exchanged. Zidane trotted ahead of Materazzi, eyed him up and stepped forward, delivering an astonishing headbutt into the Italian's chest.

The implication immediately was that there had been racist words exchanged. A French Algerian, Zidane is descended from the nomadic Kabyle tribe of north Africa and has fronted anti-racism campaigns in his native France.

Reuters photo of Materazzi by Dylan Martinez via Yahoo News.

Reuters photo of Zidane by Alessandro Bianchi via Yahoo News.

Uncredit photo of German fans at Berlin Stadium during the 1936 Summer Olympic Games via The History Place.

Why, Zizou?

A great World Cup came to an end with a thrilling penalty kick shootout that nobody will remember.

Even though Italy prevailed (5-3 on kicks after a 1-1 draw), non-Italian fans will always remember this as the game where France's Zinédine Zidane--who most believe to be the best player of the last 20 years, since Maradona and following in the line of Pele--was tossed with a red card after he inexplicably head-butted an Italian player as overtime was winding down.

I still haven't seen an interview with him or an explanation for why he did what he did. He's had a few other incidents in the past, but that's not uncommon in soccer. Most articles say he was probably frustrated by all the hitting, pushing and grabbing the Italians threw at him, much of which the officials didn't call/see.

Ironically, they didn't see Zidane's head butt either; the Times mentions off-the-field officials invoked the use of video replay, for the first time, on the call. Which seems like a huge story to me--what a way for a great player to end his career.

I have mixed thoughts about the whole thing. On the one hand, ever since the knock-out rounds I've really like the Italian team--their defense has been so calm, and aside from a crazy game against Australia (which the Italians won on a ridiculous penalty shot), they've lifted their game.

Tonight, though, France was clearly the better team on the pitch. And they played the single-best game I saw this tournament in their quarterfinals upset of Brazil. Zidane was amazing in that game; he totally controlled it, and outshone the star-studded Brazilian team essentially by himself.

He was good tonight; not great, though. The French are going to forget in all the furor that really, they should never have gotten this far. When the tournament started, every Frenchman would've been ecstatic if this team had made it to the finals. They were old, bickering, and since they'd just won the Cup eight years ago, the French didn't have the same hunger as the Italians.

Italy was driven not just by the fact that it had last won the Cup in 1982 against a country that no longer exists (West Germany), but also by a desire to bury the bad news about match-fixing, corrupt officials and massive bribes that has torn apart the domestic soccer leagues.

Well, that they did. I don't think, actually, France would have won even if Zidane hadn't been sent off. There were only a few minutes left in overtime, and Italy's goalkeeper is the best in the world--while France's is wildly erratic.

Even so, it's too bad such a magnificent tournament and career ended on this note.

AP photo of France's Lilian Thuram crying by Christophe Ena via Yahoo News.

AP photo of Italian players running in celebration by Christophe Ena via Yahoo News.

AP photo of France's Zinedane Zidane reacting after missing header at goal by Luca Bruno via Yahoo News.

amNewYork photo of World Cup Italy fans in Bensonhurst in Brooklyn by Lane Johnson.

Reflecting France

It's nice to see the French make the World Cup finals with its 1-0 win over Portugal today, even if this means the departure of Portugal's brilliant coach, Luiz Felipe Scolari. I like this much-maligned French team, with the cool and smooth Zinedine Zidane, the focused Thierry Henry--and Lillian Thurman.

Who? Well, FIFA's website did name the defender the man of today's match, for how he "superbly marshalled his defence."

But I'd say he's the man of France's team on a grander stage, for his statements a few days ago as quoted in We are Frenchmen says Thuram.

The Guardian: Lilian Thuram, France's most capped player, last night hit back at suggestions by Jean-Marie Le Pen that there were too many "players of colour" in the national side, denouncing the National Front leader as being ignorant of the make-up of his country's society.

The 34-year-old Juventus centre-half won his 118th cap against Spain on Tuesday and, hailing from the French Caribbean island of Guadeloupe, is one of 16 non-whites in France's 23-man squad. He and his team-mates learned of Le Pen's comments immediately prior to the second-round match in Hanover, which Les Bleus won 3-1, with the 2007 French presidential candidate having reheated his criticisms of the 1998 side - which he denounced as "artificial" - by arguing it was not reflective of French society.

Lilian Thuram, France's most capped player, last night hit back at suggestions by Jean-Marie Le Pen that there were too many "players of colour" in the national side, denouncing the National Front leader as being ignorant of the make-up of his country's society.

The 34-year-old Juventus centre-half won his 118th cap against Spain on Tuesday and, hailing from the French Caribbean island of Guadeloupe, is one of 16 non-whites in France's 23-man squad. He and his team-mates learned of Le Pen's comments immediately prior to the second-round match in Hanover, which Les Bleus won 3-1, with the 2007 French presidential candidate having reheated his criticisms of the 1998 side - which he denounced as "artificial" - by arguing it was not reflective of French society.

Le Pen, who was runner-up to Jacques Chirac in the 2002 presidential elections having beaten the Socialist candidate Lionel Jospin to the second round, had insisted that France "cannot recognise itself in the national side" and that "maybe the coach exaggerated the proportion of players of colour and should have been a bit more careful".

"What can I say about Monsieur Le Pen?" said Thuram ruefully. "Clearly, he is unaware that there are Frenchmen who are black, Frenchmen who are white, Frenchmen who are brown. I think that reflects particularly badly on a man who has aspirations to be president of France but yet clearly doesn't know anything about French history or society.

"That's pretty serious. He's the type of person who'd turn on the television and see the American basketball team and wonder: 'Hold on, there are black people playing for America? What's going on?'

"When we take to the field, we do so as Frenchmen. All of us. When people were celebrating our win, they were celebrating us as Frenchmen, not black men or white men. It doesn't matter if we're black or not, because we're French. I've just got one thing to say to Jean Marie Le Pen. The French team are all very, very proud to be French. If he's got a problem with us, that's down to him but we are proud to represent this country. So Vive la France, but the true France. Not the France that he wants."

France's more-successful version of Patrick Buchanan got 16.86% of the votes when he finished second in the 2002 presidential elections, so clearly his views aren't to be brushed aside.

His racist views I think have only become more mainstream in France in the past four years. And now, even as the soccer team tries its utmost to put the lie to them on the sporting pitch, comes A Heart of Darkness in the City of Light

Michael Kimmelman in the Times: The other day Stéphane Martin, president of the new Musée du Quai Branly, was in his wedge-shape office with the picture window overlooking the Seine. Dapper, charming, with the weary politeness of a busy executive who has better things to do, he fetched the latest salvo against his institution, a book by Bernard Dupaigne, and casually tossed it across the table.

The most ambitious museum to open in Paris in 20 years, dedicated to non-European cultures, Quai Branly provoked a ruckus from the instant President Jacques Chirac came up with the idea for it more than a decade ago. It was his monument to French multiculturalism and, perhaps, to himself.

Two beloved Paris institutions had to be dismantled, the Musée des Arts Africains et Océaniens and the ethnographic department of the Musée de l'Homme, France's sublime natural history museum. Anthropologists, not to mention more than a few people who loved going to those museums, were furious. The familiar aesthetics-versus-ethnology question came up: Will religious, ceremonial and practical objects, never intended as art in the modern, Western sense, be showcased like baubles, with no context?

Given the current political climate, Quai Branly's eventual opening, after years of delay, seemed almost as if it had been scientifically calculated to ignite the maximum debate.

I couldn't tell whether Mr. Martin was being helpful or if he actually enjoyed the fuss. What did he think of his museum? I asked. He thought it was a "neutral environment" with "no aesthetic or philosophical line." I thought he was kidding.

He wasn't. If the Marx Brothers designed a museum for dark people, they might have come up with the permanent-collection galleries: devised as a spooky jungle, red and black and murky, the objects in it chosen and arranged with hardly any discernible logic, the place is briefly thrilling, as spectacle, but brow-slappingly wrongheaded. Colonialism of a bygone era is replaced by a whole new French brand of condescension.

Wow, this is about as harsh a review as I've ever read in the Arts section of the Times. It gets worse; Kimmelman is very precise in his choice of words, and does a good job of linking what he found enshrined in marble with what anyone can see is happening in the streets.

Think of the museum as a kind of ghetto for the "other," a word Mr. Chirac has taken to using: an enormous, rambling, crepuscular cavern that tries to evoke a journey into the jungle, downriver, where suddenly scary masks or totem poles loom out of the darkness and everything is meant to be foreign and exotic. The Crayola-colored facade and its garden set the stage for this passage from civilization.

Yes, the very same Chirac that's been prominently parading in the soccer stands in Germany this week--I guess when they're on the verge of winning the World Cup suddenly the 'other' becomes 'ours'.

In that sense, we really owe Le Pen a favor, for laying bare what must lie deep inside the hearts of Chirac and his ilk... how much sweeter would the French team's march be to them were it 'pure' Frenchmen on the pitch, whose ancestors were raised on foie gras and escargot, instead of crickets or whatever it is they eat down in Afrique; law-abiding whites instead of those rioting darkies.

It's really too bad; I've always thought of Chirac as a kind of pathetic figure, always doomed to be in the shadow of greater men, well-meaning but ultimately without the chops to really be an alpha male (even in France). There's no hope for the likes of Le Pen; but I wonder when Chirac will realize there is no 'other' in this modern world, that even if some of the people living in France aren't white and Catholic they are nevertheless just as French as Marie Antoinette, and maybe even more so given their real-life understanding of liberté, egalité, fraternité, and that their contributions to and shaping of French society and culture isn't limited to what they can do with a ball.

For me, just as France as a country tends to cling to an imaginary say in world affairs (but we have a seat on the Security Council!) Chirac is one of this dying generation of white males who grew up unopposed, who are used to making the rules, playing the game and keeping score, and who seem unable to grasp that groups like Muslim immigrants might find this objectionable.

Kimmelman goes on to point to the uneasy place museums as a whole have had in Western cultures, and their role in establishing and furthering 'us' and 'them':

Museums, whether they call themselves art museums or not — and Quai Branly at least rejected loaded words like primitive or art for its title — classify what they show to give objects particular meanings, to fix their relationships to viewers. If you're in the Metropolitan Museum, you know that an Italian altarpiece or an African mask is supposed to be visually striking, beautiful even. If the same objects are across Central Park at the American Museum of Natural History, they illustrate points about religion or ritual or handicraft or materials.

This doesn't mean that the artists or artisans who made altarpieces and masks weren't aiming for something aesthetically potent or pleasing, even if potency (and beauty) meant one thing to a Renaissance Italian, another to a Dogon craftsman, and it means yet another to an Aboriginal artist who comes to Paris to paint Quai Branly's gift shop.

Paintings and other objects, like people, have careers, lives. These objects have meanings to those who brought them into the world, other meanings to those who worked with or used them, yet others to historians who try to explain them, to curators who organize exhibitions around them. They exist in as many different forms as the number of people who happen to come across them. Objects are not static; they are the accumulation of all their meanings.

Claims of cultural patrimony and calls for the repatriation of antiquities (Italians wanting back ancient art dug up in Italy, Greeks wanting back Greek art) stem from nationalist politics and legal disputes, but they're fundamentally about who gets to assign meaning. A British anthropologist on the panel at Quai Branly mentioned a show of Polynesian art and religion in England. He said the question had arisen, should modern-day Polynesians have say over the show's content?

But which Polynesians? The political activists who might want their idols returned? The religious fundamentalist who might want them burned? They're both native voices. Which gets authority over what the artifacts mean?

John Mack, the British professor who moderated the panel, added that good museums "destabilize the idea of a singular meaning," whether it's "beauty" or "ritual." The implication was that they shouldn't do what Quai Branly has done, which is for the museum to make itself the meaning of everything in it.

I guess in an ironic way, it's apt that this kind of museum should open at this point in 21st century Paris. I wonder how later generations will see these years after 9/11 when our world went backwards, where a handful of Islamic terrorists provided Western society with the excuse to indulge in one last round of chest-pounding before, they fear, the Chinese, the Indians, the non-whites took over.

Maybe one day there'll open in Beijing a similarly benighted museum, devoted to a helter-skelter wow isn't that weird collecting of French (and German and British and Italian) artifacts.

Heck, the leading edge of the shift has already arrived--since sports, with their emphasis on performance and rules against bias, are always the field where societal changes first make themselves felt, maybe the 2008 Olympics in Beijing and the 2010 World Cup in South Africa will provide opportunities for non-Western countries to shine.

Cause France's new museum and old politicians certainly can't.

The day after we spoke, I spotted Mr. Martin at the back of a photograph on the front page of The International Herald Tribune. In it Mr. Chirac and Kofi Annan, the secretary general of the United Nations, both tall and snappy in blue serge suits, were greeting Chief Laukalbi from Vanuatu and his nephew, Jerry Napat, shirtless in straw skirts. Mr. Chirac, leaning down, looked as if he was pointing at the chief, or maybe he was shaking his finger. His posture was exactly the top-down one that the museum's galleries take.

Georges Pompidou had his center. François Mitterrand left behind I. M. Pei's pyramid, the Bastille Opera and the new National Library. So Mr. Chirac's grand projet is this $300 million megamuseum-cum-cultural-center, aspiring, as he put it during the museum's inauguration, to the notion that "there is no hierarchy among the arts just as there is no hierarchy among peoples."

No hierarchy, except that at the Pompidou you find Western artists like Picasso and Pollock; at Branly, it's Eskimos, Cameroonians and Moroccans. No hierarchy, but no commonality either. Separate but equal. What links Vietnamese textiles with contemporary Aboriginal paintings with pre-Columbian pottery with Sioux warrior tunics with Huron wampum? Only the legacy of colonialism and the historical quirks of French museum collecting, which Quai Branly's design blithely plays for entertainment.

AP photo of Thuram during the match between Portugal and France in the World Cup semifinals by Christophe Ena via FIFA.

AFP photo of Annan, Chirac, Laukalbi and Napat by François Mori via Yahoo! France.

Return of the king

Totti penalty seals Italy's win

ESPN.com: Winger Harry Kewell, man of the match in the 2-2 draw with Croatia that earned Australia a place in the final 16, missed the game with what turned out to be gout in his foot. He supported himself with
crutches as he watched from the bench.

Gout? The disease of Henry the VIII? In a professional athlete? Okay.... More on the condition from the Podiatry Channel:

Gout is a systemic disease (i.e., condition that occurs throughout the body) caused by the buildup of uric acid in the joints. An elevated blood level of uric acid (called hyperuricemia) occurs when the liver produces more uric acid than the body can excrete in the urine, or when a diet high in rich foods (e.g., red meat, cream sauces, red wine) produces more uric acid than the kidneys can filter from the blood. ...

Regularly drinking alcohol interferes with the removal of uric acid from the body and can increase the risk for developing gout.

Like any good story, there's more to it. Kewell, whose Wikipedia entry says is arguably the most famous Australian football player ever, apparently has a history of injury, and it seems the Aussie team was a bit dodgy about exactly what was going on with him before the Italian match; it may not even have been gout.

Before the loss, he was even being referred to as 'King Harry'--unironically--by Australia's idiot prime minister , John Howard.

Talk about tempting the fates.

Adidas photo of Kewell found in multiple places online.

Triumph of the flag

So let's say you have Country N, which has a past of being extremely nationalistic, warlike, and as part of its indelible history murdered millions in a remarkably short amount of time.

Not surprisingly, as part of its rehabilitation Country N has tried to temper any displays of nationalism, out of shame, guilt, fear, to show that it's changed and to assuage its neighbors.

Nevertheless, a significant and growing fascist movement and a continuing undercurrent of xenophobia and poor treatment of immigrants has many wondering how deep the changes run.

Now let's say Country N is currently hosting what may be the premier event in the world, and as part of that suddenly finds thousands of foreign tourists showing up, almost all of whom ardently display their country's flags along with other trappings of national pride.

It'd be natural to think that the people of Country N, seeing a bunch of foreigners running around its not-quite-spacious-enough lebensraum, would grumble a bit... why are we prevented from showing national pride when everyone's literally waving foreign flags in their faces, so many of them so ugly too.

So the next thing you know, everyone in Country N starts showing their colors, pulling out and diplaying their own flag.

Makes sense, right? Monkey see, monkey do (or outdo). You wave your strip of color in front of my nose--in my home, no less!--don't be surprised if I do the same.

It's not such a benign reaction, either... I'm not doing it out of pure love or pride, but more as a form of pushing back. Hey, don't forget whose country you're in... maybe there's almost an edge of retaliation.

Not, of course, that the Times sees fit to explore any of it. In line with American society's desire to see benign or even superior complexity in the affairs of European nations, while melding Third World nations together into an easily-analyzed and tagged mass of prejudice, stupidity and above all childlike emotion, the Times seeks to leach the Germanic flag display of any problematic wiffs of nationalism.

In World Cup Surprise, Flags Fly With German Pride

Richard Bernstein: It is everywhere, hanging from windows, sticking out from cars, forming moving seas of black, red and gold in the stadiums whenever the German team, a top contender in World Cup 2006, plays.

The German flag, long weighted by the country's postwar reluctance about open displays of national pride, is flying again, an expression of exuberance as Germany plays host to the World Cup.

"When you see so many German flags flying from windows, that's a development that was long overdue, while not forgetting what happened in this country before," said Christoph Metzelder, a defender on the German team.

Indeed, the chief indicator of the national mood is that almost overnight, once the World Cup began and all those people from other countries arrived with flags and T-shirts in their national colors, it became almost mandatory, certainly desirable, to respond in kind. ...

So why, just now, has public sentiment moved toward flag-waving?

Many factors could be involved. Germany has a new chancellor, Angela Merkel, who has emerged as possibly the most effective leader among the big countries of Europe. The economy is on a modest upswing, and consumer confidence is higher than it has been in years. Pope Benedict XVI is a German, which has instilled a certain pride even in this most nonreligious of nations.

And then there is the simple passage of time, the change of the generations.

"To the old generation, the flag symbolized aggressive nationalism, or even some continuity with the Third Reich, even if the Third Reich didn't use that flag," said Paul Nolte, a professor of contemporary history at Berlin's Free University. "Now perhaps there's been a chance to reattach the original democratic, liberal values to the flag that come from the 19th century when it was invented." ...

Some commentators on the flag phenomenon deny that it has anything to do with patriotism, saying that flying it is not some expression of national feelings: it is simply fun. Or, as one commentator in Die Welt put it, it is just being in a good mood.

Mr. Smith, with the American Academy in Berlin, said the Germans, who are a homogeneous people, are finding it enjoyable suddenly to be host to so many people from so many countries, many of them wearing national colors of their own.

Yeah, right; suddenly cheery Germans, all reaching for their multi-colored ribbons.

A flag can never be just a flag in Germany. Anyone who's ever seen the movie version of Cabaret has etched in their brain the scene in the beer garden where the fresh-faced, smiling German youths stand up and sing 'Tomorrow Belongs to Me'.

Ah, how wonderful, the Times reporter may as well have said, humming along.

Funniest part of the article to me was this tortured attempt to strip Germany's historic tendencies from the flag blitzkrieg:

The new display of pride is almost strenuously nonnationalistic. There are even German cars that show the German flag on one side and some other flag — the Brazilian one seems popular, perhaps because Brazil is a likely opponent if the German team makes it to the finals — on the other side.

Ah, yes; as a fan of the Washington Redskins, I will of course put their flag on my car, and then, looking down the road to their probable opponent in the Super Bowl--the Indianapolis Colts I think--I will then go out and purchase a horseshoe flag to fly on the other side of my car. I root for that matchup, you see; not for my team to beat the brains out of everyone.

More logical: A lot of Brazilians live in Germany, could be their cars. Or, Brazil is universally known as everyone's second-favorite team, and is a near-lock to make the finals, unlike Germany, which even the Germans concede is unlikely to get past England in the quarters--so maybe people are just hedging their bets. Maybe Nike, whose image in soccer is tied to the fortunes of Brazil as much as in basketball it was merged with Michael Jordan, has been passing out Brazilian flags everywhere.

Whatever the reason, it's certainly not that the Germans are displaying their flags out of some festive motive (they're not Brazilian, after all). It's probably more Germans are tired of kowtowing to countries with neither their economic or potential military might. They're flexing their muscles, irritated by so many (dark) foreigners running around flapping their flags and gums.

I mean, any nation that in 2.5 years killed 6 million Jews out of a total European population of 11 million Jews should be watched warily whenever it starts screaming 'We, we'.

Especially when that shout comes as 'dark-skinned foreigners'--many of whom are actually German immigrants--are being beaten in the streets.

Maybe the Times should've read a recent piece by Mariam Lau, the chief correspondent of the German newspaper Die Welt, in the Wall Street Journal Europe:

The history of global sporting events hosted by Germany brings up some dark memories. There were the Munich Olympic Games of 1972, at which a Palestinian terror squad killed 11 Israeli athletes. And of course there were the notorious Berlin Games of 1936, when the Nazis hosted the world. As organizer of this summer’s football World Cup, Germany seems set on improving its record with the motto “a time to make friends.”

Many Germans, however, are worried that the slogan may promise too much. A remark by former government spokesman Uwe-Karsten Heye has set off a debate about an ugly resurgence of racism in the former East Germany, in the form of prowling violent gangs.

“There are areas in Brandenburg and other parts of the East,” Mr. Heye said, “where dark-skinned foreigners might not make it out alive.” Just a couple of weeks ago, an Ethiopian-born engineer in Potsdam had his skull smashed at a bus stop when he got into a shouting match with two youngsters. The refugee organization Afrikarat, meanwhile, has promised to provide football fans from abroad with a map of “no-go areas.”

While Mr. Heye was at first shouted down by local politicians from all major parties for gross exaggeration, the annual criminal statistics published the very next day confirmed the basic trend: Violent hate crimes were up 24% in 2005 — to 1,034 from 832 — and continued to be most prevalent in the East. If you adjust for the lower number of immigrants in, say, rural Mecklenburg-Vorpommern, a foreign-looking person is about 25 times as likely to be assaulted in the East as in the West, says University of Hannover criminologist Christian Pfeifer.

DPA photo of World Cup fan fest from Der Spiegel

As the flag flies

Israeli flavour in Ghana win

The Hindu: Football lovers here were in for a pleasant surprise when Ghana defender John Pantsil waved the Israeli national flag to celebrate the goals scored by his teammates against the Czech Republic at the World Cup.

Pantsil, who plays for Israeli club Hapoel Tel Aviv, pulled out the blue-and-white flag from his socks after the strikes by Asamoah Gyan and Sulley Muntari which saw the 'Black Stars' upset the Czechs 2-0 yesterday.

Sources at Hapoel Tel Aviv told local daily 'Jerusalem Post' that the Ghanaian had promised to perform the act if his team scored in the World Cup. Pentsil is one of three Ghana international squad members who play for Israeli soccer teams.

Israel failed to make it to the World Cup Finals after finishing third in its European qualifying group.

Gyan's second minute score was not only the first by any Ghanaian at World Cup, but the quickest goal of the tournament so far this year and the fastest African goal in World Cup history.

Scenes of ecstasy and jubilation were witnessed in all parts of the West African country when the final whistle blew in Cologne. "The eruption, some senior citizens said, reminded them of when Ghana attained independence in 1957," the 'Accra Daily Mail' said.

Maybe someday Israel's neighbors will allow it to move from the European qualifing group to the Asian group.

Pantsil helps show there is more to life in Israel

Jerusalem Post: What was most impressive about what Pantsil did was the purity of his intentions.

Explaining his actions the defender told one Israeli sports Website: "I love the fans in Israel. I have played at Hapoel and Maccabi Tel Aviv and the fans always made me happy so I wanted to make them happy."

That was it. Pure and simple. ...

There's no doubt that Israel is a state fraught with controversy and problems.

But on Saturday, one Ghanaian showed the whole world there is more to life here.

It's amazing how much this gesture meant to Israelis... the comments attached to the Post story are touching, but also sad. There's a lot of bad about Israel, but no more so than any other country; and there's a lot more good there than in most countries.

Israelis try; they try to make their democracy better, they try to tell their story to the world, they try to get along with their neighbors, they try to find a way out of their death spiral with the Palestinians.

Usually they fail; but as the U.S. is finding out in America, when you're surrounded by people who want to kill you sometimes it's all you can do to restrain your own worst impulses.

World Cup Diary / It's not our celebration

Assaf Gefen in Haaretz: Paintsil's celebratory act was innocent and colorful until it was pasted over with Zionist cliches and became a parody of national pride. Tal Brody can sue over the appropriation of his coinage "We are on the map." What bothers me is the appropriation of anything with a whiff of an Israeli connection as a "national achievement" - shamelessly and unconnected to reality.

Because if we insist on giving an Israeli connection and meaning to Paintsil's celebrations, one could think of some more realistic alternatives. For example Paintsil's fellow countrymen, and other Africans, may not have lifted the Israeli flag but have been working here for years, and are subjected to inhuman treatment from us. Paintsil's partner was no exception - she was deported before being allowed back after someone at Maccabi Tel Aviv made a phone call. Paintsil and other African players receive VIP treatment from Israeli fans, including monkey calls and thrown bananas.

Before we jump on the Ghana bandwagon, we should perhaps stop to think and remember that it isn't our celebration.

Isn't democracy and a (mostly) free press great? You find out all sorts of things; and cheap sentiment usually falls by the wayside.

Ghana Sorry for Israeli Flag Gaffe

IslamOnline.net: Ghana's World Cup team apologized Monday, June 19, after defender John Pantsil waved an Israeli flag to celebrate his team's goals in their match against the Czech Republic.

"It was naive, he was not aware of the consequences of his actions. We apologize to everyone who felt offended by this," Ghana team spokesman Randy Abbey said at the team's training base, reported Agence France-Presse (AFP). ...

Pantsil's flag-waving sparked a barrage of insults and furious reactions across the Arab world, especially in Middle East heavyweight Egypt.

"Egyptians supported the Ghanaian team all the way until the 82nd minute, and regretted it after the Israeli flag (waving)," screamed a bold red headline in the independent daily Al-Masry Al-Yom.

The live commentator on the Arab satellite channel broadcasting all World Cup matches in the region abruptly cut short his trademark "goooaaaaaaal" when Pantsil brought out the flag.

"What are you doing, man?" the bewildered commentator said.

Some Arab papers described 25-year-old Pantsil as a "Mossad agent," others said "an Israeli had paid him to do it."

But the most elaborate theory was offered by the top-selling state-owned daily Al-Ahram.

Prominent sports analyst Hassan El-Mestekawi wrote that many Ghanaian players attend football training camps set up by an Israeli coach who "discovered the treasure of African talent, and abused the poverty of the continent's children" with the ultimate goal of selling them off to European clubs.

Egyptian football fans were equally rattled when the player produced the Israeli flag.

"We were totally supporting Ghana and we were so excited by how well they were doing," Ashraf el-Berri told AFP.

"We were screaming with joy, but the whole room went quiet when Pantsil took out the flag. We didn't really know how to react," he said. ...

Egypt, Jordan and more recently Mauritania are the only Arab countries with full diplomatic ties with Israel

It's interesting how Saddam Hussein dragged his country into the mud, but Anwar Sadat pulled his out. Looks like Ghana needs a leader like Pantsil.

Ghana: The Uproar Over Paintsil's Israeli Flag Waving

Ghanian Chronicle: Ghanaian international, John Paintsil says his act in waving the Israeli flag to acknowledge the cheers from the fans after Ghana's two goals against the Czech Republic last Saturday, was just in appreciation for his fans in Israel and nothing else.

Speaking to The Chronicle, the Hapoel Tel Aviv defender explained that before the said match, he had a passionate prayer seeking a good game and total victory for the nation, believing God was answering his prayers, hence his decision to waive the flag to his fans.

"I looked at the flag and prayed to God for victory and truly God did; so it was a sign of appreciation to my God and fans in Israel".

Best part--his God's probably different than that of most Israelis, but in this case, G*d delivered for both.

Uncredited AP photo of Paintsil via the Jerusalem Post.

Out of the tears

World Cup Tests Iranians' Ability to Have Fun in Public

Michael Slackman in the Times: As Iran's team prepares to step onto the field of the World Cup for only the second time since the Islamic Revolution of 1979, the soccer fever gripping the country reveals many of the pressures reshaping Iranian society. While Iran confronts the West over its nuclear program and its president promotes Holocaust denial, the country is also struggling with something far more fundamental: how to have fun together in public.

It is a challenge that has forced Iranians to try to sort through the intersecting strands of their identity, to confront decades of clerical rule that have emphasized traditions of mourning and to accommodate a population increasingly dominated by young people who are far more aware of the world beyond Iran.

"We do speak about this problem: how can we have a happy society?" said Behrouz Gharibpour, director of the main cultural center in Tehran. "We are in the center of trying to change, to find a good and accepted way to be happy — when we want to be happy."

Soccer, it turns out, has been one of the catalysts propelling that effort.

"As a people, we have this very sad streak in us," said Mansoureh Ettehadieh, a publisher and historian in Tehran. "Most of our music is sad. The Shia color is black." ...

"If they win, all of the people will express their emotions, 100 percent, and there will be no power to prevent them from doing this," said Ali Mudi, 44, as he sat in Laleh Park in Tehran. His friend Ahmed Maghail, 82, said he relished the idea of such a celebration: "All of the happiness and celebrations in my life were before 27 years ago."

How long can a regime last when its people are forced to keep much of life's emotions and experiences bottled up inside?

I guess one answer is it depends on whether the regime changes. China, for example, under the predecessors of its present rules went through as much madness as any modern country has had to experience, certainly more during the course of the 'Great Leap Forward' and Cultural Revolution than Iranians have had to bear.

I wonder if China's experiences then and Iran's now were and are in some ways necessary, a sort of mad cleansing to ensure a break with history. In Iran's case, the Shah--installed and maintained by the U.S.--ran a brutal dictatorship from 1941 to 1979. The mullahs have been in power for only a fraction of that time; but because the Islamic Republic stripped the previously-elite of the wealth and power they had amassed under the Shah's plutocracy, there are squawks of outrage now from them that were wholly absent when Iran's poor was the main victim.

In China's case, everybody suffered pretty much equally in the 60s and 70s as the Communist party tried to figure out how to work through the effects of installing equality in a country that was used to being ruled by others, first by Western powers, than by Japan, than by the rapacious Chiang Kai-shek.

China wound up deciding the only way to deal with its past national humiliation was to become strong economically. I wonder, however, if--given the shackles of its history--its present economic miracle would have occurred had it not been for its self-imposed suffering. Thomas Friedman in The Earth is Flat quotes the mayor of Dalian (a mid-sized for China northern city of 5.5 million) as saying:

My personal feeling is that Chinese youngsters are more ambitious than Japanese or American youngsters in recent years, but I don't think they are ambitious enough, because they are not as ambitious as my generation. Because our generation, before they got into universities and colleges, were sent to distant rural areas and factories and military teams, and went through a very hard time, so in terms of the spirit to overcome and face the hardships, [our generation had to have more ambition] than youngsters nowadays.

It's in some ways Nietzsche's what doesn't kill you and all that, but I think certain countries with specific histories need to go through a 'boot camp' sort of experience, where they're broken down--sometimes in nonsensical, heartless ways because really, how can a society disassemble itself logically--in order to find out what their national soul really is and in order to build a sustainable society.

I'm hopeful Iran will go the same path, and will start its road to recovery by giving up its draining nuclear weapons program in exchange for the U.S. ending its economic embargo. Not sure if the same regime that's dragged the country into this mess will be there to bring them out the other end.

In the meantime, until the pendulumn swings back, the Times' characterization (and it very much is a product of the Times' world view) reminds me of the opening lines of Salman Rushdie's Haroun and the Sea of Stories (which I always recommend as the perfect introduction to this greatest of living authors)

"There was once, in the country of Alifbay, a sad city, the saddest of cities, so ruinously sad that it had forgotten its name. It stood by a mournful sea full of glumfish, which were so miserable to eat that they made people belch with melancholy even though the skies were blue."

Polaris photo of woman at Ayatollah Ruhollah Khomeini's tomb by Newsha Tavakolian for the Times.

Frosted Swedes

Sweden vs. Trinidad & Tobago. It's supposed to be a rout for Sweden, which is good for my fantasy team, have Henrik Larsson on it.... Early Swedish free kick, like 19 yards away; no go.

Still scoreless 12 minutes in, even though Sweden's totally dominated play it's a victory for T&T to keep it 0-0 so far. T&T has a good coach, he seems to have drawn up a game plan of staying back, maybe after a while as pressure grows on Sweden they'll attack more.

0-0 32 minutes in, this is actually shaping up to be a pretty interesting match. T&T has had a couple good scoring opportunities, Sweden a few more, but nothing super-threatening. Swedish fans starting to get a bit restless.

No score, approaching halftime. Some decent shots on goal for Sweden, but T&T is beginning to counter attack a bit more effectively. Except for Germany riding the home crowd, the favored team has struggled in every match so far. English fans must be taking heart from Sweden's troubles so far.

ABC announcers saying the T&T goalkeeper was a very late substitution before the game, their starter apparently was injured; he's made some pretty good saves, announcers say he's becoming the storyline. It's a pretty good announcing team, not as judgmental as the first one.

Halftime. This is very surprising... Sweden had been averaging a ridiculous 3 goals/game in qualifying, they've got to be frustrated and a bit worried. As the match wears on the over-matched T&T team might be in trouble, but so far they're playing pretty disciplined and not at all awed by the stage.

Univision is much more serious about showing all aspects of the match--they've got the players coming back out onto the field, milling around. Ready to restart, will be interesting to see what kindof adjustments Sweden made. Oh my gosh! T&T's best player just got his second yellow card and thus is gone, Avery John is out--on what just looked like a strong tackle, the Swede is limping off. So now it's 11 vs. 10... on top of everything else. Very bad luck... but whatever the result at least T&T shutout Sweden at full strength.

Boy, you gotta root for these guys, still 0-0 nearly 10 minutes into the second half. They substitute with an attacking player, instead of a defender; heck, they're going for the win! Longer this match goes on, more pressure on Sweden. If they can't get 3 points out of this, it really doesn't bode well for their chances to get out of the group.

Socca Warriors are really playing with a lot of heart, they've rarely gotten into the Sweden end this half so far but keep trying. Once the Swedes get their first goal, they could then score a flurry... but we'll see. Wow, T&T on a breakaway, a clean shot at goal--hits the crossbar, the best scoring chance of the second half!

Wow, then at the other end T&T goalkeeper makes a great save at point blank range... Shak Hislop, officially the story of the game, at age 37 no less. 11 shots on goal by Sweden, 5 by T&T.

T&T players and coaches have been saying they're for real, aren't just here to enjoy the experience. Nobody believed them, but now.... Is this them being good, or Sweden bad? Swedes make a substitution, see if this helps. 30 minutes left in the match. So far Sweden hasn't had any odd man rushes, can't really tell they have a man advantage--the entire second half has been played in T&T's end, but really, just a couple of dangerous moments for T&T.

Corner kick for Sweden, see if they can take advantage. Their 6th corner announcers say, T&T have none. Another substitution for them, their players have got to be getting a bit tired--and now their fans making a lot of noise.

It's weird, soccer players are always falling down and seemingly getting injured from a level of contact that's absolutely normal in the NBA (not to mention football). Now a Swede's injured and taken off--from running into another player. How?! A few minutes later, and he's stnading up, ready to come back in.

Collision with the T&T goalkeeper, but no other Swede around to take advantage, defender knocks the ball out. Some chatting going on between a Swedish and a T&T player--now more Swedes are laughing, this is insane; they should be upset and going for the win, not being good-natured with their opponents. 20 minutes late, still nothing from the Swedes.

Another yellow card to T&T, for wasting time on a free kick. The Swedes have really been imprecise today, have not looked good. If this score stands up, it's really going to be a shocker. Really, ever single team from Latin America has played better than people thought... maybe I've just been reading the wrong reports.

About 10 minutes left in the match, more sloppy play from the Swedes. Looks like two subs coming in for them, no more substitions left for them, T&T still has one. Oh, and Sweden's best chance of the game, clean shot at goal, goalkeeper comes out and saves it!

And now T&T gets their first corner kick of the game. T&T coach is smiling, fans are excited, but nothing going on the kick. Another chance for Sweden on the other end, no go; then a clean tackle from behind kills another close opportunity. 8 minutes left....

Mayhem, as Sweden gets more chances, but nothing. Now their 7th corner kick; poorly executed. Now just 2 minutes left in normal time... and Larsson gets a yellow card on a tackle outof frustration. 3 minutes of stoppage time... announcers speculating if T&T will go for the win now. Swedes pouring it on, going all out but its sloppy play continues, fans are deflated, whistling.

And that's the game! And the smallest country ever to qualify for the World Cup ties Sweden, which continues its streak of never winning its World Cup opener. T&T players and fans are celebrating like mad, Swedes are in disbelief. Wow, what a great game.

Odd, it's not until in the studio afterwards that they mention Hislop, who was Howard University's goalie (in the 80s!), was a NASA intern. They make the requisite rocket science joke, then toss to golf without showing any match highlights; thank god for Univision.

AFP photo of John Stern and Olof Mellberg via FIFA.

St. George cross

Rooting for Paraguay against England, despite picking England to win this group. So far the English have looked pretty flat; they're up 1-0, but only on the strength of a (bent) free kick by Beckam that went in off the head of a Paraguayan player in minute 3.

ABC's pro-English tilt feeds my cheering for Paraguay... it's interesting, there's a couple seconds delay on ABC vs. Univision. Appropriate that Spanish-speaking fans in the U.S. are experiencing the World Cup before everyone else.

The English fans have been pretty restless, they know this is not a good opener for their team, even if they're able to pull it out. The first-string goalkeeper for Paraguay was injured in the opening minutes as well, but England's been able to do nothing.

England traditionally collapses under the weight of the great expectations from its fans; the criticism will be searing if an English player fails to score in the game. This does not look like a World Cup winning side; as ABC's pretty insightful Marcelo Balboa said, it looks like they need 11 balls out there, the stacked English team isn't playing together. By the way, why do the Brits field one Olympic team, but separate World Cup squads?

The English supporters have just broken into a rendition of God Save the Queen, with 5 minutes left in regulation they must feel like the game's over. How great would a last-second goal from Paraguay be!

Now Al Michaels throws in the fact that there's never been a 1-0 game decided by an own goal in the World Cup. Wow... the poor English, they can't win even when they win. They're gonna get blistered by their tabloids.

Game ends, Paraguay had a late flurry, but doesn't make up for their odd lack of urgency the rest of the match--maybe getting a couple of yellow cards early took the steam out of them. An odd result, neither team seems very high or low. For some reason the stadium speakers are blasting out Andrea Bocelli.

AFP photo of Carlos Paredes and Paul Robinson via FIFA.

Madness kicks off

The World Cup's underway, and already a big surprise, with Ecuador--which has never won in Europe--putting away the Poles 2-0. It was a great match, 1-0 for much of it after Ecuador scored on a nifty header combination off a throw-in. They iced it with a late, relaxed touch pass goal, but Poland made things exciting with two late strikes that hit the crossbar and the post. I feel bad for all the Polish fans who packed the stadium, for whom this World Cup was supposed to be the highlight of their year.

It was a 'stunning' win for Ecuador, not because Poland was so strong but because Ecuador was supposedly so weak away from the high altitude of home. But their manager, Columbian Luis Fernando Suarez, based on body language during the match, seems like a tough, confident taskmaster. He'd said beforehand the team was in great physical shape, and they played like it today, repeatedly darting to balls ahead of the bigger Poles.

Even though I had picked Poland to advance outof this group, the beauty of the World Cup is discovering teams like Ecuador--which played a lot cooler and more deftly than people thought. I'm officially on board their bandwagon; they should beat Costa Rica in the next game, setting the stage for their match with Germany where just maybe there could be a huge upset....

In the early game, which I saw just a bit of, Germany put up 4 goals but surprisingly Costa Rica stuck in 2 of their own in a match that shows how poor the Allemande defense can be, and will restir debate over whether Germany's famed goalkeeper Oliver Kahn should be the one starting.

Granted, da Germans didn't have their best player, midfielder Michael Ballack, but they shouldn't have given up two goals, both to Paulo Wanchope. At least Miroslav Klose matched him with two of his own (good news for my fantasy team... by the way, I'm picking Ukraine's Andriy Shevchenko to score the most goals in the first round).

Of course, a big part of the World Cup story is that it's being held in Germany, which has a problematic history when it comes to the overt displays of nationalism that the world's biggest sporting event engenders. Der Spiegel's Cup blog has an interesting post on how Germans are feeling it's okay again to be proud of being German; although, apparently, not too proud:

The World Cup opening ceremony has just concluded leaving over one billion viewers ever so slightly baffled. The German footballing authorities' decision to stage the first game in Munich now looks a little shortsighted as the ceremony was forced to accommodate a host of lederhosen-wearing, cowbell chiming Bavarians.

Opening ceremonies are always surreal, that is half the fun. Viewers expect to be titillated and exacerbated in equal measure and Germany did not disappoint. But, an army of men in Lederhosen banging drums and swinging cowbells between their legs in joyous enthusiasm pushed the boundaries of taste as well style. And the team of butch Bavarians rhythmically cracking their agricultural whips paid more tribute to the Village People than it did to modern Munich.

But storyline of the day is the strong play of the Latin Americans... it doesn't bode well for much-hyped England, which seems a bit distracted going into tomorrow's early-morning match vs. defensively-tough Paraguay.

To quote the Ecuadorean crowd at the Poland match (via the Times' live match blogger):

Si se puede! Si se puede! (Yes, we can! Yes we can!)

AFP photo of Germany's Mirsolav Klose via FIFA.

AFP photo of Ecuador's Edison Mendez and Poland's Michal Zewlakow via FIFA.

Scoring in Germany

Ah, what the heck--have been reading all about the teams as of late, may as well give it a shot. Thought up top: with Adidas unveiling a new ball (the most perfectly spherical ever, they say), there should be more goals than ever--which means teams that rely on clogging defenses and set plays to score may be in trouble.

Group A
Everyone has Germany coming out first in this weak group; even though it's not a great team they do have the home field advantage. Second spot out is a lot more wide open, with Poland the leading contender and Ecuador and Costa Rica going for the upset. I'm picking Poland, despite their recent poor play--the Ticos have some injuries and Ecuador reportedly doesn't play well away from home.

B
England gets more hype than any other team except Brazil, due to the crazy British press--looks like Wayne Rooney has recovered from his broken foot, so put them down to come out first. Sweden, which hasn't lost to England since 1968, is probably going to see that streak end here; it may also get pushed a bit by Paraguay, but with a recent injury to one of their strikers Paraguay's overmatched. Trinidad & Tobago is just there for fun.

C
This is a hard group, it's this tournament's group of death. Argentina is one of the handful of could-win-it-all-if-Brazil-screws-up teams, but basically tends to choke at the World Cup. They'll win the group, though; and I think the Netherlands will be right behind them. However, Serbia and the Ivory Coast both think they've got a shot at that second slot; don't see it happening, but with a key injury here and there....

D
The experts think is an easy group, with everyone picking Portugal and Mexico. I agree about Portugal--they have a Brazilian coach who's going to be able to get the most out of their 'golden generation's' last go-around. But Mexico... their goaltender's dad just died so he's now back in Mexico, unclear whether he'll be back in time for their first game--against Iran. Which has a bunch of veteran players who all play in Germany; all that, coupled with Mexico's history of underachievement, has me picking Team Melli to take the second spot. Angola's just there to be there.

E
Ah, what may be the toughest group to pick. I keep going back and forth--most experts expect Italy and the Czech Republic to make it out, with the U.S. just missing. I don't know; the U.S. has the following going for it: a brilliant, strong-willed coach in Bruce Arena; an opening game against a beaten-up Czech team in Kaiserslautern, which has a big American military base and thus will have a home feel; and no real pressure from fan expections. So I think they tie the Czechs and their great goalkeeper Petr Cech, then beat Italy--which is preoccupied by a huge soccer scandal back home, has been hit by a late injury bug and seems to be going through a bit of an identity crisis. So I've got the U.S. and the Czechs coming out. The real question will be if the U.S. can win the group, which would allow it to avoid Brazil in the next round... I don't think they will, the Czechs can pile up more goals. Ghana not a bad team and could upset someone, but I don't see them making it out.

F
Brazil will of course win; then Japan, Croatia, and Australia will fight for the second spot. The opening game between Japan and Australia will be key; I'm picking Japan, which has had some very strong results against top teams the last few months and has a lot of Cup experience. But really, Croatia could easily sneak in there, it's a hard group to pick.

G
A totally mixed-up group, you've got France as a slight favorite, but South Korea and
Switzerland right behind, only Togo is out of the mix. France, in any other group, wouldn't make it out, they're in their usual state of disarray. I've got them winning, and then South Korea proving that their run four years ago wasn't a total fluke.

H
An easy one to pick--Spain and Ukraine are the favorites, Tunisia and Saudi Arabia have no chance. I'll say Ukraine beats the always-underachieving Spaniards out in first.

So, then the second round. I've got Germany vs. Sweden, which Germany should win. England vs. Poland, with England moving on. Argentina vs. Iran, Argentina wins. Portugal vs. Netherlands... hmm, a tough one. I'll go with a mild upset and pick Portugal, think the Dutch will be pretty banged up from their first round matches. Brazil vs. the U.S., Brazil of course. Czechs vs. Japan, the Czechs. France vs. Spain, I'm going with Spain in a mild upset. Ukraine vs. South Korea, Ukraine.

Quarters: Germany vs. Argentina, a classic match-up, in an upset I'm going with the South Americans over the home team. Czechs vs. Spain, I have the Czechs. England vs. Portugal, I'm going with the Brits. Brazil vs. Ukraine--I'll tell you right now, if Brazil is gonna get upset, it'll happen here; their goalie's a bit suspect, and Ukraine has a great striker. But I don't think they will, going with Brazil.

Semis: Argentina vs. Czech Republic, a tough one to pick; I'm going with the Argentinians. I think the Czechs will be fatigued by this point; whereas not only is Argentina younger, but most of them have been playing with each other--and their coach--from the juniors on up, it's an unusually tight team. As for Brazil vs. England, I'm sticking with the Brazilians.

Which sets up an all-South American final. Argentina actually beat Brazil 3-1 in Buenos Aires last year, but I'm pretty sure Brazil will win their third Cup in four tournaments.

AFP photo of Brazilian midfielder Ronaldinho Gaucho jumping over Jeremy Christie of New Zealand, 04 June 2006, during a friendly match by Antonio Scorza via FIFA.

Reuters photo of an Iranian fan cheering during a friendly with Costa Rica, March 1, 2006 by Morteza Nikoubazl.

Reuters photo of U.S. coach Bruce Arena during a press conference in Hamburg, Germany, June 2, 2006 by Carlos Barria.

World Cup gone bananas

In football, everything is complicated by the presence of the other team.
-Jean-Paul Sartre

Well, it's almost World Cup time. Which means, even more so than usual, the most-viewed article in the world today is likely to be: Ronaldo's model girlfriend says she won't pose nude

It's interesting how the world's biggest sporting--some would say any--event is beginning to catch on in the U.S. The rest of the world is beginning to react as we start to pay more attention to their sport, and of course as we start beating them at their own game.

London's Guardian newspaper writes:

The United States always feels challenged by the World Cup. Unlike the Olympics, where Americans tend to dominate, the US has rarely shone in the tournament, although it famously defeated England in 1950. It is an 80-1 long shot this time and may struggle to overcome group stage opponents Ghana and the Czech Republic, let alone Italy. For Americans used to winning, there is something vaguely shocking about this.

But US soccer-related insecurity is political and cultural, too. For four weeks, the world shows its back to the number one nation. The usual hierarchies of power are turned upside-down; the agenda is no longer Washington's to command. It is not often that old enemies, such as Mexico, or relatively new ones, such as Iran, get the chance to "beat" the US. But either may do so in Germany if their teams progress.

It's an interesting piece that goes on to spell out exactly how much this sport matters to the rest of the world, in at times chilling ways.

The U.S. is currently ranked #5 in the world by FIFA, and although the rankings aren't taken as gospel they do mean something. Maybe more telling is the U.S. advancing to the quarterfinals of the last World Cup, where it clearly outplayed Germany and were it not for a ridiculous hand goal no-call we'd have found ourselves in a shoot-out with that most traditional of European powers.

Since World War II we've always been the exception, in everything; the only country that exerted its own gravity, that really could, to paraphrase Donald Rumsfeld, create our own reality.

But post-Iraq War I think we've started to come back down to earth a bit (a bit). Part of it is other nations finally getting their acts together and chipping away at our economic and cultural dominance, tying us--especially economically--into global systems that we no longer entirely control.

Part of it is our own internal decay--things like our crumbling infrastructure, deteriorating educational system, broken political system. Related to that is a psychological tiredness that we've got a long slog ahead of us against terrorism and really, it's no fun doing it all alone.

Undoubtedly, though, the main reason the U.S. seems more plugged into the rest of the world is that more of us are originally from or related to the rest of the world. This diversity means that what once may have seemed foreign or exotic literally no longer is so. So we are more interested in what's going on beyond our oceans, whether it's movies or politics or literature.

For the next month, it'll be all soccer, all the time for billions around the world, and millions here in the U.S. I'm very curious to see how much of a light is shone on Germany and Europe's imbedded racism, which for whites is perhaps most readily seen in the football stands.

ESPN's investigative series, Outside The Lines, had a well-done story over the weekend that focused on France's Thierry Henry (one of Time magazine's 2005 European heros), a black soccer star who got tired of the monkey/banana/spitting/diatribes/chants that are par for the course for black players in Europe. He got his sponsor Nike to help him film some commercials basically telling fans not to be racist.. and started a foundation to spread the message.

Watching the story, it's astonishing that in 2006 Europeans consider it normal for thousands of fans at games to hold up Nazi flags, scream abuse at non-white players, and openly parade their racism. Of course the majority of fans don't act that way, but it's insane that they essentially shrug their shoulders and say what can you do, there will always be some crazies.

Especially because it's not just some crazies--extreme right wing parties like Jean-Marie Le Pen's National Front (who won 15% of the votes in France's presidential election in 1995) are part of the mainstream political landscape in Europe, regularly garnering substantial numbers of votes and parliamentary seats. And, as I've mentioned before, the biggest problem in Europe today is many white Europeans do not consider non-whites to be really French/German/Dutch/etc.; they still see them as a foreign element in their society, to be tolerated (or beaten) but in either case identified as other.

The ESPN story made the point that Europe never went through our civil rights struggles of the 60s, in part because there weren't large numbers of minorities on the continent at the time, and so naturally their views are behind ours when it comes to race. Naturally.

I'd say they are now going through that struggle; which means they're going to have their firehoses and dogs moments, their firebombings, their lunch counter sit-ins, their bloody Selmas, and ultimately their last stand in the schoolhouse door.

Which makes it odd that FIFA, which like most European institutions loves to lecture non-European countries about their societal shortcomings, would choose to stick a World Cup right in the midst of all this. In some ways it'd be like if they played a soccer tournament in South Africa during apartheid (instead of in 2010).

The Times, in their usual soft shoe manner when it comes to racism in Europe, sortof wrote about the topic, Surge in Racist Mood Raises Concerns on Eve of World Cup :

As he left the soccer field after a club match in the eastern German city of Halle on March 25, the Nigerian forward Adebowale Ogungbure was spit upon, jeered with racial remarks and mocked with monkey noises. In rebuke, he placed two fingers under his nose to simulate a Hitler mustache and thrust his arm in a Nazi salute.

Marc Zoro, right, an Ivory Coast native, was a target of racial slurs from the home fans in Messina, Italy. Adriano, a star with Inter Milan, tried to persuade him to stay on the field.

In April, the American defender Oguchi Onyewu, playing for his professional club team in Belgium, dismissively gestured toward fans who were making simian chants at him. Then, as he went to throw the ball inbounds, Onyewu said a fan of the opposing team reached over a barrier and punched him in the face.

International soccer has been plagued for years by violence among fans, including racial incidents. But FIFA, soccer's Zurich-based world governing body, said there has been a recent surge in discriminatory behavior toward blacks by fans and other players, an escalation that has dovetailed with the signing of more players from Africa and Latin America by elite European clubs.

This "deplorable trend," as FIFA has called it, now threatens to embarrass the sport on its grandest stage, the World Cup, which opens June 9 for a monthlong run in 12 cities around Germany. More than 30 billion cumulative television viewers are expected to watch part of the competition and Joseph S. Blatter, FIFA's president, has vowed to crack down on racist behavior during the tournament.

Underlining FIFA's concerns, the issue has been included on the agenda at its biannual Congress, scheduled to be held this week in Munich. A campaign against bigotry includes "Say No to Racism" stadium banners, television commercials, and team captains making pregame speeches during the quarterfinals of the 32-team tournament.

Players, coaches and officials have been threatened with sanctions. But FIFA has said it would not be practical to use the harshest penalties available to punish misbehaving fans — halting matches, holding games in empty stadiums and deducting points that teams receive for victories and ties.

Players and antiracism experts said they expected offensive behavior during the tournament, including monkey-like chanting; derisive singing; the hanging of banners that reflect neofascist and racist beliefs; and perhaps the tossing of bananas or banana peels, all familiar occurrences during matches in Spain, Italy, eastern Germany and eastern Europe.

We have to differentiate inside and outside the stadium," said Kurt Wachter, project coordinator for the Vienna-based Football Against Racism in Europe, a network of organizations that seeks to fight bigotry and xenophobia in 35 countries.

"Racism is a feature of many football leagues inside and outside Europe," said Wachter, who expects most problems to occur outside stadiums where crowds are less controlled. "We're sure we will see some things we're used to seeing. It won't stop because of the World Cup."

Particularly worrisome are the possibilities of attacks by extremist groups on spectators and visitors in train stations, bars, restaurants and open areas near the stadiums, Wachter and other experts said. To promote tolerance, he said his organization would organize street soccer matches outside World Cup stadiums.

Recent attacks in the eastern Germany city of Potsdam on an Ethiopian-born engineer and in eastern Berlin on a state lawmaker of Turkish descent, along with a government report showing an increase in right-wing violence, have ignited fears that even sporadic hate crimes and other intolerant behavior could mar the World Cup, whose embracing motto is A Time to Make Friends. ...

In mid-May, a former government spokesman, Uwe-Karsten Heye, caused a furor when he tried to assist visitors by advising that anyone "with a different skin color" avoid visiting small and midsize towns in Brandenburg and elsewhere in eastern Germany, or they "may not leave with their lives." ...

Gerald Asamoah, a forward on Germany's World Cup team and a native of Ghana, has been recounting an incident in the 1990's when he was pelted with bananas before a club match in Cottbus. "I'll never forget that," he said in a television interview. "It's like we're not people." He has expressed anger and sadness over a banner distributed by a right-wing group that admonished, "No Gerald, You Are Not Germany."

Cory Gibbs, an American defender who formerly played professionally in Germany, said there were restaurants and nightclubs in eastern Germany — and even around Hamburg in the west — where he was told "You're not welcome" because he was black.

"I think racism is everywhere," said Gibbs, who will miss the World Cup because of a knee injury. "But I feel in Germany racism is a lot more direct."

It's astonishing the Times starts the article with the misleading item of a black player making a Nazi salute, before explaining deep inside the story behind it. Word choice is also interesting, from the headline--racism isn't a 'mood'! people getting beat up is more than a 'concern'--to lumping hate crimes in with "other intolerant behavior".

People can soft-pedal it all they want, but Europe has got to deal with its racist core. There's something rotten with your society if in the 21st century large numbers of people feel comfortable throwing bananas at black players in public.

Uncredited image of Thierry Henry found in various places online.

Culture clash

Hotel removes booze and porn as Saudis arrive

Saudi Arabia arrived in Germany on Saturday becoming the fifth World Cup team to settle into their training base with just under two weeks to go until the tournament begins with the opening match on June 9.

The three-times Asian champions went from Frankfurt airport to the Hotel Dolce, north of Germany's financial capital in Bad Nauheim, which has been especially prepared for their arrival.

The hotel has removed alcohol from the minibars, blocked adult entertainment and other free-TV channels showing naked women and taken down tasteful nude photos in the fitness area.

Consumption of alcohol is forbidden in Islam and is a grave offence in Saudi Arabia, a country that enforces strict Islamic laws that also prohibit what it regards as pornography.

The article's juxtaposition between the 'tasteful nude photos in the fitness area' and 'prohibit what it regards as pornography' cracks me up.

What kindof a hotel has nude photos anywhere, let alone the fitness area? And you can call it tasteful, but nude photos are pretty universally regarded as pornography, whether you're a Muslim or not.

It's even funnier when paired with this article, Chile players sent home after women found in rooms:

Two key members of Chile's national squad have been sent home from a European tour after women were discovered in their hotel rooms, an official said on Friday.

The official said midfielder Mark Gonzalez and striker Reinaldo Navia had been ordered to fly home from Ireland after Chile beat the home team 1-0 on Wednesday.

Chile, who failed to qualify for the World Cup, are playing a series of friendlies in Europe to prepare for a regional Cup in 2007 in the Americas and for qualifying matches for the 2010 World Cup in South Africa.

'There was a disciplinary problem with our players...they had women in their room, so together with (coach) Nelson (Acosta), the head of the delegation and I decided to send them home,' Reinaldo Sanchez, president of Chile's national professional soccer association, told Cooperativa radio station.

Navia played for the Mexican teams America and Monterrey and Gonzalez belongs to Liverpool although he is currently on loan to Spain's Real Sociedad.

The coach discovered the women in the players' rooms in the early hours of Friday morning.