June 11, 2002

1:37 AM

Bon voyage, mes amis...France now holds the dubious honor of being the first World Cup champs to drop out in the first round of the subsequent Cup tournament (i.e. Champs in '98/Goats in '02) since Brazil '66. Somebody, strike up Sergio Mendez for me...
posted by Bixby23 (35 comments total)

and not one goal.

what a load of Le Muppets.
posted by Frasermoo at 1:41 AM on June 11, 2002

Good. There is poetic justice, or divine justice for their odious foreign policy.
posted by ParisParamus at 1:56 AM on June 11, 2002

i blame le pen.
posted by quarsan at 1:59 AM on June 11, 2002

! (.wav file)
posted by dagny at 2:10 AM on June 11, 2002

Good. There is poetic justice, or divine justice for their odious foreign policy.

So Israel's performance in this and previous World Cups would seem to show...

(sorry lads, couldn't resist ;-))
posted by bifter at 2:19 AM on June 11, 2002

So how on earth are the US doing well?!? Maybe its because the football is as linked with the psyche of the nation there :)

Cisse, top scorer in the French league, Henry, top scorer in the English Premiership, Trezuguet (sp?), top scorer in Serie A, and not a goal to show for it..
posted by Mossy at 2:45 AM on June 11, 2002

It's a sad day here in Paris. Silly as it may seem, identifying with a bunch of guys kicking a ball around can really affect your mood. The rush of euphoria in 1998 was unbelievable. The loss this year is just quietly depressing.

I didn't think they would go very far because they seemed too old, too spoiled, and too tired. It's still a damn shame we won't get to see more of Zidane doing his magical stuff. But the show goes on and good luck to the other teams.
posted by Turtle at 3:04 AM on June 11, 2002

well, i was watching the game on espn but now that i know how it effing ends....
posted by zoopraxiscope at 3:54 AM on June 11, 2002

I just love the Senegalese people. Their team just drew a great game with Uruguay, and they had such beautiful smiles.
posted by emf at 4:06 AM on June 11, 2002

According to a BBC announcer I heard (not cool enough to know which one, sorry), it was "easily the best game [I've seen] of the entire tournament."

Bet that missed header at the end will dog Uruguay for some time (at least four years would be my guess)...
posted by Bixby23 at 4:22 AM on June 11, 2002

Erm..."it" being the Uruguay-Senegal game, that is. Sorry...
posted by Bixby23 at 4:24 AM on June 11, 2002

Anybody in Astoria, Queens? I'm heading down to the Irish Rover on 28th Ave and 38th St for Germany-Cameroon and Ireland-Saudi Arabia.
posted by muckster at 4:29 AM on June 11, 2002

Since they haven't been mentioned yet, I should say I enjoyed Denmark's solid victory - a very deserved win indeed. With top scorer Tomasson in front they may go a long way. We'll see.
posted by Hjorth at 4:51 AM on June 11, 2002

You can't feel too bad for France. They'll always have '98.
posted by Summer at 5:00 AM on June 11, 2002

...and 2000. The swines.
posted by bifter at 5:15 AM on June 11, 2002

And now the Germans, needing a draw, are down to 10 men! *heheh*
posted by i_cola at 5:19 AM on June 11, 2002

France going out sure is good for England. As an Arsenal fan, however, I was sad to see some of my favorite players suck worse than a team of kitchen appliances.
posted by dopamine at 5:52 AM on June 11, 2002

This has been by far, the best world cup tournament I have seen. Awesome open games, lots of goals and my favorite ingredient, upset results. wohooo. I am rooting for a all new semi-final stage. I mean all new teams. Italy will go down in the 16 stage and Brazil in quarter finals.. umm and oh yeah germany, we dont know if cameroon will let them advance.. muhuhuhahahahahahahah
posted by adnanbwp at 6:02 AM on June 11, 2002

Oops, looks like Cameroon were feeling generous.. 16 yellow cards and 2 reds!!! Germany are gonna have no defenders for the next game.. Ref was appalling, talk about anal..

Yay for the boys in green!
posted by Mossy at 6:25 AM on June 11, 2002

ireland won, am chuffed out of my bin, as they say in dublin.
posted by kev23f at 6:43 AM on June 11, 2002

Actually, I thought the ref in the Germany/Cameroon game called it pretty well. I think maybe one or two of the yellow cards were suspect, but the rest of them I would have handed out as well (being a former referee). Tackling a player from behind (without touching the ball) is a card-able offence. Making a dangerous tackle from the side (getting more leg than ball) is a cardable offence.

If anyone should be appalled, it's the players for not realizing after the first two cards that they were playing dirty. If they couldn't figure it out quick enough, it's their loss (and Germany is going to pay for it indeed).
posted by grum@work at 7:42 AM on June 11, 2002

grum, can't agree there. I thought maybe five of the cards were deserved. I mean, Germany had seven in the first half! Unreal.
posted by Kafkaesque at 8:45 AM on June 11, 2002

Football: the most overrated spectator sport. Watching it just highlights the genius of baseball.
posted by ParisParamus at 9:07 AM on June 11, 2002

Paris, why don't you put a chausette in it?

You don't catch me coming in to your political wank threads to bitch, do you?

Tosser.
posted by Kafkaesque at 9:23 AM on June 11, 2002

People who show up in threads to proclaim that they're not interested in the subject are, indeed, utter wankers.
posted by argybarg at 9:29 AM on June 11, 2002

The danes wax sympathetic.

Watching baseball highlights the entertainment value of water evaporating.
posted by adampsyche at 10:28 AM on June 11, 2002

What Kafkaesque & argybarg said. Avec knobs on.
posted by i_cola at 10:38 AM on June 11, 2002

Who is this "Avec" guy, and how does one "knob on"? Did he play for France, and now he has to go back to his job as a furniture assembler, or what? [/badjoke]

Yeah, the end of that Uruguay-Senegal game was amazing. Uruguay looked like a hockey team that was down a goal and had pulled its keeper. Tenacious, desperate and "oh my god I can't believe I missed that header into an open net." Man, what a finish.
posted by diddlegnome at 12:08 PM on June 11, 2002

Sack les bleues!
posted by vbfg at 2:12 PM on June 11, 2002

Actually, I plan to watch to US v. Poland game, assuming there's cafeine to be had. It's just that it will be more for a novelty of it than the excitement. I don't get how a sport with almost no scoring in it can be satisfying to watch-- like 9 innings of great catches? Like near shut outs? Either of those would get boring in baseball pretty quick. On the other hand, Soccer is great to play.
posted by ParisParamus at 2:38 PM on June 11, 2002

> I don't get how a sport with almost no scoring in it can
> be satisfying to watch

That's because you don't understand sport. Why does it have to be about winning when it can be about playing to your strengths? It's why you don't get cricket either. Heathen swine.
posted by vbfg at 3:14 PM on June 11, 2002

I am swine: it's obvious. Nonetheless, Americans have had more of an opportunity to "choose" soccer than the rest of the world has to chose baseball and/or football. So I think American rejection of soccer is more compelling than the rest of the world's rejection of said other sports.
posted by ParisParamus at 3:17 PM on June 11, 2002

Cricket: now that's queer!
posted by ParisParamus at 3:18 PM on June 11, 2002

To be honest I'm not much of a soccer/football fan either. I like competitive sport but don't follow a team so the World and European Cups are pretty much the only times I get into it seriously. I'm a Rugby League man myself. It's kinda like your football but with six tackles to go the length of the field instead of four to go ten yards. No lonely bloke who comes on, kicks and then goes to sit on his bench again either.

Cricket is as queer as you make it. If you want to mince between the wickets that's entirely up to you.
posted by vbfg at 3:27 PM on June 11, 2002

Americans aren't getting enough soccer because the tv stations don't know how to get the desired amount of advertising in. I can't stand to watch football or baseball for that reason-- there's no flow, no groove. You end up watching more Chevy commercials than anything else. I suspect the ebb and flow of soccer, its rhythms, are hard-coded into my German DNA.

And Paris: when you watch soccer, you drink beer. Period. Even if it's 7:30am. With coffee, you'll never get it.
posted by muckster at 3:36 PM on June 11, 2002