Also a Euro 2012 update

This match was from a few days ago. Italy defeated England in the quarterfinals, 0-0 (4-2).

Euro 2012 update

Italy defeated Germany yesterday 2-1 to advance to the finals against Spain. 

Match report: Italy 3 - Ukraine 0 (Quarterfinal 2006 World Cup)

• Goals scored: Zambrotta 6', Toni 59', Toni 69'
• What happened: Italy defeated Ukraine in the quarterfinals of the 2006 FIFA World Cup. They advanced to the semifinals against Germany.
• Players who appeared in the match and who had played at AC Milan during the previous season: Gattuso, Pirlo, Shevchenko
• Players who appeared in the match and who would later play for AC Milan: Zambrotta, Oddo
• Players who were on the bench for this match and who had played at AC Milan during the previous season: Inzaghi, Gilardino, Nesta
• Players who were on the bench for this match and who would later play for AC Milan: None
• Players who played in the match and who I wish played for Milan: Fabio Cannavaro
• Players whose brothers played in this match and who I wish played for Milan: Paolo Cannavaro
• Questions raised by this match: Was this Gianluca Zambrotta's greatest career moment?
• Who did I root for the first time I saw this match? Ukraine
• Things the ESPN announcers did that were annoying: Mispronounce many names ( "Zambratto," "Purrlo," "Cam-rone-a-nay-see," probably almost all of the Ukraine players' names)
• Injured former players/Juventus staff members whose recent scandal-related suicide attempts were frequently mentioned during the broadcast: Gianluca Pessotto
• Relatively amusing injuries to Italy players: Gattuso 14' (kneed in back), Gattuso 26' (wrist stomped on), Cannavaro 47' (hit in groin by ball after Ukraine player missed header), Buffon 50' (bumped head on goalpost making save)
• Words to describe most of the Ukraine players' hair: long, blond, stringy, Owen Wilson-like
• What this match teaches us: Why AC Milan insisted on acquiring Zambrotta (pictured at top) from Barcelona

Below: Ukraine captain and former Milan striker Andriy Shevchenko

Video highlights are below:

World Cup Update #5: Best National Anthems

Here are the best national anthems of the teams at this year's World Cup Finals (presented in alphabetical order)--

Brazil

Cameroon

Italy

Spain

Uruguay

And the best national anthem of a team not at this year's finals--

Great moments in World Cup history #7

Here are four different views of the same goal-- Fabio Grosso's against Germany deep into extra time of the 2006 semifinals. All four are worth watching. This is basically the goal that convinced me to root for Italy in the final against France.

English version

American Version

Italian version

Official FIFA movie version

World Cup Preview: Players to watch out for

Above: Diego Milito (Argentina/Inter Milan)

Above: Wesley Sneijder (Holland/Inter Milan)

Above: Antonio Di Natale (Italy/Udinese)

Above: Nadir Belhadj (Algeria/Portsmouth)

Great moments in World Cup history #3

1994 Quarterfinal: Bulgaria 2 - Germany 1

Bulgarian superstar Hristo Stoichkov played on the great Barcelona squad of the early 1990s. He is best known, however, for this free kick, which helped knock the defending World Champion Germany out of the 1994 tournament. Bulgaria went on to lose to Italy in the semi-finals.

Note-- I believe that the man you can hear shouting before the kick is taken is Germany goalkeeper Bodo Illgner yelling at teammate Lothar Matthaus to move more to the left.

Cars parked in my neighborhood #2

When I went started taking pictures of this Chevrolet Monza, I noticed that there was a woman working in the yard by the side of the house. I asked her if she was the owner of the car and if it was alright if I took a few pictures (I made up some story about my family having once owned a Monza so that she wouldn't think I was crazy). It turned out that she was not the owner, but that her mother was. The mother has been sick for the last six months or so, and the car hasn't been used in all that time. I asked the woman if the car still runs. She said that it does and then offered up the additional piece of information that the car does not have power steering.

I asked if the mother was the original owner (yes) and whether the woman knew what year the Monza was from (no). The woman then started to get excited about the idea that I was some sort of collector and that this car might be valuable. I told her that I wasn't a collector and that I didn't think the car was worth all that much. Obviously, she seemed a little disappointed after that.

For more information about Chevy Monzas, click here.

For information about the Autodromo Nazionale Monza (after which the Monza is named) click here.

What I have been reading lately #43

Journey to Topaz - Yoshiko Uchida

Journey to Topaz is a novel about a Japanese-American girl named Yuki who is interned along with her family during World War II. I read this book out loud to my class of fifth graders.

Adventures of Sherlock Holmes - Arthur Conan Doyle

This was Arthur Conan Doyle's first collection of Sherlock Holmes stories. Notice that the title does not have the word "the" in it.

I'm Not Scared - Niccolo Ammaniti

This novel is about a boy and his friends growing up in a remote part of Italy during the late 1970s. It is a thriller, and, despite the title, I found it to be very scary.

Shenzhen: A Travelogue From China - Guy Delisle

From the author of Pyongyang and Burma Chronicles, this book is about when Guy Delisle spent some time in China working for an animation studio. It is the last of Delisle's books like this.

The Sign of Four - Arthur Conan Doyle

This is probably my favorite of the Sherlock Holmes novels (as opposed to the story collections). Notice that it only has one "the" in the title.

Abandoned Books and/or Movies #3

Sometimes when you are reading a book, you realize that you want to stop. Sometimes that happens with movies, too. Here are some recent examples:

Peeling the Onion by Gunter Grass. Famous German author admits that he voluntarily signed up for the Waffen-SS as a youth during World War II.

The Black Arrow by Robert Lewis Stevenson. Adventure story set in England during the War of the Roses. I read it once as a kid. I have tried (and failed) twice as an adult.

Rebels Without Borders by Marc Vachon. True story of a Canadian hoodlum who becomes a logistics expert for an international medical relief organization. Not as interesting as it might sound.

Becoming Manny: Inside the Life of Baseball's Most Enigmatic Slugger by Jean Rhodes and Shawn Boburg. Discussed elsewhere.

The Italian Job. Boring movie from 1969 that was remade into another boring movie in 2003. I actually have watched the 2003 version twice but could not quite make it through the 1969 one.

Escape from New York. Way back when, movie director John Carpenter needed to find a place that looked like Manhattan would look if they turned it into an island prison colony run by the prisoners and then the prisoners went wild. He chose downtown St. Louis, which is the only reason I would ever watch this movie. I fell asleep on the couch about halfway through.

Below- downtown St. Louis

The Sixth Man: A Season Inside the NBA Playground by Chris Palmer. Do you know those little, tiny square candy bars that are about two centimeters across? This book has the same relationship to a real basketball book that a little, tiny square candy bar has to a real, full-size candy bar. (The "season" in question is 2004-2005.)

Adding insult to injury after injury

The Egyptian national soccer team (above) has had an up-and-down week at the Confederations Cup to say the least.

1. They played brilliantly against Brazil, coming back from 3-1 down to tie, only to commit a handball in injury time (penalty kick converted by Kaka).

2. They played even more brilliantly to beat Italy 1-0 (see celebrating fans below).

3. They then collapsed and lost 3-0 to the USA, thus missing out on the chance to move on to the semi-finals.

4. Several of the players then had their hotel rooms robbed.

5. The South African media subsequently reported that the players were robbed not by burglars but by prostitutes who had been invited up by the players.

Egypt appears unlikely to qualify for the World Cup, so this trip represented their team's only chance to achieve glory in South Africa.

Meanwhile, in much more exciting, but unrelated, news, north Korea qualified for the World Cup finals this week with a draw against Saudi Arabia. They join south Korea, Japan, and Australia in representing Asia at the 2010 tournament.

What I have been listening to lately #19

Picture of the Day

"Pato won all three games"

Euro 2008 update

In just a few hours, Italy will play Spain in the last quarter-final of Euro 2008. Italy will not be able to use either Gattuso or Pirlo, both of whom are suspended for one game due to accumulated yellow cards from earlier matches. I don't know if any Spanish players have to miss this game - probably not. Those of you who saw Turkey beat Croatia or Russia beat the Netherlands in their earlier quarter-finals will know that we can only hope that today's match is just as exciting. Those of you who only bothered to watch Germany defeat Portugal will probably not understand what I am talking about.

What I have been listening to lately #6

"Bella ciao" - An Italian partisan song

What I've been reading lately

Winning: At All Costs- John Foot

This book is brilliant, and makes me realise again that Italian soccer (football) really is for me. This league full of corruption and extremely high expectations is perfect!

Idea for a televsion show #1

Chelsea have not gotten much this year out of Ukrainian striker Andrei Shevchenko, but he's given me a great idea for a television show. Shevchenko's son, Jordan, has as his godfather none other than former AC Milan president and current Italian Prime Minister Silvio Berlusconi (for whom Shevchenko played for many years at Milan...) So here's the idea, or, rather, several different versions:



1. Sit-com: Shevchenko and his model/wife and all his extended relatives suddenly and tragically die at some sort of family reunion. His children, Jordan and Christian (and let's throw in a made-up girl-child just to balance it all out), have to go live with their godfather, Italian Prime Minister Silvio Berlusconi. Imagine the hi-jinx as the Italian Prime Minister tries to raise three bratty kids while still running one of the world's most contentious democracies! (There's an American version in there, too - imagine if Ivan Rodriguez had asked G. W. Bush to be the godfather to his kids back when Rodriguez played for and G.W. owned the Texas Rangers - then imagine three darling Puerto Rican kids running around the White House, arguing over who gets to use the red phone, getting in Dick Cheney's way!)



2. Reality show: (I don't normally approve of this sort of thing...) Famous politicians are suddenly given custody of the children of dead professional athletes. Cameras follow them around to see what happens - braces, fights over the bathroom, trips to exotic foriegn locales, photo-ops with Henry Kissinger, etc.