Friday, June 23, 2006

TRICOLORE TRIBULATIONS: Togo v. France & Switzerland v. South Korea

World Cup Diary

France v. Switzerland
GAMES 45, GROUP G, JUNE 22, 2006 --COLOGNE

Switzerland v. South Korea
GAMES 46, GROUP G, JUNE 22, 2006 --HANOVER

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CROSS, CRESCENT AND CRUMPETS: Saudi Arabia v. Spain and Ukraine v. Tunisia

World Cup Diary
GAME 47, GROUP H, KAISERSLAUTERN
&
GAME 48, GROUP H, BERLIN

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Thursday, June 22, 2006

World Cup Diary Day Fourteen: The Decider

Funny how insignificance creeps up the hive of giants and makes them squirm. Until this week Ghana was to the United States no more remarkable than an unnamed star in the Andromeda Galaxy—maybe the same black star that appears in the center of Ghana’s flag. Today, the fate of the United States at the World Cup hangs in part on what that little African nation, whose GDP is less than Bill Gates’ personal worth, can do to the Team USA. Today, Ghana is the giant, the United States the upstart, the underdog, the pretender.
These Ghanaians managed to beat the Czechs, 2-0, and claim the upset of the tournament a few days ago. But these Ghanaians also managed to win the African Nations Cup four times, to out-perform the giants of African football (Cameroon, Nigeria, Senegal, South Africa) and qualify for Germany 2006, as the giants didn’t. They take their football seriously, these Ghanaians. They’re the best African squad in Germany. They looked better than the United States in their win over the Czechs, the same Czechs who humiliated the United States, 3-0. And they’re known as the Black Stars all over Africa. And their president (like Italy’s recently defeated president, who owns Italy’s most famous football club), is president of a football club in Kumasi ( Ghana’s Chicago). He’s declared today a national holiday. He’s made it clear that this isn’t just a football match. It’s African taking on the United States, as he put it in his personal message to the team. “The chicken is never declared in the court of hawks,” goes the Ghanaian proverb. The question is, who are the hawks today, and who the chickens? The African press has dubbed the match “The Decider,” an obvious slight at our own “Decider,” and the presumptions he wears on his nation’s sleeves. Read the rest...

Wednesday, June 21, 2006

Stations of the Cross: Sweden v. England

World Cup Diary
GAME 35, GROUP B, COLOGNE

The question of course is this: whose crucifixion will this match be, ours?

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Tuesday, June 20, 2006

Berlin Airlift: Equador v. Germany

World Cup Diary
GAME 33, GROUP A, BERLIN

Germany's Ballack is in the line-up, will miss the next match if he earns himself another yellow in this one. Does the match really matter? Both teams are assured a spot in the next round, but this is Germany on home turf in Berlin playing for a perfect record, and looking to prove that the show won't be stolen by Spain and Argentina.

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Self-Indulgence as Strategy: American Lives, Iraqi Props

It’s one of those stories that took on a life of its own with outlandish, and ultimately offensive, disproportion. Two American soldiers go missing last Friday. The military in Iraq devotes the equivalent of 6 percent of American ground troops to the manhunt. The press in the United States devotes what looks like a fifth of every front page to trailing the story. (Television’s focus is by nature disproportionate, so no surprise that that the networks go Geraldo on the story, camouflaging the Natalee Holloway script for Iraq .) The rest of the world’s press is next-to-mute about it all, for a fair reason: it would be strange if non-American newspapers were to hydroplane over the fate of two missing Americans when thirty-five Iraqis are kidnapped every day, and fifty are killed every day. What exactly would be the justification of a paper in Canada or Laos or Argentina to highlight the fate of two Americans over that of countless Iraqis? But then why not pose the same question reagrding the American press?

Before we go on, the numbers are instructive. Nina Kamp and Michael O’Hanlon at the Brookings Institution have been keeping track of Operation Iraqi Freedom’s collaterals since the war began. In May 2003, their numbers show that two Iraqis went missing every day, and about eight were killed per day. A year later, kidnappings were up to 10 per day, civilian deaths up to 35 per day. In May 2005, kidnappings were up to 25 per day, and this May, up to 35. For precision’s sake, let’s also note that as of now Iraq body count has the death toll somewhere between 34,000 and 43,000, which means that the year-over-year kill ratio in Iraq during the American occupation has matched or perhaps slightly exceeded that of the Saddam years. U.S. military losses are up to 18,300 wounded and 2,507 killed, 2,733 including other coalition deaths.

So two Americans go missing. It’s not that the U.S. press shouldn’t react, or that the military shouldn’t have done all it could to recover the missing men. That only speaks honorably of both: caring is not a bad thing, even when it’s disproportionate. The question is, disproportionate at whose expense? Read the rest...

Monday, June 19, 2006

MEDITERRANEAN BOLERO: Spain v. Tunisia

World Cup Diary
GAME 31, GROUP H, STUTTGART

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Oil v. Dynamo: Saudi Arabia v. Ukraine

World Cup Diary
GAME 32, GROUP H, HAMBURG

Neither team out of this competition of course: a good score for either means a chance in the second round. It's a battle for second place, as Spain's advance seems assured (if they maintain the level of play they displayed in their 4-0 rout of Kiev's boys) UKRAINE JUST SCORED! GOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOAL ON A CORNER KICK HEADER! AND THE MATCH IS BARELY 3 MINUTE OLD!

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Battle of the Togas: Togo v. Switzerland

World Cup Diary
GAME 30, GROUP G, DORTMUND

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World Cup Diary Day Eleven: Nuclear Lull

It’s clear why the North Koreans are choosing World Cup month to let it be known that they have a long-range missile capable of carrying a detonable nuclear bomb. They were extremely upset when they didn’t qualify for the tournament. Read the rest…

Sunday, June 18, 2006

Battle of the Armistice Powers: France v. South Korea

World Cup Diary
GAME 29, GROUP G, JUNE 18, 2006 --LEIPZIG

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Where Australia Mimics American Samoa: Brazil v. Australia

World Cup Diary
GAME 28, GROUP F, JUNE 18, 2006 --MUNICH

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Second Spot Scramble: Japan v. Croatia

World Cup Diary
GAME 27, GROUP F, JUNE 18, 2006 --NUREMBERG

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