World Cup Blues

I'm not sure it's that I'll miss it when it's over, or that both semifinal games were a bummer, compared with some really nice round of 16 and quarterfinal games. A few thoughts on the semis:

Germany-Italy: I don't think Germany went away from its attacking style, but it just ran into an excellent Italian defense. Also, I've seen a lot of Germany's matches, and the yellow card suspension of Frings definitely hurt them. Sad to see them not make it to the finals, but hopefully they'll crush those whiny bitches from Portugal tomorrow. Italy, meanwhile, played uninspired ball for the first ninety minutes, then looked like a different - exciting! - team in the overtime. The game-winning goal by Grosso was a thing of beauty, right up there, in my opinion, with my other favorite goals of the Cup: Maxi Rodriguez' long-range volley for Argentina against Mexico, Joe Cole's long strike versus Sweden for England, and Oliver Neuville's baseball-style slide against Poland for Germany (in extra time!! still my favorite). By the way, all the goals in the tourney are on the FIFA web site.

Portugal-France: I was pulling for France because the Portuguese take football drama to whole new, obnoxious levels, and because Zidane and the French midfield had played spectacularly in its prior two matches. Portugal should watch more game tape of Argentina or Italy, teams that know how to take dives; Portugal players just look ridiculous out there, flopping around on the field like there's a competition for 'dive that looks most like a seizure'. France played beautifully in beating Spain and Brazil, but unfortunately stunk it up in this match, one of the uglier games in the tournament. But yes, that was a foul on Henry, and should have been a penalty kick (I know plenty of people would argue otherwise, but I officiated this sport for five years, and it was an easy call).

France-Italy: I honestly don't care who wins at this point, I just hope it's a good match. I'd have to give the edge to Italy though, their back line is just too strong, and they have speed up front that should be able to beat the French defense at least once.