And the Oscar for Best Flopping

in an opening round World Cup game goes to …

Italy!

Again!

(Or is that, “as usual”?)

This entry was posted on Saturday, June 17th, 2006 at 10:18 pm and is filed under A Fistful Of Euros, Culture, Europe and the world. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. Both comments and pings are currently closed.

1. AlanM Says:
   June 18th, 2006 at 3:47 am

   The word in the football fraternity is “diving”.

   I thought the way the Argentinian team played the ref in the first 10-15 mins of the Serbia-Montenegro game contained a few choice
   examples of the same. A friend and I refer to the Argentinian team as the “melocotones” because they bruise so easily…

2. Alex Says:
   June 18th, 2006 at 11:19 am

   I’d argue Italy flopped in the British sense - i.e. choked, failed to perform as expected - as well as diving a hell of a lot.

3. Mysticusque Says:
   June 18th, 2006 at 8:33 pm

   >The Argentinian team

   Ha! Thank you AlanM, I was just going to mention the 1998 World Cup, against England. Ridiculous. “Aaah!”, with the face contorting like Caravaggio’s (?) Medusa. God I can’t stand that.

4. Seth Edenbaum Says:
   June 19th, 2006 at 3:01 am

   http://football.guardian.co.uk/worldcup2006/story/0,,1800885,00.html

   It’s a change of subject (sort of)

5. Mysticusque Says:
   June 19th, 2006 at 3:53 am

   Well yes, I suppose there would be some flopping then…

6. Larry Says:
   June 19th, 2006 at 7:23 am

   ……..i suppose US deserves.

7. Martin Wisse Says:
   June 19th, 2006 at 8:49 am

   I think you mean France (for flopping in the non-diving sense) though Brazil is pretty unimpressive too and neither England nor Holland have been that good so far either.

8. Doug Says:
   June 19th, 2006 at 9:17 am

   Seeing as how France scored zero goals in 2002, it looks like they have improved.

9. centrist Says:
   June 19th, 2006 at 4:04 pm

   Brazil know how to dive as well.
   It looks like australian defenders must provide a clear path for the Brazilians (beautiful game blah…blah) on the way to the goal, or risk being called for a penalty. Conversely ANY set piece in the Australian box(size advantage for the aussies on the header) results in a mystery penalty against australia.

   If the game is called like this ….good luck to England and their style v. Brazil.

10. Andrewgates Says:
    June 21st, 2006 at 11:11 am

    Brazil beat the soccesoor 2-0 in Munich on sunday and advanced to the second round but again the defending champion(Australians) failed to impress.

    ….and so good luck to England and their style v. brazil.

11. Aidan Maconachy Says:
    June 21st, 2006 at 4:08 pm

    The Azzurri are the primadonnas of global football. When they are seriously challenged, they behave as if the other team lacks respect - “the temerity!”

    On occasion in Toronto during World Cup season I head up to the Italian district on St Clair and watch matches in a local cafe. I go there to watch the reactions of the Italian fans (devotees?), which can sometimes be more interesting than the actual matches themselves.

    The anxiety prior to the Italian games is palpable; nervous apprehension all round. If the opposition pulls ahead it is always because of some fluke, foul or other irregularity. If on the other hand the Azzurri show winning form, the mood feels like the build-up to the Second Coming.

    A few World Cups ago, Italy played Ireland in an opener in New York. The boys in green won it and along with a few buds we drove along St Clair waving the Irish tricolor from our car. The street was completely dead, and the few dejected souls visible either greeted our passage with scowls and/or middle fingers, or screamed something unintelligible.

    I love the Italians though. They get passionate about most things and football is no exception.

    Having said that …

    Go England!