WORLD CUP! French or Italian wine?

Milano was a madhouse tuesday night after Italy beat Germany in the semi-finals. Tons of people in the streets and piazzas, Italian flags everywhere, a symphony of honking cars late into the night, groups of people on back of trucks singing songs, it was a joyous occasion and excitement is in the air.

Tonight France has beaten Portugal to meet Italy in the final.

So what will you drink for the final game at 3 pm (ET) this Sunday?

French or Italian wine?

Goooooooooooooooo Itaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaly!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

Reporting from Milan,
Agostino

[Robin Garr]

French or Italian wine?

Hey, Ago, with Gli Azzurri up against Les Bleus, maybe it should be Riesling in a blue bottle?

In my heart I've got to cheer for Italy, though. And frankly, after watching both games, although I'm no soccer^H^H^H^H football expert, it looks to me as if the Italians are the stronger team right now. Meanwhile, judged by ball possession and handling through most of today's match, I'm surprised Portugal didn't rout the French.

[James Roscoe]

So what will you drink for the final game at 3 pm (ET) this Sunday?

French or Italian wine?

Goooooooooooooooo Itaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaly!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

Reporting from Milan,
Agostino

Why not both?

[David M. Bueker]

Go Blue!

And I thought the game was at 1:30 PM EDT Sunday.

Italy should win, but I'll have a bottle of each available for dinner.

I'm pretty sure the game is at 9 pm over here. Which is 6 hours ahead of the U.S. east coast.

Anyway, its great to see an entire country get so excited about something so harmless and fun. I feel good about the Italian team this time around. After getting so close in the past years and losing at penalty kicks so many times it was awesome (and nerve-wracking) to see Italy go right to the edge with Germany all the way to the end of overtime and get two goals in at the last minute, avoiding the dreaded penalty kicks.

I feel the magic baby!!

I don't know Bob. Did you see Zidane against Brazil? He did a mini-volley over Ronaldo's head and dribbled right past him. For a second I thought he was the Brazilian!

But these momentous occasions are decided by weird energy forces beyond our understanding. Sometimes you shoot and shoot and shoot and the ball just never goes in.
I hope destiny smiles on Italy. Prayers from all over the world and religions are welcome!!

[Jenise]

French wine and Italian food at Chez Jenise.

It will be 8am here in NZ, so we might just wait till we know who won, and make the choice then as to what to have with the evening meal. Not being big on soccer (or football or whatever it is that you call it) I do not watch much at all.

However, the All Blacks are playing the Wallabies in Christchurch on Saturday night. Game one of the Tri Nations competition. I will probably watch that game.

Don't know what I'll drink, but I think bleu is a prettier color than azzurri.

I'll be rooting for the French because I love to watch them when they're all playing in sync (as in the games against Spain and Brazil) -- they have a style and creativity that even the Brazilians at their best would find it hard to top. And they have many of my favorite players, including Henry, Vieira, Makelele and of course Zidane. Plus, Henry plays for my favorite club team, Arsenal, as did Vieira until this year.

I do think Domenech made a colossal error putting Henry in as the lone striker -- he works so much better coming off the side than the middle. As well as they've done the last three games, I think they would have done better putting Trezeguet or Saha alongside him.

That said, I like the Italians, too, and will not be disappointed if they win. I just hope it's a clean, well-played and well-refereed game, that both sides take some chances pushing forward, and that it doesn't come down to penalty kicks (because if it does Italy with Buffon is almost sure to top France with Barthez).

Actually we were thinking of making some shrimp scampi with angel hair pasta to which we wanted a little Prosecco and then something nice and white and dry ... maybe a Chablis ... just to throw the French part of my family a bone.

FORZA AZZURRI!!

Putting on my true American cap:

Who the (euphanism ahead) hell cares?

You Europeans should go back to fighting each other in decent wars.

-Paul W.

This is the only true world-wide sports competition (actually, the olympics too) and the U.S. will always get their behinds whupped because soccer games consist of 45 minute continuous halves with no room for commercials. And that's why soccer has never gotten a foot-hold (pardon the pun) in the States, in my opinion. With no possible commercial breaks, soccer cannot become big in the US. Follow my thread?

Anyway, I recommend a cool Lagrein rosè from the Alto Adige. Its a quaffer like beer and pretty much any producer you find is good cause up there they have good quality standards. Its a tasty drink.

By the way, I made a mistake, the game is at 8 o'clock here so it must be 2 o'clock eastern time US.

Remember, World Cup only comes around every four years so its OK to open a Barolo or something special.

Reporting from the land where law is optional,
Agostino

[James Roscoe]

This is the only true world-wide sports competition (actually, the olympics too) and the U.S. will always get their behinds whupped because soccer games consist of 45 minute continuous halves with no room for commercials. And that's why soccer has never gotten a foot-hold (pardon the pun) in the States, in my opinion. With no possible commercial breaks, soccer cannot become big in the US. Follow my thread?
Agostino

Nice troll. I couldn't disagree more. If soccer were popular enough in the U.S. the corporate people would find a way to fit the commercials into the game, even if it meant changing the game itself. The American middle class rules the commercial world. It has more money to spend then any other single entity. There are a plethora of reasons why soccer or European football has not gained popularity in the U.S., but the commercials have absolutely nothing to do with it. Again, I complement you on the troll.

[Robin Garr]

And that's why soccer has never gotten a foot-hold (pardon the pun) in the States, in my opinion. With no possible commercial breaks, soccer cannot become big in the US. Follow my thread?

Sadly, that makes sense, Ago. But times are changing, as a whole generation of Americans has grown up with their kids playing soccer. And it's not that hard to pop little commercial logos onto the screen along with the scores. Even European television does that ... and let's face it, all the stadiums have more commercial billboards around the field than NASCAR cars have stickers, and they show up in every shot on the television. What's more, a lot of us here watch the games on Univision, the Spanish-language network, anyway.

Remember, World Cup only comes around every four years so its OK to open a Barolo or something special.

Okay!

Little kids in the US have been playing soccer for a long time now and it doesn't seem to have changed anything.

I'm not saying the lack of "time-outs" allowing for commercial breaks is the only reason soccer hasn't become wildly popular in the US but its probably a factor. Sure, if enough people requested it they would show soccer on TV, but how is it going to get popular if its not on there?



By the way, what channel is showing the final?

[Robin Garr]

By the way, what channel is showing the final?

Ago, as I said, I've been watching it on Univision, the Spanish channel. Most of the matches have been on ESPN2, while ESPN and ABC, a commercial broadcast channel, seem to have picked off some of the more "important" games.

It appears that the final is on Univision and ABC but <i>not</i> ESPN. I'm guessing that ABC outbid ESPN and got the exclusive American English-language broadcast rights.

That's great. There's probably enough Hispanics living in the US now that the World Cup draws enough viewers to be on ABC. If I'm not mistaken ABC probably wouldn't have picked it up 10 years ago. Am I right or am I talking jibberish?

[Robin Garr]

That's great. There's probably enough Hispanics living in the US now that the World Cup draws enough viewers to be on ABC. If I'm not mistaken ABC probably wouldn't have picked it up 10 years ago. Am I right or am I talking jibberish?

Ago, I dunno ... it seems to me that most recent Latino immigrants would watch the games on Spanish-language television - the Univision channel is in most metro markets nowadays.

I agree with you that soccer will never become a major sport in the U.S. at the level we see for pro football, but I don't see the point in assuming so casually that it can't become more popular. For whatever reasons, I think we see that happening already, more so this year than in any previous World Cup. It's not just little boys any more ... youngsters play right through to college, and there are more and more adult leagues. It's a great game, and more people are starting to realize that. And ABC seems willing to bid on the games - particularly key matches - in the apparent belief that they can make money out of it even without commercial breaks.

As for the US team, I'm sure most of us wish the team well, but bear in mind that many Americans love to cheer for the teams of countries from which our ancestors came (I get to choose among England, Germany, Italy and France!) or just for countries where we've had happy travel memories. Or for anybody we like.

I can hardly wait to watch Sunday's final, and the only hard question for me is which country to cheer for the loudest. I think it's got to be Gli Azzurri, though ...

[James Roscoe]

ABC and ESPN are both owned by Disney.

As mentioned by James, ABC and ESPN do not compete against each other for World Cup rights as they are part of the same corporate family. ABC/ESPN and Univision did a joint bid for US rights to the men's and women's world cups (and some other international tournaments) from 2007 through the 2014 WC. As reflection of where the market lies, Univision paid $325 for the Spanish language broadcast rights, ABC/ESPN paid $100 million for English language rights.

RE: coverage 10 years ago --- I do recall watching the 1994 final on a major network, the year the US hosted. The last WC final (2002) also was on network TV, I was living overseas in 1998 but I believe ABC carried that final live as well. (Dunno about coverage before that as I wasn't living in the country.) As far as general interest goes-- a lot more of my acquaintances, with no particular interest in football, have been talking about the WC this time around.

Back to wine: I will be bringing a CdP to my boss' World Cup party tomorrow. He and I will be rooting for France, but there should be plenty of Italy supporters there as well!

What's more, a lot of us here watch the games on Univision, the Spanish-language network, anyway.

Absolutely! I prefer Univision to ABC/ESPN/Disney even though all I understand are the players' names and certain words (e.g., fuera de lugar = offsides, tiro de esquina = corner kick, falta = foul, El Grande Capitan Spiceman=David Beckham, gol=?).

I prefer Univision because the U.S. announcers act as if they get paid by the word and never do more than state the obvious (the only exception being the brilliant Irishman, Tommy Smyth, who was relegated to doing color on the second-tier matches) -- and because the excitement the Spanish-speaking announcers have is totally contagious.

Speaking of wine, two nights ago, I had a fantastic '95 Bordeaux (Chateau de Pez St. Estephe), and last night I had a decent Barbera at an Italian restaurant. Guess we'll have to go to penalty kicks to break the tie (though I will be rooting for France as explained in a previous post).

I'm not saying the lack of "time-outs" allowing for commercial breaks is the only reason soccer hasn't become wildly popular in the US but its probably a factor. Sure, if enough people requested it they would show soccer on TV, but how is it going to get popular if its not on there?

I think things are changing here. There's much more interest in the World Cup this year than previously. People who know nothing about soccer (like my brother-in-law for example) are now talking about the consolation and final matches. And I saw lots more people at work this past month sneaking off to watch parts of matches than I've ever seen before. I'll be interested in seeing the viewer numbers this year compared to the last World Cup. As big as football? Maybe not but it's definitely coming along.

[Robin Garr]

I think things are changing here. There's much more interest in the World Cup this year than previously.

There's certainly been more talk about it on WLDG than there was four years ago, for what it's worth.