Starting with the World Cup: two fantastic semifinal games pave the way for an Italy v. France final game. It’s not exactly what I hoped for going in, but it promises to be a pretty good game nonetheless.
In the first semifinal game, Italy and Germany both played very . The final score of 2-0 is not at all representative of the game, which held at 0-0 for 119 minutes with both sides going at it all-out. If there was a low point, it was that both sides seemed a little weak on offense, but I really more about incredibly strong defense, which squelched virtually every opportunity before it even got started. Italy looked like the stronger team, with the two goals, and a number of near-misses, including a couple off the bars, but Germany, for almost two hours, simply refused to give in.
In the other game, the only goal was scored on a penalty kick by Zidane, who (unlike some of the other huge names in the tournament) has converted opportunities into goals in stressful moments and generally played very well. Portugal’s goalie, Ricardo, made a number of unbelievable stops in the shootout against England, and he was right on the money this time, as well. He guessed right, and would have blocked anything but a perfect shot. Unfortunately for Portugal, that’s exactly what Zidane did. Two steps, head down, smashed into the corner, and France moves on.
It’s unfortunate that it ended up deciding the game since it was a somewhat questionable call. I’m not saying the ref blew it. It was a penalty, most likely, and technically was in the penalty box. It’s just a shame, because it clearly wasn’t intentional, it’s not like the French player would have been able to recover the ball absent the penalty, and it was only a couple feet from being outside the box. Like I said, not “wrong” necessarily, but dubious.
Anyway, Italy definitely looks to be the favorite in the finals. They have still yet to let an opposing team score a goal (the only goal conceded was the own-goal from their game against the US), and France has not looked all that strong on offense at any point during the tournament. Moreover, Italy has been very solid offensively, making great moves and great passes. If they have a weakness, it has been in converting opportunities into goals (if they could have just scored on one of their approximately 173,000 corner kicks, it never would have gone to overtime at all). But if Italy does get a goal, I have a hard time imagining France will be able to break through and tie it up.
So, look for a goal about 35 minutes in, and a tight game from then out. Italy wins: 1-0.
Sadly, I have a meeting during the finals, so I won’t be able to watch it live. Stupid country, not closing everything down during the World Cup finals…
Okay, a quick musical detour: My two most-obsessed about artists of the past six months are The Submarines and Brandi Carlile. No new news on the former, but Heather at I Am Fuel, You Are Friends has some Brandi Carlile live stuff that’s worth checking out. And, while I’m on the subject, here’s another one of my favorite tracks (mellow but beautiful) from her album:
Happy
And, a final note on sci-fi TV: if you’re into the genre and haven’t watched Battlestar Galactica, you’re seriously missing out. I’m not ready to say it’s the best of its kind, but it’s certainly in the running. Darker, more naturalistic, great characters, great acting, and some interesting thoughts on the subject of robot ethics (something I think about a lot, and will probably write about more sometime). I’m currently attempting to download season 2 on iTunes, but it’s going at the pace of approximately one episode every couple hours.