New Delhi, India -- What a wonderful idea! Why not begin by choosing Kofi Annan's successor from the current general assembly in Germany? Teams that believe in kick-and-run rule themselves out as anathema to UN culture, which takes care of half the teams on display.
The United States, judging from the match against Italy, has sent a team trained by the Pentagon, which might be useful in Iraq but would be out of place in New York or Geneva. Russia and China are not even in the game. England, as ever, promise far more than they deliver. The Brazilians laugh too much, a delightful trait but perhaps inappropriate to international diplomacy. The Saudis pray too much. I think the Argentine model wins. They exchanged 25 passes without letting the Serbs and Croats touch the ball, before they scored with a brilliant back-flip: can anyone think of a better metaphor for multilateralism?
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Comments (2)
As one who seldom watches soccer but I am hesitant to voice an opinion so I I leave it up to you, the expert and whomever else reads this post.
Did the American play against Italy warrant the red cards they were awarded? I was confused because on multiple replays of one there was contention as to whether the American player in question came into contact at all, nevermind a hard foul deserving of a red card.
Being a player of multiple other sports I can appreciate different rules, playing both basketball, where physical contact (body rubbing) is similar to soccer, and ice hockey, where physical contact (body checking) is an essential tool for defence. I just felt that even in the rules of soccer the fouls were questionable at bestas did the Italian commentator in the post-game report. What did you think when you saw the fouls?
I like the other correllations you draw between the world cup and international identities/relations. Specifically Argentina. Although I don't know what your model would produce as far as an IR strategy? (Use everyone on the team to deccimmate your over matched opponent?)
June 21, 2006 10:39 AM | Report Offensive Comments
Posted on June 21, 2006 10:39
good one. world cup soccer is everywhere.that makes even mr kofi annan jealous abut the universal submission and alligiance to this sporting event, while he expressed his dismays about the failure of un itself.it would have been more juicy if the role of the referees that some time acts as the twelveth man for some teams were given a place.alongwith multilaterism manipulation should also be given some lights on it.
June 22, 2006 10:03 AM | Report Offensive Comments
Posted on June 22, 2006 10:03