Zaza

In their quarterfinal, Müller, Özil, and Schweinsteiger erred their penalty kicks. Luckily for them, Simone Zaza’s miss counted for three, it was so terrible.

Zaza without music;

Zaza with music;

Zaza with horsey music.

At least he’s contrite. Brave Zaza, I understand your pain, and I wish you future success.

Other Italians erred. The Germans, KO’ing them, advanced to play against the French, who defeated the Icelanders. Here are the Icelanders back at home, doing their rigid cheer (which I like to think of as their “Ent” cheer).

On a lark I’ve begun to write a story called “The Nephew of Poirot.” It’s set during the present day, i.e. during these Euros. It tells of a collaboration between the Englishman Henry Hastings (the grandson of Captain Arthur) and the nephew of Hercule, the Belgian Claude-Luc Poirot. They must come to terms with Brexit, with their countries’ respective footballing crises, and with the past. Following a tip from Coetzee, I am going to have to do some research into Hugo Claus, the author of The Sorrow of Belgium. Dame Agatha, like Chesterton primarily a commentator on the soul, had absolutely nothing to say about Hercule’s homeland – which was all to the good; but nowadays a responsible writer can’t ignore fiction’s geopolitics.

Casualties

Some footballing casualties:

Spain, KO’d by Italy;
Croatia, KO’d by tepid Portugal;
England, KO’d by Iceland (and by Brexit);
Ulster, KO’d vs. Wales by an own-goal;
Eire, KO’d by Antoine Griezmann.

Only the Welsh remain to carry the British torch. Due to their (rare) advancement, and to that of the Icelanders, there is a feeling of newness about this tourney.

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Not so with the Copa América. The final was a repetition of last year’s, nearly to a T.

In the first half, both sides defended hard, high up the field. The Argentinians were doing slightly better than the Chileans. Lionel Messi drew enough fouls to provoke the expulsion of Marcelo Díaz.

Then the referee decided to “even” things out, expelling the Argentinians’ left-back, Marcos Rojo, ruining the team’s shape and handing the advantage over to the Chileans.

The ninety minutes ended scoreless. Extra-time was scoreless.

In the shootout, Messi missed his penalty kick and was absolutely devastated. Afterward he announced his retirement from the national team. He and his country (and, let’s face it, the whole world) were the most grievous casualties of the last few days.

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Here is a good column by Jorge Barraza on “The Better and the Worse of the Copa.” My favorite paragraph:

THE SHAME. That this Copa, which in the end was very attractive, should not have been born to unite the Americas or to improve fútbol, but exclusively as a means of paying out bribes. Just as many governments perform yet another needless public work, robbing those who already are over-billed, here a tourney was conceived. The sole consolation is that now all who signed the contracts are in prison in their respective countries or in the United States, and their successors must proceed with care. …

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I wish to close by praising the Icelanders. Some games ago, Cristiano Ronaldo complained that their play was too defensive. But yesterday I saw ingenuity and nerve in how they brought the ball out after recovering it – passing it short, short, short, then long into just-opened spaces, creating more danger than the English did. In particular I was delighted by their fine No. 8, whom I may never see again after this tournament.