LA Weekly

After the ghastly horror-show of England-Portugal, a match so bad it was enough to convince one that Americans really are right about soccer being the world's most boring sport, France's Zinedine Zidane stepped up in the day's second quarter-final against Brazil to demonstrate that there's a little magic in the old game yet, not to mention in his own aging legs. Still, what should have been a titanic struggle not just between two teams but between Zidane and Ronaldinho in midfield mysteriously failed to materialize. Which is to say, Ronaldinho failed to materialize. At times one had to remind oneself that the man officially anointed as "World Player of the Year" was even on the pitch. For a guy who's been dazzling the world with his vision and skill for the last two years, it was a very strange time to go AWOL.

In the meantime, France, which looked pitiful at the start of the tournament, has recovered much of its old swagger and will be heavy favorites in its semi-final against Portugal. In the other, between Germany and Italy, the Germans will have the usual home-court advantage but that shouldn't alter the fact that Italy has much better players. So far, though, this has been a terrible World Cup, an anti-advertisement for a game which is far more entertaining at the club level. Let's hope the last three games do something to remind us why it's supposed to be worth watching.

-- Brendan Bernhard

--------

Permalink | Comments (0) | TrackBacks (0)