Wednesday night I watched the big France-Portugal match at my friend Caro’s apartment with an all-French crowd.
Eh.
“Whaaat?” says the internet, incredulous. (Especially as I’m posting this, we now know that France has lost the Cup. Hold for tasteful moment of silence.)
I repeat, “EH!”
What I’ve explained to people who have watched soccer with me recently and who eye me dubiously while asking “You don’t actually LIKE soccer, do you?” is that there’s going to have to be a period of time before I can go from never having cared about soccer EVER, AT ALL, IN THE SLIGHTEST to caring about soccer. I didn’t see how it can be done overnight.
So after France won Wednesday--yay--I walked around place St. Michel for journalistic purposes. I will describe for you what I saw:
-people in the fountain
-people on top of the bus stop
-people hanging from the metro entrance
-people in my hair, in my bra, and riding on my feet
There were a lot of people. And they made a lot of noise. And I know that I am dead inside, I know. But it was more fun for me to watch shopkeepers sweeping up their stoops and closing their registers than to watch people throw gum and blow horns in my ear.
And last night we lost! With much...tragedy. And holy hot foie gras on toasted baby buns I CARE. NOW I decide to grow a heart. Even before the tragedy though, I was really into this game. I was coming back from the grocery store with my frozen goat cheese tart and my Smirnoff Ice to take to the party and I heard a band playing and horns and I was back at high school pep rally all over again.
And it’s a good thing I decided to care this time: my cousin Louise who 18 and is staying with Jeanne for the summer believes in magical thinking. So we had to shout ALLEZ, ALLEZ, FONCE! and do karate chops when Fabien blocked the ball, and sometimes just close our eyes and sit very still to channel THE POWER. At one point she literally turned to everyone seated on the couch and said, “If we don’t stand up when the ball gets close to the goal, and scream very loudly, they’re never going to score.”
Also, no one was allowed to take their eyes off the t.v. Even if you went to the toilet, the door had to stay open a crack so you could watch. Seemed like a good idea at the time.
And then, there was this moment? Where I was playing with Caro’s cat Pochette? And looked away from the screen?
I did it, I ruined the match.
Oh, and then there was this other moment where Zidane did the thing of which we cannot speak. Thereby taking a pin and popping our karmic bubble, so that even if we had won after that? The victory would have been entirely empty. Because we all just wanted to see Zidane hold the trophy with a god dammed tear in his eyes, god dammit.
I know I’ve always watched the Superbowl exclusively to see football players cry. It feels so good in all the right places.
Why Zizouuuuuu?
On the one hand, I feel so badly for him. Because I immediate impose on him the way I would feel. And I would probably crawl into a nice cool cave somewhere in the south of France, Spain maybe, and never come out.
On the other hand, his Discovery Channel moment has been seared into my brain and is probably one of the most painful and interesting things I have ever seen. On Wednesday, my friend said sleeping with him would be like sleeping with God. At the beginning of last night’s game, my Dad called my Tonton Roger after that penalty kick and asked when Zidane would be elected president.
Because I’m new to the sport, I didn’t know about Zidane’s temper. I thought he was perfect. Now I have to wonder if France likes their stars morally bankrupt. Cause in America, (since the offense didn’t involve sex), I think he’d still be okay.
Zidane, Martha Stewart is holding on line one!
Wow, I know you probably don't like to read this, but I'm the first commenter! That's a FIRST!
Anyhoo... I hear ya, Elisabeth -- I've never been a big soccer fan myself, but this year somehow I transformed into one during the World Cup... And I really wanted them to win! I was baffled by Zidane's move last night, but then again that Italian must have REALLY said something not-so-nice, if you know what I mean! To provoke such a reaction so near the end of the game...
I was glued to the screen as well, in a great courtyard in the 18th... I still had a good time, but it just wasn't the same at the end. It would have been great to relive the glory of '98!
Oh, well. That's the breaks. I think I may follow soccer a bit closer in the future -- of course, then again, let's not get ahead of ourselves... I may not stay that interested either!
P.S. ~ Just a little last word to say that I really enjoy your blog -- keep it up!
Posted by: Always Ace | 10 July 2006 at 09:53 AM
I too was glued. I absolutely loved how France really got behind their team.
I loved how last night before the game, I saw a huge makeshift flag made of a blue towel, a white one and a red one stitched together. How there were "Allez les Bleus" signs hanging outside of shops and city halls.
France played a far better game, but hélas... it just wasn't our night. C'est la vie.
Posted by: JennC | 10 July 2006 at 10:22 AM
I totally thought *I* made them lose because I couldn't find my lucky Bleu (Prada) shirt. I seriously watched the game in my bra, because when I put on a black shirt, Italy scored.
But thank God you're the allpowerful one, and my karmic misstep was just coincidence.
I'm still voting for Sarko. But we should name an airport after Zidane.
Italy won on a technicality. France was the better team last night.
I'm going to spend all day today making WWZD bracelets.
Posted by: GdP | 10 July 2006 at 10:44 AM
you werent the only one.
Zizou BLEW me the FUCK AWAY.
His last game, the world cup finals, and in the last minutes of over time where you are staring down penalty kicks... you pull that??
Sure the italian could have said something really provocative, but they ALL talk MAJOR shit, that is the game they play to screw around with each others heads...
It was just unbelieveable. What a shitty way to choose to go out...
Posted by: stinkerbell | 10 July 2006 at 11:53 AM
I love that Gentry. Yeah, Jesus and Zidane, apparently they wouldn't do the same thing!
Posted by: Coquette | 10 July 2006 at 11:57 AM
Always Ace, Jen, Stinkerbell, I know, it was really cool to see everyone so into it.
Stinkerbell, the Zidane thing blew EVERYONE away! I was floored.
Posted by: Coquette | 10 July 2006 at 12:09 PM
I was rooting for France (bien sur.) Happened to be traveling through Logan International Aiport during the final moments of the final and felt genuinely and utterly disappointed about the loss, even though I had only watched perhaps 20 minutes total of World Cup coverage.
What is it about sporting events that pulls at the heartstrings of even the most uninterested passer-by? I could certainly appreciate the prowess of the athletes, the drama of the injuries and scuffles, the grace under pressure during those penalty kicks. And the roar of the spectators, the passion with which they chant, sing, cheer even carries over the airwaves into America, where soccer is (unfortunately) the underachieving little brother to that other game of football.
Coquette, [France], I feel your pain. Today I will respectfully wear black.
Posted by: Kathleen | 10 July 2006 at 01:58 PM
Yep, Zidane lost it for a minute there. I'm assuming that Team Italy's player said something terribly provocative to make Zizou react that way...he doesn't strike me as someone especially nuts that would just commit such an act out of no where.
Whatever the case, it's all an unfortunate situation because he was their top 11-meter and we NEEDED HIM!!! Doing that was playing right into Team Italy's hands, BLAZES ZIDANE!!! Don't you realize!!! Ahem. Pardon me.
It's a very sad way to end a career. I'm convinced France would've won eitherwise. Oh well, we still have Henry who is SUPERCUTE!!! :0)
Posted by: Noire Dire | 10 July 2006 at 02:19 PM
According to this journal, the italian player provoked Zidane by calling him a "terrorist"! O_O
http://fr.sports.yahoo.com/10072006/29/mondial-zidane-aurait-ete-traite-de-terroriste-par-materazzi-selon.html
I normally don't like sports, but having been forced to watch the World cup games with my french hubby turned me into an avid Zidane/French team fan! The lethal headbutt that Zizou gave the Italian was shocking to see, but it also made me laugh cause the italian fell down like a ton of bricks! Talk about a HARD HEAD! LOL!
Posted by: katiare | 10 July 2006 at 03:32 PM
I'm a big football/soccer fan, but I felt EH after the game because even though France was better, there was something amiss. I made a post similar to yours in my blog. I also did, Why oh Why?! The victory would have been hollow after that head butt. My dad insensitively mimicked him (he is a Brasil man) later. Anyway, most talented football players have tempers because the game is a contact sport and it is intense. Also, everyone knows each other enough know what pisses each other off. There is apparently a lot of insults that fly around, but yeah, head butts are red cards no matter. Sigh. Oh Zizou, you could have President. You were IT. My heart is heavy.
Good post though. :)
Posted by: Athena | 10 July 2006 at 04:31 PM
Same here. I was never soccer fan. It's only during the World Cup that I transformed into one. I'm sorry to say that I supported Italy. But when Zidane did that head butt, I laughed, and I think I like him a little bit more now.
Posted by: Gena | 10 July 2006 at 04:41 PM
WZF Zizou indeed! Oh my. So abso-bloody-lutely heartbreaking... i still feel so gutted, so sad, so disappointed. what a terrible way to bow out. i can't imagine the atmosphere in your neck of the woods right now...
Posted by: shauna | 10 July 2006 at 04:56 PM
I've been watching the french télé all day and reading the reactions of french fans online. The loss of this World Cup game is truly depressing! It's like the whole country is mourning and angry at the same time.
Update on the infamous Zizou-Materazzi "coup de tête" (still laughing)... According the brazilian journal, the italian also insulted Zizou's sister by calling her a prostitute! Nice!
http://fr.sports.yahoo.com/10072006/1/mondial-2006-materazzi-a-insulte-la-soeur-de-zidane-selon.html
Posted by: katiare | 10 July 2006 at 05:06 PM
La Coquette,
It was the same for me- I decided to care at the last game. I think I respect Zizou the same, maybe more. I mean, is it crazy to say that now I think Zizou is even hotter after the head butt to-do??
Posted by: La Rubia | 10 July 2006 at 05:43 PM
I half expected to wake up today and learn that France had disappeared today, the country drowned in the tears of millions. What I learned about Zidane's outburst: big-money athletes are babies worldwide.
Posted by: Neil | 10 July 2006 at 06:01 PM
"WZF"! Haha, love that.
I was, too, very dismayed at Zizou's losing of his shit, but, now that I've had some time to think about it, I'm actually kind of impressed by it all.
Not by the fact that he dropped Materazzi, as I'm sure Materazzi was play-flopping to some extent, but by the fact that, even in the fading twilight of his career, Zizou was ever so much the football player that he even fights like a football player -- no hands!
Posted by: chester | 10 July 2006 at 06:44 PM
Well it is really sad to see that Italy has managed to win the World Cup by boring the pants right off the rest of the world. Such much for the beautiful game. For them to win it all on penalty kicks was just so anticlimatic and fist bitingly frustrating.
And talking about having no pants on. Can someone explain to me why Gattuso was celebrating right after the final whistle with no shorts on? There he was only in his banana hamock and his jersey with a billion people watching around the globe. His mother must have been mortified. Mind you the whole world is still trying to locate it's collective pants after this italien farce.
The typical Azzurri tactic strikes again. What a shame.
Posted by: Pantsless in Toronto | 10 July 2006 at 10:29 PM
I am Italian....half anyway, and was for France. Scotch, Irish, English, FRENCH & Dutch the rest. Saw the first few minutes of the game, and decided to go to a movie, La Moustache...(am surprised moustache is feminine)... The game, I thought, would drive me crazy. Emannuelle Devos is my favorite actress at the moment, and she is incredibly lovely in this film. However, the script of the movie drove me NUTS. Even so, LA MOUSTACHE IS a MUST-SEE. I should have stayed home and watched the game, and seen the movie another day....but had i done THAT, I would have thought "I'd have been better off going to the movie." Sometimes, you can't WIN for losing.
Posted by: richard crawford | 10 July 2006 at 11:16 PM
It was truly a sad day at work today...thank goodness people are starting to leave on vacation to forget about it all. Do you think Zidane is taking a holiday this year?
Posted by: Eric at Paris Daily Photo | 10 July 2006 at 11:40 PM
Boo freakin Hoo
Posted by: mayport | 10 July 2006 at 11:52 PM
Ok. I wrote about this. Because I am a hooligan, and I was in tears and I loe Zizou and I too was all WZF, but really WTF all over the city. Horrible. Sad. But I still love him Coquette. Even with his dumb-ass temper and you know what, screw the Boo freakin Hoo comment!
And also >> when you live your life on the pitch, can't we just expect that one day we will loose our tempers? I mean, it's only natural, right? Yes, yes, we don't run around head butting our colleagues, although we may very well want to.
But I am in the process of writing a Press Release on his behalf, but only for fun.
See my original post about ze fe.as.co. here, I titled it "Merde a la puissance treize":
http://www.onefemalecanuck.com/2006/07/merde-la-puissance-treize.html
xoxo
m
Posted by: maha | 11 July 2006 at 12:24 AM
CHESTER!
LOLOLOLOL!!!!! He even fights like a futboler, no hands?! AHHHAHAHAHAHAHAHHAAAA!!!! Oh my god, I'm drooling, that's one of the funniest things EVER.
I hope you have a blog. I shall now visit and stalk you.
xo
m
Posted by: maha | 11 July 2006 at 12:26 AM
Once again, the world was amazed by the elegance (head butt) of France losing the World Cup.
Why this happened? Visit my blog for analysis.
http://manyyearsinthemerde.blogspot.com
And celebrate this new French defeat!
Posted by: Uranus | 11 July 2006 at 01:08 AM
I love your writing!
I disagree with whoever commented Italy was boring in their win.
They have never had luck with penalty kicks (painful memory of 1994 - ouch!!) and we (the Italians) were all very sure that France would get this - we were sure that Italy would just suck in the penalty round. We were shaking, ready to give up. I could not believe my eyes when Italy score one after the other - I know it's silly but it was AMAZING for us. I am SO proud to be Italian today.
Respectfully, I also think that France played a beautiful game - please, be proud - even with the Zizou situation - be proud of France - they really really, looked great. :-) And I was really excited to be able to watch an Italy/France game. I knew it would have me on the edge of my seat.
PEACE :-)
Posted by: Tina | 11 July 2006 at 02:17 AM
P.S. Italy's defense was spectacular.
Posted by: Tina | 11 July 2006 at 02:18 AM
It was just too perfect for Italy. So many things would be righted with a victory, it had to go their way. Even the loss to France in Euro 2000 was avenged - Trezeguet had scored the overtime winner in 2000, and he missed his PK on Sunday.
This World Cup was a real change of pace for the Italians. Historically, the Italy games were real defensive sleepers, but the Italy-Germany game was easily the best game of the tournament (despite the score).
BTW, Zizou always had a little bit of a mean streak. When he played for Juventus, he gave a guy a concussion with one of his headbutts and got a five game suspension in return. I'd say that the Italians are far more aware of Zidane's "capabilities" than the French because of his time in Serie A.
Posted by: DDJ | 11 July 2006 at 07:21 AM
I think it is a little unfair to compare Zidane to Martha Stewart. He wasn't illegally and secretly making money through insider information and then lying about it -- Zidane's actions were out in the open.
Now, is it "morally bankrupt" to head butt someone who allegedly maligns your mother (who is apparently very ill and in hospital) and your family (rumor has it the Italian wished Zidane's family an "ugly death")? Perhaps...I really don't know. Those who wish to maintain the illusion of "the game" above all else may think so.
Posted by: dw | 11 July 2006 at 07:56 AM
La Rubia, you're not the only one
Chester, there's a great article in Slate: http://www.slate.com/id/2145406/
Pantsless, I agree, that was so weird. And oddly undiscussed in the media.
Richard, I wrote a post on La Moustache about a year ago
Maha, Nice! V. funny!
Uranus, I can never tell if you are pulling our legs.
DW, true, I was def. overboard there. I always hate it when people compare someone mildly evil to Hitler. I agree that the game is uglier than people who don't know it imagine (see above article from Slate), but you have to admit there's making contact harder then it has to be (where it hurts most) and calling people names, and then there's a terribly aggressive act like butting them in the head. You can tell the French coach is v. disappointed it had to end that way, even if Chirac is diplomatic.
Posted by: Coquette | 11 July 2006 at 12:02 PM
Me and Bernard's new thing is to say "tien, donnes-moi un Zizou" (instead of bisous) and then we headbutt.
Posted by: GdP | 11 July 2006 at 12:51 PM
Huh?
Posted by: Floridora | 11 July 2006 at 03:56 PM
Hi,
I like your blog very much. I'm not sure this is a cool thing to do, but i don't know else how to contact u. I have a new blog about paris and i would like to do a link exchange with u. u can email me at the above address.
Richard
Posted by: richard | 11 July 2006 at 06:02 PM
GDP - LOL!
Chester - Read your blog and laughed my bum off. Stalking has begun.
Coquette - Merci. Alouetta! Or something...
xo
m
Posted by: maha | 11 July 2006 at 06:40 PM
Something that Kathleen wrote above now gives me the excuse to reference Adam Gopnik's Paris to the Moon, which I love to pieces.
Regarding soccer (well, he was actually talking about the '98 World Cup), he said, "Soccer was not meant to be enjoyed. It was meant to be experienced. The World Cup is a festival of fate: man accepting his hard circumstances, the near certainty of his failure. There is, after all, something familiar about a contest in which nobody wins and nobody pots a goal. Nil-nil is the score of life. This may be where the difficulty lies for Americans, who still look for Eden out there on the ballfield. But soccer is not meant to be an escape from life. It *is* life, in all its injustice and tedium."
Posted by: Sara | 12 July 2006 at 04:43 AM
Coquette, I have 20 years on you and I am totally impressed with your writing ability. Keep it up. You really have something special!
And I too (sitting at my laptop in my home in NJ because I STILL have not yet moved to Paris) was a latecomer to World Cup fever, and I think it's my fault too that Zizou freaked out the way he did -- because just before it happened my best friend called and I was trying to watch the game and talk with her at the same time and my concentration lapsed. Next thing you know I am saying: "WHAT THE F***?" too. Damn.
Posted by: The Bold Soul | 12 July 2006 at 05:15 AM
and here I thought it was all my fault, because my husband put all my cheesy statues of the Tour Eiffel on top of the tv stand - (GO FRANCE!). Which I made him move, because the cat wanted to sit up there (cat rates high in our house). I was scolded, saying it would be my fault if France lost. Right after that, Thierry Henri left the field, then that crazy thing with Zizou. So I'm glad to hear it really was your fault, Coquette, petting the cat and all, shame on you ;)
Come to think of it, maybe its a cat conspiracy.
Posted by: Colleen | 12 July 2006 at 06:21 AM
I was thinking of you during the games. The minute Argentina went home...Zizou became my guy.
(Sorry Maxi, I'm fickle!!!)
This is oh-so-corny, but I love it. I doubt it was shown in France.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=cHRcyPdo8nQ&search=u2%20world%20cup%20espn%20the%20edge
Posted by: jenny | 12 July 2006 at 06:25 AM
Sara, that's perfect. All this world cup excitement caused me to check out Nick Hornby's Fever Pitch at the library yesterday.
Bold Soul, thanks for the nice compliment.
Jenny, Cheesy? Yes. Do I love it? Hell yes. Montages always make me cry.
Posted by: Coquette | 12 July 2006 at 11:31 AM
I was watching access hollywood and they had a lip reader on to interpret what the italian player said to him. They think he said, "I hope your entire family rots in hell" and earlier that day Zidane's mother had fallen ill.
Posted by: tanya | 12 July 2006 at 04:02 PM
Sara-Nice one on the Gopnik reference. I think he is so bang on there.
Coquette-'Fever Pitch' sums up the obsessivness of the football fan like no other.
Sara and Coquette-Also if you ever get the chance. Read 'Amongst the Thugs' which is a kinda expose on Brithish hooliganism written by a guy from Baton Rouge of all places. Like Gopnik it is the outsider angle trying to understand the obsession with fooball which for North Americans is so mystifying.
I lived until the age 11 in a little town an hour outside of Munich and have been obsessed with football and even the move to rural Canada, not exactly a football hotbed, has changed my obsession. One can not help it. It's like being a Red Sox fan times 100.
PS I hope hat makes up for the gushing teen aged girly remarks I made about a pair of Ruby shoes you purchased. Also have crushed a many of beer cans against my forehead and yelled really bad things in German at my tv during the WC.
Posted by: With Pants On | 12 July 2006 at 04:59 PM
They cannot continue to schedule haute couture week at the same time that my favorite teams are playing in the World Cup. That's like asking me to choose between my children!
Posted by: Asian Lep | 12 July 2006 at 05:27 PM
Pants On, Nothing wrong with having love for the ruby shoes. Don't deny the pleasure.
Posted by: Coquette | 12 July 2006 at 06:15 PM
Hang in there. It was never proven that Martha Stewart enganged in insider trading-have you heard that one about innocent until proven guilty. They convicted her on obstruction of justice and, according to one of the juri members, the geniuses in the juri decided to punish her for the Worldcoms and the Enrons of the world. Indeed, how many people lost their retirement funds thanks to Martha Stewart?
Anywho, I am Portuguese and it sucked that we lost to France BUT Zizou won my heart when at the end of the France-Portugal game he and Figo were so courteous, respectful and caring to each other and even exchanged shirts. That's the image of Zizou that stuck in my mind. His incident with Materazzi did not change my perception of him. Over the last few days Materazzi has shown his true color: he is a coward. And it took Zizou's action to clearly show that to the world.
And lastly, how many people do you know who would risk their whole career to defend the honor of their mother and sister?
Enough said.
Posted by: Rita | 13 July 2006 at 05:02 AM
Good point Rita, I feel a little sheepish about my Martha comment (see above, my explaination to DW)
Also, I just realized that a bunch of comments got deleted thanks to Typepad yesterday afternoon. I'm going to try and restore them now.
Posted by: Coquette | 13 July 2006 at 02:27 PM
I was watching access hollywood and they had a lip reader on to interpret what the italian player said to him. They think he said, "I hope your entire family rots in hell" and earlier that day Zidane's mother had fallen ill.
Posted by: Tanya | 13 July 2006 at 02:38 PM
Sara-Nice one on the Gopnik reference. I think he is so bang on there.
Coquette-'Fever Pitch' sums up the obsessivness of the football fan like no other.
Sara and Coquette-Also if you ever get the chance. Read 'Amongst the Thugs' which is a kinda expose on Brithish hooliganism written by a guy from Baton Rouge of all places. Like Gopnik it is the outsider angle trying to understand the obsession with fooball which for North Americans is so mystifying.
I lived until the age 11 in a little town an hour outside of Munich and have been obsessed with football and even the move to rural Canada, not exactly a football hotbed, has changed my obsession. One can not help it. It's like being a Red Sox fan times 100.
PS I hope hat makes up for the gushing teen aged girly remarks I made about a pair of Ruby shoes you purchased. Also have crushed a many of beer cans against my forehead and yelled really bad things in German at my tv during the WC.
Posted by: With Pants On | 13 July 2006 at 02:39 PM
They cannot continue to schedule haute couture week at the same time that my favorite teams are playing in the World Cup. That's like asking me to choose between my children!
Posted by: Asian Lep | 13 July 2006 at 02:40 PM
Sara, that's perfect. All this world cup excitement caused me to check out Nick Hornby's Fever Pitch at the library yesterday.
Bold Soul, thanks for the nice compliment.
Jenny, Cheesy? Yes. Do I love it? Hell yes. Montages always make me cry.
Posted by: Coquette | 13 July 2006 at 02:41 PM
Meeeeeeeep, Rita...you don't happen to have Cristiano's phone number, do you?
He is very pretty. And I would feed him. And water him. Just like I'm supposed to.
m :)
Posted by: maha | 13 July 2006 at 09:52 PM
oh my god, Coquette, you have automated robots posting comments? How fun!
My 'thing'; that verification code was blablbalbalbla s n m blabla
heh!
m
Posted by: maha | 13 July 2006 at 09:53 PM