Tuesday, June 13, 2006

Momci! (The "Lads")

Well, the day has come. Today, at 3:00 EST or 21:00, German time, in the Olympic Stadium in Berlin, Benito Archundia will blow his whistle and Croatia will attempt to upset Brazil, just a small bit of a chore.

Brazil is, of course, the favorite in the match and in the World Cup to win it all. It is unfortunate that Croatia is the first team to play them. Some of the defensive players on Brazil, specifically Cafu and Roberto Carlos, are a bit long in the tooth. How they hold up during the 3 weeks of the competition is the big mystery of the World Cup. For their first match, though, I'm sure they'll hold up quite well. Brazil, aside from the riches of talent, are also the team with the best named players.

Dida. Cafu. Lucio. Roberto Carlos. Emerson. Ze Roberto. Kaka. Ronaldinho. Ronaldo Adriano.

They all sound like sleek fast Italian cars. Well, all except Kaka, who sounds like one of those East German cars, say like the plywood Trabant. But having a name sounding like anything German will only help Brazil get more fans on their side, as if they needed any additional ones...

Speaking of fans, Brazil, obviously, has the best-looking fans, the most rhythmic fans, and the most passionate fans of all of the countries participating. Being a hanger-on fan to Brazil is an easy and tempting thing.

Croatia, on the other hand, has players in need of vowels.

Srna. Kranjcar. Prso.

It's always a joy to hear announcers struggle through the pronunciation. I suggest a few nips of sljivovica prior to speaking as the needed verbal lubricant.

The Croatian fans, while not lacking in passion, are Slavic, which means, as Mr. Garrison Keillor says about Minnesotans, they know any good things that may come their way (such as Ronaldinho possibly coming down with food poisoning just before the match) will inevitably be followed by a plethora of bad things (such as the goalkeeper suffering from the DT's at 21:00 today or the water bottles to be all sokied with Valium).

It should be interesting. I hope that Univision (THE tv channel to be watching!!) shows a lot of fan shots. Score-wise, Brazil 3-1.....hopefully Hrvatska can hold them to 3.

Here is Croatian coach Kranjcar's master plan!!!

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