Come for the politics, stay for the snark.

It is possible to do the right thing without the promise of a cookie.

People are weird.

One of our two political parties is a cult whose leader admires Vladimir Putin.

Accountability, motherfuckers.

You passed on an opportunity to be offended? What are you even doing here?

American history and black history cannot be separated.

Books are my comfort food!

Impressively dumb. Congratulations.

Mediocre white men think RFK Jr’s pathetic midlife crisis is inspirational. The bar is set so low for them, it’s subterranean.

The desire to stay informed is directly at odds with the need to not be constantly enraged.

Quote tweet friends, screenshot enemies.

I’d hate to be the candidate who lost to this guy.

So it was an October Surprise A Day, like an Advent calendar but for crime.

Giving in to doom is how we fail to fight for ourselves & one another.

“woke” is the new caravan.

Many life forms that would benefit from greater intelligence, sadly, do not have it.

Stop using mental illness to avoid talking about armed white supremacy.

Fear or fury? The choice is ours.

The arc of history bends toward the same old fuckery.

This country desperately needs a functioning fourth estate.

“When somebody takes the time to draw up a playbook, they’re gonna use it.”

Good lord, these people are nuts.

Their freedom requires your slavery.

Historically it was a little unusual for the president to be an incoherent babbling moron.

You are here: Home / Sports / Italy v New Zealand Open Thread

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62Comments

  1. 1.

    arguingwithsignposts

    Just a tip for those who are interested in the economic impact of World Cup on South Africa, there’s a documentary on Netflix Instant that looks into some of the deals relating to the stadiums, etc. It’s called: World Cup Soccer in South Africa: Who Really Wins?. Hint: It’s about what you’d expect when big money players are involved.

    Green is my fav. color – always. Watched the Netherlands v. Japan game on epsn3 replay yesterday. Those Danes can pass.

  2. 2.

    calling all toasters

    Every World Cup fan roots for three teams: their own, Brazil, and whoever is playing Italy.

  6. 6.

    Comrade Javamanphil

    Apparently it’s Oscar season at the World Cup and the Italians are interested in getting some nominations.

  10. 10.

    lol chikinburd

    Haters gotta hate, indeed.

    “A negro cannot be Italian” is the chant that explains the vitriol. The target of the abuse is 19-year-old Mario Balotelli, a footballer with Italian champions Inter Milan and a rising star of Italy’s Under-21 national team.

    In England, Germany or France, Balotelli would be making headlines in the sports pages as one of the most exciting young prospects in the national sport. In Italy, his treatment at the hands of a minority of hostile football fans is turning him into a symbol of the country’s seeming inability to embrace a multi-ethnic identity. Last Monday, Juventus were fined for anti-Balotelli chanting at a match for the second time this season.

    Jealousy would be one thing, but in Italy’s case it’s a matter of peeling back one perfectly legitimate reason to detest them, and finding yet another.

  15. 15.

    wengler

    @lol chikinburd

    Everybody talks about Balotelli’s bad attitude, but it’s pretty clear why he has one. Balotelli’s talent is undeniable, and Lippi is an idiot for taking his geriatric squad over young talent.

    Italy can be happy being racist losers.

  17. 17.

    wengler

    The Kiwis are going to be smacking around this Italian squad all day. Which will be awesome if they can avoid being sent off.

  22. 22.

    wengler

    If that jersey grab counts for a PK, then the US should have had about 5 PKs just on that one play.

  26. 26.

    stormhit

    @Violet:

    If you’re going to over-generalize the attitudes of most in a country by the disgusting behavior of a minority of vocal assholes, I wouldn’t suggest ever visiting redstate or the like.

    I haven’t even checked but I bet I can go over there right now and read screed after screed in the comments about the brown menace invading.

  27. 27.

    cmorenc

    The Italians always act like they just got blasted by a shotgun in the face or a baseball bat to the knees and ankles. Yeah the Z player had a bit of shirt, but without leverage (technically this is a foul) but well after the Z player let go, the Italian player went down like he was yanked down by a 50,000 KG test strenth rope.

    I’d love to see Z beat the Italians, but it would take a miracle for that to happen now that the score’s tied by the PK.

  28. 28.

    Face

    @QDC: The ESPN announcers said that the Italians are trained to go down the instance they feel someone pulling their shirt.

    Fucking actors. Ridiculous.

  29. 29.

    Violet

    @stormhit:

    If you’re going to over-generalize the attitudes of most in a country by the disgusting behavior of a minority of vocal assholes, I wouldn’t suggest ever visiting redstate or the like.

    Idiots blathering on redstate is not the same thing as a bunch of people openly chanting racists chants in packed stadiums for the country’s most popular sport. According to the Guardian article, it’s been questioned in the Italian parliament. The team has been fined. That’s a bigger deal than what a bunch of morans type on teh interwebs.

    I know it doesn’t reflect what everyone it Italy thinks. It never does. But it sounds like it’s a live issue in Italy.

  30. 30.

    Montanareddog

    Why Italian football is not popular is because of its traditionally negative and cynical approach. It is not haters hating.

    The French team’s meltdown is both entertaining and sad.

    Just watching de Rossi’s free kick, a lot has been said about the new ball, but this is the first tournament where one is not seeing any free kicks from shooting range troubling the goalkeepers in any way. And few long range shots too. Craig Johnston was an Australian forward who played for Liverpool in the ’80s and invented a new type of football boot and is therefore good on the technology side. I saw him on the BBC last night saying that the Jabulani has only 8 panels (instead of the 32 of a traditional ball) which means it is too spherical, too smooth a surface, and thus the players cannot work the ball in the same way. It seems to me that the players can swerve the ball one way or another, but not to the same degree, and that it does not seem to dip at all. At free kicks in shooting range, it is either hitting the wall or going straight over every time.

  32. 32.

    4jkb4ia

    Gaetano da Stefano(Gazzetta dello Sport): “New Zealand defends itself with its teeth.”

  33. 33.

    calling all toasters

    South Africa would have been the perfect venue to shame the various racist soccer fans in Europe with a display of tolerance and decency. Too bad they have to blow on their deafening fart trumpets constantly.

  34. 34.

    Leeds man

    @calling all toasters:

    Generally, the only time I root for Brazil is when they play Argentina. But I’ll make an exception when they play Portugal Friday.

    Definitely cheering for Ivory Coast this aft.

  41. 41.

    mcd410x

    From The Guardian MBM: “Italians are playing as if the game was taking place on the deck of an aircraft carrier on a stormy sea: falling all over the place in other words.”

  42. 42.

    burnspbesq

    Bob Ley on ESPN teasing about a report on “a total meltdown in the French camp.” There’s more than just the Anelka thing?

  45. 45.

    Suicidal Zebra

    @burnspbesq:

    From the sounds of things the French squad feel that Federation sent Anelka home without cause, and are objecting to it by not training today. So drahma, but not as big a deal as some may be suggesting.

  48. 48.

    MikeJ

    Before the French had even qualified there were scenes of 60,000 people booing him and demanding he be fired. It’s stunning that the FA kept him.

  50. 50.

    JenJen

    Interesting report on ESPN about the French team being in shambles. Best part? When French journalist Erik Bielderman phoned in to report that Nicolas Anelka said “go to fuck yourself, you son of a bitch” to French coach Domenech.

    Hilarious!

  51. 51.

    Davis X. Machina

    I hope all you so-called progressives feel guilty for not following the real news.

    The BBC had a post on their blog that just tickled me to death — the mighty Azzuri ships a goal to New Zealand, and its mighty “….former Halifax Town and AFC Wimbledon striker Shane Smeltz.”

    That’s ‘former Halifax Town and AFC Wimbledon….’

  53. 53.

    r€nato

    SCHIFO!!!

    Italian players doing post-game interviews, saying, “no problem; we’ll beat Slovakia and advance.” Not the way you played today…

    Lippi’s choices for the squad being questioned.

  55. 55.

    r€nato

    Serie A is notorious for the gross exaggeration players carry out every time the slightest contact is made.

    Commentators asking why the hell Gattuso and Quagliarella have not played yet. I’d like to know as well.

  56. 56.

    r€nato

    @Violet: It most certainly is a live issue in Italy, and I am certain that Balotelli’s bad attitude stems in no small part from the racism here.

    Make no mistake about it; Italians talk a good game publicly, but they really are not comfortable with the increasingly multicultural look of their country. They don’t like the Romanians (gypsies), they REALLY don’t like the Asians (they make Italians look like the slackers that they often are), they don’t like the Senegalese, they don’t like the Peruvians… hell, they can barely stand their fellow Italian from the town 30km away.

  58. 58.

    PanAmerican

    Dan Loney on the French dust up:

    I always get confused by Nicolas Anelka. Because I’m a racist, my instant reaction to his name is “the former Arsenal guy with the heart problem?” Then I realize the former Arsenal guy with the heart problem is Nwankano Kanu. Nicolas Anelka has no heart. Still, I think before we jump to any conclusions about Nicolas Anelka, we should investigate whether Raymond Domenech is, in fact, a son of a whore.

  59. 59.

    Leinad

    @Davis X. Machina: As an A-League watcher I’m amazed that Smeltz didn’t make at least 2nd Div. in England – guy is a natural finisher, strong in the air and has the poacher’s instinct for positioning.

  60. 60.

    burnspbesq

    Does anyone else wonder what odds you could have gotten from an English bookie before the tournament started on the proposition that after two matches, England and New Zealand would have the same number of points?

  61. 61.

    Royston Vasey

    This is New Zealand’s greatest ever result at soccer.

    Holding the reigning World Cup holders to a 1-all draw?
    Result!

    2 games, 2 goals, 2 points – Better than England! Lolz!

    Oh, and the All Blacks beat Wales in Dunedin (bye bye Carisbrook) on Saturday after kicking Irish butt the week before in New Plymouth.

    Go the Kiwis!

    Go the All Whites!

    Go NEW ZEALAND!

    RV in NZ

    Proud

  62. 62.

    Royston Vasey

    This is New Zealand’s greatest ever result at soccer.

    Holding the reigning World Cup holders to a 1-all draw?
    Result!

    2 games, 2 goals, 2 points – Better than England! Lolz!

    Oh, and the All Blacks beat Wales in Dunedin (bye bye Carisbrook) on Saturday after kicking Irish butt the week before in New Plymouth.

    Go the Kiwis!

    Go the All Whites!

    Go NEW ZEALAND!

    RV in NZ

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