At Least We’re Doing Well in Beach Soccer

July 21st, 2008 | by: Laurie |

Nothing going on with the EdF, so let’s take a look at the Beach Soccer World Cup, going on in Marseille this week. (Question: Even FIFA calls it “Beach Soccer.” Why is that?”)

France is enjoying the home field advantage and has guaranteed themselves a spot in the quarterfinals. They lost on penalties to Senegal after drawing 5-5, but then came back to win against Iran (6-6 draw, with a win on penalties) and Uruguay (4-3 win).

Now we go on to play… Guess who? Italy. Yes, Italy. The game’s on Thursday.

Come on, France, kick butt!!

(As far as I can tell, the games are available in most countries in Europe via the FIFA site, but not available anywhere in the US. I believe they call this “discrimination.”)

More photos after the jump.

The stadium. Packed.

Why are the words “Joga Bonito” echoing in my brain?

Those flamingos make it look so easy.

Do they collect a paycheck for doing this? Seriously? Is anybody else jealous?

More warmup photos at the FFF site here.

More France-Uruguay photos here.

France World Cup Blog RSS Feed

Martin

The games are available on ESPN 360.. for those in the U.S. who have it.
sandrahn

It’s “jogo bonito” — as in “the beautiful game.” Disregard Nike’s screwed up Portuguese.

“Joga bonito” is bad grammar — it’s meant to say “play beautifully” as in the imperative command form, but in that case “it should be written “joge bonito.”

I’ve watched this world cup in person in Rio twice — helluva lot of fun, I got exhausted just watching the players negotiate all that thick sand for minutes on end.
http://france.worldcupblog.org Laurie

Martin, really? You’ve made my day! I’m going in to watch Spain vs. Japan right now!
http://france.worldcupblog.org Laurie

Sandra, I speak NO Portuguese, but for some reason “Joga Bonito” always set off some inner grammar alarm. Nice to hear that there was a reason for it.
http://tunisia.worldcupblog.org/ Rami

Man I’m jealous of these guys! Not only are they on the beach (I’m in an office with no Sunglight!) but they are playing soccer on top of it. Having Cantona as your coach has got to be the most awesome/ridiculous thing.

Allez les bleus! And thanks for the daily dose love Laurie
http://belgium.worldcupblog.org julien

Thanks for the beach football coverage, Laurie . If you live in the U.S. and can’t watch on ESPN 360 you could try justin tv’s sports section. At least one channel at a time (usually it has been several at a time) has been streaming the beach football matches:
http://www.justin.tv/directory?category=sports