France-Argentina Game Recap (Or The Perils of Watching From an Irish Pub)

So as I said yesterday, my original plan was to watch the game live from my computer, courtesy of the French Football Federation. And if that had happened, this would be an in-depth, player by player analysis of the game, including what happened to the offense, (don’t ask), and which players were worth their weight in gold (Abidal and Coupet top the list), and how the two brand-new centerbacks worked out (I was impressed) and why Domenech keeps subbing out Sagnol. (I’ve give up trying to figure that out.) And I’d be giving you an in-depth analysis of how the 72nd minute Anelka-for-Trezeguet sub worked out (okay but not great), and my thoughts on why striker Cisse went in for holding midfielder Makelele at the end. (What did they have to lose?)

But as we know, that didn’t happen.

Instead, yesterday afternoon at 4:00 I went to an Irish pub in downtown Seattle to watch the replay. And the place was totally empty except for us. I ordered a bowl of soup, and my husband ordered me a glass of wine, and I’m taking notes. And our players took about twenty minutes to find their rhythm, and that was about five minutes too long — Argentina scored in the fifteenth minute.

And then these two guys sit down at the table next to us, early for the US-Mexico game, and they like European soccer too. So we start chatting about Barthez vs. Coupet, and whether Trezeguet will ever come back. And halftime comes and goes, and it’s just so damn good to find other European football fans to talk to, and my husband orders me another glass of wine when I’m not looking, and oh, yeah, right, they subbed in Anelka here. And we’re talking about Juventus in Serie B, and the latest Italian football scandal, and Whoa. How the hell did Cisse get on the field?

So the game ends. (Guess what. We lost.) And the pub has gotten completely full, and we decide to order dinner and stay for the US-Mexico game. And another glass of wine somehow appears by my plate. And there was this really nice kid sitting at the other table by us who plays for the Sounders first division team, and we were discussing all the Mexican players and which ones play internationally. And I think I have somehow committed myself to buying Sounders season tickets and hanging out with his mom. (Which I’m actually really looking forward to, because she’s nice too and nobody in my family likes soccer enough to go with me.) And Landycakes did a beautiful corner that led to a goal, and then the ref gifted him with another goal and the US won and the crowd went wild. The end.

And this morning I have:
1) a teensy headache, and
2) very high hopes for soccer in the US.

And, oh, yeah. France lost.