Evra, Ribery, Anelka: anti-heroes in France’s rogues’ gallery

The shameful conduct of the French World Cup squad in South Africa has tarnished the reputation of the overpaid, brattish players concerned, and French football in general. Now, leaving aside the meaningless exclusion from a friendly, comes the reckoning. Colin Randall reports …

One of my regular newsagents had sold out of L’Equipe. It was first item on the French TF1 news last night. The French Football Federation has sent five players to a disciplinary commission for their part in the “billionaires’ strike”, as one French magazine called it.

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Priceless World Cup memories (2)

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The competition has begun, with a late Mexico equaliser spoiling a dream start for South Africa, and France failing to overcome Uruguay. I think I predicted two draws on the opening day, elsewhere if not here, so was not surprised. And both were, as Bill Taylor has pointed out here, quite entertaining games. England play tonight and, of course, Salut! Sunderland wants even a Bent-free Capello side to win (though we’re also the highly unofficial site for the Paraguay squad – thanks for the flag, Pete!).

Steve Bruce has said the heart wants England, the head says Argentina; Lorik Cana favours Brazil. But in quiet periods between games, you can browse the outstanding pieces in which the same Pete who procured my Paraguay flag – Pete Sixsmith – reflects with startling recall of detail on all World Cups between 1966 and 2006. Here is a second instalment of the highlights (one of them from an intruder), each article reached by clicking the location or year …

See the first round-up of extracts by clicking here, or scroll down each individual tournament, clickable from the sidebar column to your left

1994, USA

Football and the USA is like Cheryl Cole and Rugby League, Nick Clegg and sticking to your principles and Mike Ashley and sensible managerial appointments – they just do not go together. They like games that they can be World Champions at because nobody else plays them. I like Baseball, but calling the play off the World Series… do me a favour.

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England v USA: a World Cup “Who Are You?”

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So, they kick off today: South Africa v Mexico with Nelson Mandela, sadly, absent following the death of his 13-year-old great granddaughter in an accident after last night’s concert, and France v Uruguay tonight. And tomorrow Fabio Capello’s finest, minus Darren Bent, open the Group C campaign against the United States of America, the country from which we gratefully accepted Claudio Reyna at Sunderland. From the US fans’ site Sam’s Army, the highly knowledgeable Mark Spacone* looks forward to the game through American eyes, with American spelling and terminology …


Salut! Sunderland
: What are your feelings about the composition of Group C and how do you rate your chances of progressing?

When the first ball came out of the pot and it was England, I threw up and once I cleaned up and regained some composure, I thought the world was against us and the pots were stacked to ensure we Yanks would be in the group of death and eliminated in the first round just to show the world we don’t know the difference between a football and, well, a football! As the draw continued, it became clear the American dollar is still worth something in Sepp’s pocket because he drew us in with Algeria and Slovenia. Wait, I forgot, the draw is random! On this side of the pond, we think the US and England will advance into the second round (any order will do for us). Slovenia, however, may be the wedding crasher! Many are hoping the U.S. comes out of the England game without any injury regardless of the result, but the hopeful are looking for a draw, and the plain down right crazy who want to give others the ultimate “I told you so” are looking for a win. I wonder if Landon Donovan scores the winner if Everton supporters will chant “USA” again should he return there and perform as well as he did on loan this past season!

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Can the World Cup help Kick Out Racism?

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Thanks to people of the calibre of Niall Quinn and Darren Bent, and many more than we could hope to mention, Sunderland AFC have played a commendable role, through such campaigns as Show Racism the Red Card, in combating racial prejudice and discrimination in football. The opening of the World Cup in South Africa – sadly, after all, in Nelson Mandela’s absence following the death of his 13-year-old great granddaughter in an accident after last night’s concert – sends out a powerful message of its own today. But with thanks to Jeremy Robson, whose exchanges with me here a week ago inspired these thoughts in today’s edition of The National, Abu Dhabi, only so much progress has been made …


Image: from Frerieke‘s Flickr pages. The posting is repeated at my main Salut! site

After the French football team defeated the much-fancied Brazilians in the 1998 World Cup final, two snappy phrases became part of the legacy of a swashbuckling victory: un-deux-trois-zéro to describe the impressive scoreline and blanc-black-beur acclaiming the multiracial composition of the team.

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The report card: (3) could do better

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With their Bunsen burners and experiments with mercury, chemistry teachers tend to be men (and women) of few words who know how to get quickly to the point with a minimum of fuss. Bob Chapman lives up to the stereotype with a short but impeccably presented summary of our season, straying from the path of science only to borrow plus and minus signs from his maths colleagues …

As a school teacher I have just finished writing a series of reports for my A level Chemistry group who are all off to University this coming autumn.

It was an easy task as they already have enough marks and with a couple of exams to go should be successful come summer. The grades they achieve will match their ability. However writing this report for Sunderland has been so much more difficult. The grade we achieved did not match our ability!

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The sinking of Grimsby Town: Poojah’s polemic

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Beneath the sublime headline World, f*** off, this post appeared at the admirable Grimsby fan site The Fishy. Salut! Sunderland‘s attention was drawn by Jeremy Robson, one of our Canada-based stalwarts, in these terms: “It’s so funny and tragic at the same time. Grimsby Town are just about to fall out of the league. Some strong language … it’s a great article that lad’s written. I really feel for them. Grimsby Town is a proper old football club. They’ve been in the league for 100 years. It’s a real shame. We’ve had a lot of encounters with them over the years when we were in the second tier and I’m sorry to see this happen.”

21 Lincoln City 43 8 6 7 24 26 4 4 14 16 36 -22 46
22 Barnet 42 7 10 4 29 17 4 2 15 17 42 -13 45
23 Grimsby 43 3 9 10 23 36 4 8 9 18 32 -27 38
24 Darlington 42 3 3 14 14 31 4 3 15 17 47 -47 27

Over – with apologies to the squeamish (ie strong language left intact as there’d otherwise be no point) – to The Fishy’s occasional star contributor “Poojah” for what one Sunderland fan hails as a contender for “greatest rant of all time”…

Now I’m as optimistic as anyone when it comes to this twát of a football club, but after this afternoon’s latest capitulation it’s time to wake up and smell the coffee – we’re fúcked. Down. Goners. Non-league. To be honest I didn’t know how it would affect me, it’s not like it hasn’t been coming, but tonight I just feel absolutely deflated. Absolutely fúcking devastated.

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Soapbox: suffering sponsors

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What’s this, a new split in the Salut! Sunderland camp? The ink’s hardly dry on Colin Randall’s piece about Sunderland’s Tombola sponsorship, essentially saying it doesn’t matter too much what appears on our shirts (assuming we cannot just return to the good old days of red and white stripes, badge and each player’s number). Now Pete Sixsmith offers his dissenting view …

Unlike Colin, I do think shirt sponsors are quite important. They often give you a flavour of what a club is about. Until the Boylesports deal, all of our sponsors had been Wearside companies – Cowies, Vaux, Vardy’s and I was unaware that Tombola were a Sunderland based company until I read about them on the club site.

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TalkSport: a guilty pleasure

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What do you listen to during the morning drive to work or when getting ready to leave the house? Who winds you up and who, later in the day, helps you wind down? Colin Randall admits to a weakness for TalkSport – even when it talks rot …

There is a confession to make: I may be addicted to TalkSport radio. Even on days when I really must listen to Radio 4 in the car, I find some time to turn to Alan Brazil’s morning show.

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