I’d forgotten all about the Screwed by Officials Defeat. Saudi Arabia’s Khalil Al-Ghamdi managed to take what was a fairly intriguing clash, and swiftly destroyed any chances of it being enjoyable - particularly if you were watching it at the heaving PurPur Bar in Zürich as I was. I have to say, the Swiss truly surprised me. Whereas I knew the Slovenians and Slovakians would be colourful and loud, I’d expected the Swiss to be more reserved, perhaps even plain-clothed. Not to be.
I was in fact a little late getting to a bar - a combination of a late opening hostel reception and another bar that was in fact too busy to let me in - so just after 4pm I wandered down Seefeldstrasse in Zürich looking for somewhere else with a bit of atmosphere. The streets themselves were utterly deserted. Everyone in Switzerland, it would appear, was watching this game somewhere - with the exception of me and a few others draped in red who had been turned away from overcrowded establishments.
Fortunately, the PurPur Bar was just round the corner and lacked the overzealous bouncers of the Razzia Seefeld, and won the prize for the most cramped of all places I’ve visited thus far. Every screen, outside and in, had a large group of excited Swiss followers, still revelling in the party atmosphere which had followed defeat of the Spanish.
I’ve actually gone full circle with The Curse now - whereas once it would get me down, now I am actually revelling in the power that some unspoken force has given me. Just by pressing the record button on my camera, I can influence occurrences thousands of miles away:
1) Initially standing up to film the boisterous Swiss chanting, I instead pressed record and caused Mark González’s winning goal for Chile:
You'll notice an unusually large amount of girlish screams as that occured - my Swiss companion, David, informs me that there was an unusually large amount of females frequenting the bar that day. Incidentally, the focus on the three incredibly beautiful women at the end of the video, once I've sat down, was a fortunate accident.
2) When the ball broke perfectly to Eren Derdiyok in stoppage time, the PurPur was ready to explode, convinced as they were that he was going to score. I, and my camera, had other ideas:
Feeling something of a sense of guilt - I genuinely believe the ref wouldn't have been such an utter dick had I not been in Switzerland - I avoided chewing the ear of too many Swiss. David, the chap you can see holding his head quite a lot in the foreground of those videos, was one of the few - but the conversation didn’t sway too much from what you might expect: pleased to meet you, this ref is an idiot, beating Spain was great, Hitzfeld is the man, Frei is a hero, are you really that cursed?
Here he is on the furthest right, mit freunden - admirably most of which managed a smile considering it was taken only a minute or two after the game was over:
I was incredibly tired for the rest of my time in Zürich (drunken exploits in Bologna probably catching up with me), so in the end I decided to neglect my other remaining idea - to visit FIFA headquarters on the outskirts of town. Knowing it would have just been an inaccessible underground bunker of kickbacks and corruption, closed for the summer holidays anyway, I came to the conclusion that any visit would have been reduced to me spitting on the ground and shaking my fist a lot.On the positive side, I have dropped my pre-conceptions of the Swiss: conservatively dressed bean counters with sensible haircuts who make little noise they ain’t.
The mad run of four countries in four days reaches number two - France. Just glancing through the BBC’s World Cup pages, here are a few quotes about the state of the French football side right now:
"It's a disgrace," said Blues supporter Patrick Pailhes. "I can hardly bear to watch them. "It's unbelievable that football players - and such well paid football players - can go on strike like this. "I am really hoping that we lose to South Africa, then we can finally say goodbye to the tournament. We need a new coach, a new group of players - a fresh start."
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French President Nicolas Sarkozy has condemned the scenes as "unacceptable".
His advisor Henri Guaino said it was "distressing". "It's no longer football; it's no longer sport," he said. "In fact, it's no longer a team".
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In an interview on Europe 1 the philosopher Alain Finkielkraut compared the players to youths rioting in ghettos. "We now have proof that the France team is not a team at all, but a gang of hooligans that knows only the morals of the mafia," he said.
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France coach Raymond Domenech has said some of his players may refuse to face South Africa because of Nicolas Anelka's expulsion from the squad. The Chelsea striker was sent home for verbally abusing Domenech during last week's 2-0 defeat by Mexico. When asked whether some of his squad may not play on Tuesday, the coach said: "It is a possibility."
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"The government has had to intervene as the reputation at France is at stake in this case," said sports minister Roselyne Bachelot. "I told the players they had tarnished the image of France," she commented. "It is a morale disaster for French football. "I told them they could no longer be heroes for our children. They have destroyed the dreams of their countrymen, their friends and supporters."
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French sports paper L'Equipe wrote: "A rebellion? No, a caprice. A strike? No, cowardliness. Don't deceive yourself. The republican solidarity that our players showed the world yesterday is an illusion. "Evra has once and for all shown that he has muddled up the role of captain with that of a gang leader. "Domenech, by lending a hand to this masquerade and reading out himself the players' statement, has missed his final opportunity to show some style and courage."
Newspaper Le Figaro added: "It is collective suicide... the French team has heaped ridicule on itself in front of the whole world at Knysna. "It was almost hallucinatory. This is a psychodrama that will go down in the history of the World Cup. The French team has been reduced to ashes."
The worse it gets, the more happy I am that I’m going. For one, it ought to be interesting enough, so long as I can find someone willing to speak in English to me about it. For another, The Curse could surely not make this situation worse. Surely?
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France
Tournament odds 20/1
Remember the last time? Yes I do remember Zinedine Zidane head butting his way out of football once and for all, even if FIFA don’t let people show it on TV anymore.
Who do I recognise? Almost every one of the sulky shoulder-shrugging strike-mongering disgraces. The sight of Henry crashing out will no doubt please the population of the Emerald Isle.
Jarek’s Prophetic Vision Something tells me they’re not going to qualify from the group stages. Call it a hunch.
Jarek’s Prophetic Match Vision If France manage to win this game by the required number of goals - and christ knows how that could possibly be happen with a team that disrespects its coach that much - than you can be guaranteed that Uruguay and Mexico will play out a draw, in some sort of Denmark-Sweden style shenanigans.
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