Thursday, June 01, 2006

Panic on the streets of...

... Munich and Milan, as Germany and Italy can only garner draws against putatively inferior opponents: 2-2 with Japan and 1-1 with Switzerland respectively.

Japan were two up with a quarter hour left against the Germans, who managed to scrounge two
late goals. The result has rekindled the fires of criticism that have been buring Jurgen Klinsmann's feet for months now.

The Italian situation is difficult to diagnose. There are rumors that the match fixing scandal are affecting morale in the Italian camp, but it's worth remembering that Italy always looks listless and unimpressive at the start of major tournaments. Sometimes, they continue to look so once the tournaments are under way, but quite often they don't. And sometimes they whine when results don't go their way, and so it was against the Swiss, whose tackling was too rough for the sensitive flowers of the Azzurri

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