La Vengeance de France!

The biggest soccer match of the year so far! Last night was the big rematch: France versus Italy, their first matchup since Italy's victory in the World Cup Final. Of course, neither Zidane nor the other guy (the head-buttee, who recently claimed that the only thing he said to Zidane to inflame him so was referring to his sister...) was present. This was part of the Euro Cup '08...I know it's only 2006 currently, but apparently the group play normally starts this early.

The result of last night was a resounding victory for France (3-1) during which they displayed their superiority over the Italian team at both ends of the field. I'm not practised at analyzing soccer games, but even I could tell that the French were the better team. The game featured a pair of spectacular saves from goalie Gregory Coupet (the replacement for former goalie Fabien Barthez--both Barthez and Coupet are pictured below), a pair of nice goals by Sidney Govou, and a goal by France's most popular and most talented attaquant Thierry Henry.

French soccer vocabulary:
off-sides: horsjeu
goalie: guardien de but
foul: faute
half-time: mi-temps
overtime: la prolongation
yellow card: le carton jaune
to shoot, to kick: tirer

Also, if you want to say "the ref sucks", the common phrase or chant is "Aux chiottes l'arbitre!!"