Urs And Them

Winners

David Beckham has come under fire for his performances. But the statistics suggest that he is a potent attacking force. Thus far Becks has played 356 minutes of football. He has struck seven shots, of which three have been on target. He has been fouled five times, and fouled three times. And has delivered 51 crosses.

Ever wondered what happened to Urs Meier? England fans will remember him as the referee with the Duran Duran hair-do who disallowed Sol Campbell’s goal in Euro 94. Some less enlightened England fans bombarded him with threatening emails and letters. Well, he is no longer in hiding and is popping up on German TV to give the expert view on all those fouls – real and imagined.

Who says Americans aren’t into football, or soccer? After their victory over the Dutch, the Portuguese neighbourhood living in the Ironbound district in Newark, New Jersey, came out to party like they’d won the World Series of Superbowl Soccer. Way to go!

Losers

Is Franz Beckenbauer a true football fan? Der Kaiser took a break from things World Cup to get married in the Alps. “It was supposed to be a day for just us without any stress or troubles,” says the newlywed who married Heidi Burmester, with whom he has two children. “We wanted to avoid all the commotion. No one expected us to get married in the middle of the World Cup." Indeed they did not. During the World Cup, we expect men to only acknowledge women who: a) understand the offside rule; b) bring them meals and drinks on trays; or c) wear boob tubes inside the stadium.

World Cup organisers are less than pleased with one photographer allocated a precious pitchside pass for England’s match against Ecuador. For the entire game he trained his camera on the Wags in the stands.

Posted: 27th, June 2006 | In: Back pages Comment | TrackBack | Permalink