Much too wet

The Women's preliminary tournament is over...or almost. Malta lost heavily, as expected, against a clearly superior Slovakia side. However, the weather and pitch conditions sweeped all hopes of entertainment as the players ended up clearing the ball to and fro by just a few meters. On the other hand, in some other obscure stadium in Luxembourg, the match between the hosts and Lithuania was rightly abandoned. Both matches were being played at the same time and certainly not miles apart, under the same weather. One ended up being a farse...the other apparently not.

We still thanked the girls for their effort. No doubt, the biggest disappointment is the defeat against Luxembourg which had probably illuded us all in the beginning. Still a good experience. And we enjoyed it.

UEFA Women's Championship:

Malta 0-0 Lithuania

It was my first time, and I must say I enjoyed it. With me a good numbers of compatriots here in the Grand Duchy. Apart from the result, which is probably a fair reflection of the game, our team showed great spirit and that was the best thing of the evening. The girls' collective effort was admirable and they were very appreciativ of our modest, but probably unexpected, support.

There are two other fixtures to be played here, one against the home team, which is making its international debut, and another against Slovakia, the clear favourites to win the group and proceed to the next round.

Well done and good luck girls! Keep it up!

Commerce et démocratie: Le double jeu des Occidentaux

La France n’a pas d’amis, elle a des intérêts, disait en substance feu le général Charles de Gaulle. Des décennies après, un non moins célèbre héritier du gaullisme, Jacques Chirac en l’occurrence, redonne du tonus à cette assertion en se rendant en Chine populaire, en quête de...marchés !

Parce que ce pays a longtemps été décrié pour la question des droits de l’homme, il apparaît fort important de dénoncer le double jeu des Occidentaux, auquel on commence à trop s’habituer, ce "dialogue stratégique" qui se fait de moins en moins discret !

L’Occident, il est vrai, ne s’embarrasse plus de considérations morales. Au nom du pétrole, du gaz, des métaux précieux, du bois, de l’aéronautique, du nucléaire, de l’armement et de l’électronique, il est prêt à tout brader. La sempiternelle question des droits de l’homme appartient bel et bien au passé. Vive le commerce : l’argent n’a point de couleur, le marché point d’odeur !

- from Le faso.net

Bojkott

Mela nhar l-Erbgħa, fit-tentattiv li nivvinta xiħaġa x'nagħmel, ħadt spunt minn nofs kelma ta' Mark u spiċċajt kaxkart is-solitu Letis, u did-darba ġie wkoll Aaron, sa l-Istade Josy Barthel. Kif! Ma tafx liem hu? Ma ntikx tort. Dan huwa l-verżjoni Lussemburgiża ta' Ta' Qali. U biex ingħidilkom Lussemburgu vs Bulgarija ma setgħetx tfakkarna aktar minn hekk f'Ta' Qali: attendenza kemm kemm issejħilha suffiċenti għall-pajjiż li hu, Bulgari daqs kemm kien hemm Lussemburgiżi, logħba medjokri, prestazzjoni tajba u telfa.

Minn banda ħassejtni qed nitkessaħ meta bdejt ngħaddi battuti ironiċi fuq l-ambjent li konna fih. Jien li ġej minn pajjiż b'tim ta' l-istess kalibru imma li x'aktarx f'kuntesti oħrajn wasal ħafna inqas. Imma nsomma dik ħaġ'oħra. L-għada ġiet f'idi l-gazzetta, u t-titli u l-kummenti kienu l-istess! Ħasra wara prestazzjoni tajba...jonqosna nagħmlu dak il-pass biex niksbu r-riżultat eċċ eċċ.

L-ironija hi li kif jaf kulħadd, dakinhar Malta kisbet l-aktar rebħa pretiġjuża fl-istorja tal-logħba fil-gżira. Il-mistħija mbagħad kienet riflessa fuq l-iskrin tal-kompjuter meta għamilt sa nofsillejl nistenna li b'xi mod nara l-gowls jew għallinqas x'ħa jgħidu l-aħbarijiet Maltin. Dlonk intasabt, kif ngħidu, quddiem id-di-ve u spiċċajt nara l-aħbarijiet tan-Net. U dawn għamlu siegħa jitkellmu fuq Tonio Borg, nofs ta' nhar jitkellmu fuq il-GWU (li ma setgħux jiffilmjaw ġewwa, li għalhekk il-GWU għadha u ħa tibqa' union leninista u x'naf jien...), imbagħad kien imiss rappurtaġġ minn Ħal-Safi dwar 'ċentru ta' matul il-ġurnata' għall-anzjani (il-bqija taċ-ċentri huma ta' bil-lejl), u mbagħad....iva ta! semmew il-problema nukleari mal-Korea ta' Fuq f'5 sekondi! Wasal l-isports (sa bħalissa kont wasalt biex nidħol għax-xogħol). Tennis......boċċi.......spiċċa!

Għall-kronaka....minn qiegħ il-Lussemburgu naf li la TVM, la Super 1, la Net u lanqas ħadd (ħlief l-RTK mid-dehra!) ma għadu jsemmi r-riżultati tal-futbol. Għala? Għax Joe Mifsud talab xi 400 biljun Euro għad-drittijiet (qed nitkellmu dwar xi Lm 25000). Dawn l-istazzjonijiet kollha f'daqqa (wieħed minnhom taħt l-obbligu tas-servizz pubbliku) qed jirifjutaw li jħallsu aktar minn kwart li kienu jħallsu sas-sena l-oħra. U sadanittant, jgħolli subajgħ min kien jaf li Malta rebħu (aqta' 'l dawk li ħaqqhom prosit talli marru l-grawnd - nofshom tfal tan-nurseries) jekk mhux l-għada filgħodu - probabbli minn xi uefa.com!

Lille (Lens)

Dosing off with Gazzetta pages all around me I was gearing up for the Lille-Milan Champs Lge fixture. I was sure I wouldn't finish off the article before passing out. Yet, a tiny parenthesis in the middle of nowhere said (in a way indicating it was so superfluous to the reader that it could have easily been left out) that the match was going to be played in Lens, not Lille. Yeah right...I might have been dreaming already. No I wasn't! I had a hotel booked in Lille, and my French geography did not permit me to stay calm since Lens is only half an hour south of Lille. Only after checking mappy did the panic start to ease off.

Since the group draw was made, I knew I couldn't miss the fixtures in Lille and Anderlecht...Milan close to home. To say that getting tickets is rather complicated is an undrestatement. It involves a lot of emails, telephone calls (some of them including some very helpful, gentle, colourful Italian language), mad driving, meeting strangers etc. The end result is you're entering the Felix Bollaert, Lens's concrete people container - used in France 98 - with the visiteurs surrounded by hoards of impressively serious looking policemen in full riot gear.

I won't bother you much with the game. A 0-0 which won't exactly be remembered in the history of football. With just one forward Milan are always less spectacular. But it's always nice to be close to your beniamini.

By the way, the 30 minute drive back to the hotel waiting for us in Lille took us an hour and a half. It was to be expected when a city moves to another to watch its football team play. It proved to be worth it. Lille is a charming city...3 hours to reach it slightly less.