Soccer and a great link

For those of us who haven't had the time to watch much soccer. Fifa's world cup site is absolutely wonderful. The first thing about it, there are no advertisements before the video clips! Viva soccer huh! Go to the middle of the web page in 'Germany 2006 Highlights' and click on 'Full Video Highlights' and your good to pick out something. The German coach has come in for praise, the WSJ talks of a 74 yo woman who has the flag tatooed on her hand and around her neck, apparently the tatoo de jour for the Germans. Well, Italy beat them today, and those goals are in the upper left corner of the 'MATCH HIGHLIGHTS' section. One of the orthopods I run into at lunch complained that the Brazilians were allowed to beat Ghana by not having 'off sides' called on them. If an offensive player is between the last defensive player and the goal when the ball is kicked to him that is 'off-sides.' You can see the relevant plays; just click on the icon for the game. But compare to France vs. Spain; it looks like the referees will accept being 'in the neigborhood' which may be best practice. It is a hard call to make; and, in US club soccer, it seems to mean that the offensive player has raced beyond the defense regardless of their status at the time of the kick. We have become too accustomed to severe calls; to me the ref for the Brazilian game got it just right. And of course the Brazilians played it right. Really, once you hear the rules and see the Brazilians play, then you know the rules of the music. And I just loved their goalie kicking the ball out on a quick unexpected shot position; an insect couldn't have had better sudden coordination of its leg.