Maybe it's the thin air or the vuvuzelas. Or maybe all work and no play is making all these knuckleheads dull babies.
Wow. I've never seen anything like it. What the English and French are pulling is just plain strange and sad at the same time.
Let's start with the whiny Brits. They've come a long way since 1066, the Magna Carta, the Enlightenment, Queen Victoria, and the Blitzkrieg in terms of fighting and intellectual spirit. The 2010 edition of England came in with the usual over-hype and expectations to win a World Cup. And under, Fabio Capello (one of the most successful managers in soccer history), it seemed plausible. England has the talent; it was just a question of putting it together.
No sweat. They're English, right? Deferential and submissive. Perfect for an authoritarian like Capello.
Um, not really. All it took was one twirp to set this team off track. John Terry, and I'm not kidding here, is complaining that Capello and his Italian fitness team didn't permit the lads to have a beer after England stank out the joint in a scoreless draw with Algeria. A team some players were quoted as saying they didn't need to be at 100% to defeat.
From The Independent:
"By the end of an hour he had promised personally to challenge Fabio Capello in last night's team meeting and revealed how he had insisted to the Italian's backroom staff that the players should be allowed to relax with a beer after the draw with Algeria. As Terry's comments filtered back almost immediately to his team-mates just a few hundred yards away in their hotel there was disbelief."
Yes, just the perfect attitude you want from a second-tier soccer power. Sounds like the lessons of Croatia was lost forever. Michael Owens said something similar about Croatia (which was an incredibly stupid thing to say considering Croatia finished third at the 1998 World Cup and went farther than any English side since 1966; to say nothing of their skill) and England subsquently lost and didn't make Euro 2008.
What Terry and possibly others on the team don't grasp is it's THE WORLD CUP. It's not a bloody fucking holiday. You can't go for an effen "pint" especially after you played like wankers. Total and pure focus is needed to succeed. This notion seems to elude the lads.
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France. Oh dear. It hasn't be a good four years for les bleus. First, it was the shameless Zidane head butt, then it was a more than mediocre qualifying campaign, then it was the infamous Henry hand ball against Ireland and now there's all sorts of acrimony with the team internally with the expulsion of Nicolas Anelka. A mini-temporary muitny took place; all before a huge match against South Africa.
Not very bright and becoming stuff for a team of their stature. If there's anyone to blame, stick it on the French federation (FFF) for sticking with controversial and tactically challenged coach Raymond Domenech.
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And then there's this beaut from Brazil; the world's team. Brazil has indeed given us some beautiful soccer but it has also provided its share of cynical play. Anyone remember Leonardo's vicious elbow in 1994 or Rivaldo's wickedly wild simulation in 2002? Now comes Luis Fabiano's hand goal against Ivory Coast in 2010.
The reason why it's a serious infraction was because at the time the score was 1-0 in favor of Brazil very early in the second half. The goal deflated the Africans and ended up losing 3-1. These type of things are game changers.
Fabiano admitted he did it.
Problem is, it came with a Zidane-like "but":
"But in order to make the goal more beautiful, there had to be a doubtful element. It was a spectacular goal and I believe it was not a voluntary handball. It was a legitimate goal and it was one of the most beautiful goals that I've scored in my career. Where better to score such a goal than at the World Cup?"
Great. He's a thinker too. Oof.
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As for the officiating, it's ridiculous the biggest sporting event in the world uses amateur referees. Some of these dudes are part-time officials or have real jobs. Seems to me, FIFA needs to get true, experienced referees to govern the laws of the game on the field. It won't eliminate human errors for we are a flawed species, but it doesn't mean we can't manage it better. Some games have experienced refs from Europe, others have inexperienced ones from Mali. For those inexperienced ones, maybe it's time to train them better and have them observe games in South America and Europe or something.
Yes, I do advocate the use of technology. I'm no Luddite on this front nor do I subscribe to the "it's part of the tradition" crap. In fact, if anything, I'd add a second referee and have video replay.
That way, stupidities we saw in the USA-Slovenia game could be avoided. Or the simulation by a Swiss player against Chile, or the dubious sending off of Swiss player etc.
Don't expect FIFA, though, to budge.
I swear, Bud Selig is running things behind the scenes. Bunch of dinosaurs.
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Articles Of Confederation: A...
A New Metaphor for Pluralism
Abdallah is a Djiboutian-born Canadian who lives in Montreal's Mile-End neighbourhood, famous for its cultural diversity and vibrancy of life. Everyone who meets Abdallah is immediately struck by his sheer enthusiasm for life.
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01 Juil. 2010
28 Juin 2010
OTTAWA — At least 600 foreign women and girls are coerced into joining the Canadian sex trade each year by human traffickers, says a newly declassified RCMP report.
As many as 2,200 other newcomers are smuggled into the United States from Canada to toil in brothels, sweatshops, domestic jobs or construction work, estimates the intelligence assessment obtained by The Canadian Press.
And the RCMP says the numbers may represent just the tip of the proverbial iceberg, as it is widely believed only one in 10 victims of trafficking report the crime to police.
A public furor recently prompted the federal government to halt a visa program intended to help Canadian strip clubs hire foreign women.
The RCMP report highlights an ugly phenomenon in which traffickers use deception or force to exploit the vulnerable people they bring to Canada, making them work in slave-like conditions in the sex business and other trades.
Anywhere from 700,000 to four million people are trafficked globally each year, though it is difficult to tell "how much of this activity is occurring in Canada," the assessment says.
"The failure by law enforcement to recognize and identify this type of crime creates significant problems in terms of investigation and information gathering."
The report, marked Canadian Eyes Only, is the result of Project Surrender, a groundbreaking effort by the RCMP's criminal intelligence directorate to document the extent of human trafficking to Canada.
A censored version of the assessment, completed last January, was obtained under the Access to Information Act.
In compiling the report, analysts sifted through data from the RCMP immigration and passport sections, the Immigration Department and municipal police forces, as well as criminal data banks, international studies and media reports.
Most of the illicit activity occurred in Montreal, Toronto, Vancouver and Winnipeg.
A "conservative estimate" indicates about 600 women and girls are introduced into the Canadian sex trade annually by traffickers, says the report.
The number of persons "easily increases" to 800 when expanded to include migrants brought into the country by criminal organizations to support illicit operations such as selling drugs or tending marijuana growing operations, and others who are forced to work off debt or pay fees to crime groups.
Women have entered Canada for the sex trade under a variety of circumstances, the report says.
"They have been tricked, forced, obligated to a debt payment schedule or, as a permanent commodity, are trafficked from city to city through Canada and the U.S.A.
"There have also been cases of Canadian girls, coerced or kidnapped, fraudulently entering the U.S.A. and forced into prostitution."
Large organizations operating in Canada, active over decades, can move 30 to 40 people into the United States each month.
Case figures indicate that between 1,500 and 2,200 people are trafficked from Canada into the U.S. annually, though the RCMP stresses the numbers may be only a fraction of the actual total.
Other case examples include:
The smuggling of Polish nationals through Toronto and on to Chicago, many destined to work for vehicle "chop shops" for gangs dealing in stolen cars.
Asians brought illegally to Canada's west coast who have moved to New York, Los Angeles and other American destinations to work in sweat shops or criminal networks.
The smuggling of Hondurans to Canada to serve as drug couriers on Vancouver streets.
Abuse of "mail-order bride" programs by East European crime groups to bring women into the country and exploit them.
The 17,000 seasonal agricultural workers from abroad who tend Canadian farms and orchards each year may also be open to exploitation, the report notes.
"Some of these workers have entered Canada illegally, making them vulnerable to inadequate pay and conditions," it says.
Trafficking in persons became an offence in Canada in June 2002, but there had been no cases brought before Canadian courts at the time of the report.
The RCMP moved this year to redirect resources into a new unit to fight human trafficking.
The Canadian Council for Refugees wants the government to protect victims of the crime.
Many of the abused and exploited are routinely treated as people who have simply broken the immigration law, says the council. As a result, they are detained and deported.
"And they often are going back to the same situation that put them in jeopardy in the first place," said Amy Casipullai, the council's vice-president.
The Mounties had no immediate comment on the intelligence report.
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