WC2006: Returning To The Scene

ALTE OPER, FRANKFURT (8:27pm local time) -- The first thing I did when I got to the Frankfurt Hbf was check the spot where I last saw my digital camera. There was also a lost and found, but they were less than helpful.

I had an immediate, visceral dislike for Frankfurt once I got myself moving, and it's likely a combination of not enough food and/or caffeine in the system, the lost camera, and this onset of homesickness. Once I made it to the Fan Fest, I couldn't stop thinking about how I could have managed things better on the trip, from the clusterfuck in Nuremberg to booking my flight home for yesterday and extending it if the USA advanced.

Meanwhile, the Italians were back in Kaiserslautern, as a predominantly Azzuri crowd watched the big TV in the middle of that most intuitive of tributaries, the Main River. I don't know if Australian coach Guus Hiddink had his team do this on purpose, but the Aussies didn't let Italy even touch the ball for two full minutes. It seems like a clever strategy until you consider that Luca "don't call me Riga" Toni almost scored on Italy's first possession a minute later.

Fast-forward through another Italian red card, some good chances on either side, and ninety-two minutes of scoreless soccer. This was the soccer gods maybe setting things right, as the Italian player took advantage of the Australian defender already being on the ground to force contact and draw the penalty. Was there gamesmanship involved? Sure, but there was contact. You can probably draw the parallel to Totti in 2002 getting a second yellow card on a similar play, which makes this sort of play the very definition of "it could go either way." With the Italians' reputation preceding them, I seem to be in the minority saying that it was technically a foul.

With Australia gone, the Swiss are now my unlikely team of choice. Can't bring myself to root for Ghana yet.