Two Soccer Notes...

At the risk of boring you all...

-The World Cup final pairings are out, and we got an unlucky draw. In our group is Italy, the traditional power; and the Czechs, who made the European Finals two years ago. There can only be two European teams per group, so Ghana rounds out the draw, who are usually one of the better African teams. We obviously did not get a top seed, despite our silly high ranking, but Mexico did. They were awarded with Iran, Angola, and Portugal, as easy a draw as you could hope.

-I posted a while ago about racism in European soccer, and it reared its ugly head again in Italy this weekend. Fascist-linked Lazio was playing Communist-linked Livorno, and Lazio's Paolo di Canio again raised his hand in a Fascist salute. He said he will continue this action in the future. Apparently the Lazio fans held up a swastika. No reprimand has been announced.