Monday 1 July 2002

World Cup fever ended with a worthy final  All the experts were saying even before the tournament began that this was a bad German team, and certainly their game against Paraguay was far from a thing of beauty. But what a transformation in the later stages! I set myself up comfortably in front of the television, complete with food and drink, not really knowing what to expect. But right from the whistle the match lit up the screen and proved a fine finish to a fine tournament.       Despite their reputation for dour, unadventurous football, Germany played like a team inspired, with great skill and verve. Brazil looked uncomfortable at times, and it wasn't until after half-way through the first half that they began to look threatening. Oliver Kahn came to Germany's rescue on a number of occasions, there were a number of near misses, and all in all it looked ominous at the interval, with Brazil looking the better side. Ronaldo's first goal will no doubt live long in Kahn's memory. Whether it really was a fatal error on his part or simply a matter of the ball being difficult to hold on to in the wet conditions, the fact was that Brazil had gone into a well-deserved lead.       Ronaldo's second goal was brilliant, and Oliver Kahn really couldn't have done anything about it. And still, despite the double blow, Germany kept on trying to the very end in a display which was a credit to themselves and to the game. 2-0 for Brazil was probably a fair result, but the better result was for the game itself. It was a great tournament, the host nations did a wonderful job, television coverage was excellent, I saw more football in the course of a month than I'd normally see in a couple of years (I only get interested at international level).       And now all that's left to watch is boring tennis from Wimbledon! 1:37:21 PM  Your view

U.S. Agrees to Extend Bosnia Mission. The United States agreed Sunday to keep the U.N. peacekeeping mission in Bosnia going for three more days, shortly after vetoing a six-month extension because American peacekeepers did not get immunity from the new International Criminal Court. [AP World News] A 72-hour extension? How gracious of the United States! This quote from the article neatly sums up my own feelings on this disgraceful display of brinkmanship: "History, I believe, will record the actions of the U.S. administration of President George W. Bush to wreck U.N. peacekeeping and the International Criminal Court as one of the most shameful lows in global U.S. leadership," said William Pace, head of the International Coalition for a Criminal Court, a coalition of more than 1,000 organizations supporting the tribunal.       Basically, what the US administration are saying behind all this is that their concern to 'protect American troops and citizens from frivolous and politically motivated prosecutions' outweighs the right of millions of citizens of war-shattered and conflict-torn nations to the protection of international peacekeepers. This is scandalous, and must not be permitted to go unchallenged. 12:08:32 PM  Your view

		© Copyright 2002 Jim MacCormaic . Last update: 29/09/2002; 06:04:14 am .