11/7/2006 - the return of the catennacio

yes. it is true. finally, the cycle is complete again. the basis and the art of the catennaio, steeped in the foundations of the azzuri, have reaped another sucess, 4th to be precise, in the realm of the international football hierachy. yes, they were second best to argentina, but luck pushed them through to beat the french in berlin, it was fate that commanded the headbutt from the man who could have ended the pattern steeped in world cup folklore. yes, italy have done it,despite zinedine zidane, or ironically, because of a lack of him.the pools of luck and patterns shows nothing stands by chance, as i was mesmerizd in a pool of blue from the hearts of milan and rome in the wake of england's tragic exit. yes, italia had reached the final again, for 12 years is the pattern. 1970 lost to brazil, 1982 won, 1994 lost to brazil, 2006 won. pattern unfolding, 2018 lost to brazil and 2030 won? uncanny but true. another is of  the european and south american alternation, prompting the magic of chance and probability. of course, we can only stop and wonder: 1966 england..1970 brazil..1974 germany..1978 brazil..1982 italia..1986 argentine..1990 germany..1994 brazil..1998 france..2002 brazil..2006 italia..2010 south american nation? another chance. and i fancy the fate dwells in argentina. back to the world cup, so happy for italia, the azzuri,the team of buffon,grosso,nesta,cannavaro,materazzi,zambrotta,gattuso,pirlo,totti,de rossi,cameranesi,gilardino,luca toni,iaquinta,del piero,inzaghi,toldo etc.they were solid. not only did they practice the art of the purest form,the italian catennacio, letting in 2 goals the whole campaign, of which one was an own goal. they were a potent attacking force, true not to match the french at stages, but the catennacio and a reliable attack(reasonable) saw them through, and of course the eruption of a headbutt from zidane on materazzi seeing red and trezeguet ironically hitting the crossbar in the penalty shootout to enable a flawless italian penalty shootout(who would have thought i would say that) to give a 5-3 win to the italians. stuff dreams are made of? or to follow the patterns of life. enter: italia last won the world cup with a match fixing scandal, and now, they face another scandal in their history, bemoaning the downfall of mighty juventus the most, then ac milan,lazio and fiorentina,who are stalwarts of the serie a, and italian top flight might be compormised wih these clubs relegations. maybe just maybe, and fiorentina,not too long ago liquidized and called fiora viola lanquishing in seie c2 after a tussle in the champions league and beating man u several years earlier, had resurrected and fallen again. roller coaster ride. italy cometh as the new champion. and the domestic leagues are not being looked forward to. yes, including my beloved manchester united, with the entry mentioned below, ronaldo for real, ruud for torres, and maybe gattuso and carrick coming in. its going to be reconstuction for the red devils as the team moves on.hopefully they can be back to where they have been. and yeah,i hope chelsea wont win, and with their ageing players they might not, like makelele. so lets hope and pray..

germany 2006. hosts are 3rd. they are brilliant hosts. stadium topdraw, facilities fantastic. the beer hub has put their country in good light, im impressed, softened where i hardened to the hatred and rivalry between them and england. now, england is in disarray, ive left them for italy, and germany has impressed me. yes,i want to press on, guess i will blog a world cup review later on. for now, its school tommorow, and how i must buck up. physics 30%..chinese 43%.. one S and one U. pathetic. GP tommorow. and yeah it was a boring day today, started at 0900 and dragged, loarding through an torturous 2 hour chinese lesson. yes and i didnt learn anything from it. then went to subway with cheang yuan, maw,esmond,erwin and met terri and xiao ting. then followed terri and xiao ting to cine where we lolled around, met gary, sent a tired terri off, ate pastamania, and went home. so much to tell, so little time, bad priorities. i need to buck up. and how. detention awaits tommorow for skipping maths tutorial last friday, makig it 4 i owe the school. and yes my results tell the tale, its a tale i need to rethink, rewrite and rejuvenate. the world cup fever, very subdued it was, its over. what an anti-climax. but i have yearning happiness for the masters of the catennacio. forza italia!!