Italy goes out, outkicked and outpushed by a team of well-trained cynics.

[fpb]

I had expected it, as you may remember, but it still makes me sick. The Slovaks put in so many kicks and shoves - each carefully weighed not to place the player in danger of being carded - that the Italians were soon physically shrinking from contact. They tried to make up for it by superior passing, keeping the ball away from the opponents and

Comments

[lady_daereth]

Well said! I wasn't watching that one match though, our sports channel was broadcasting the Paraguay - NZ game.

[hermoinejean7]

Other sports, beginning with tennis, have been ruined by the prevalence of enormous and hugely muscled players; tennis at present ought to be played with weight categories, like boxing.

I really would love to know your reasoning behind this statement. I find that tennis as it is today is one of the better versions of the game, and presently find no need for weight categories. O.o

[fpb]

I was thinking especially of the women's game, and of such "ideal" figures as the Williams sisters, Amelie Mauresmo, etc etc. I used to think of Martina Hingis as being quite petite, and I had to wait for her to appear in a British dance show to realize that she is quite a substantial young woman, one metre sixty-eight and with strong arms and square shoulders. In the presence of the average modern woman tennis player, she looked like a dwarf, and, in spite of her immense skill, she eventually found she could not compete.