How France 98 Is Playing in Publications Around the Globe:
BRAZIL
From O Globo:
“Coach Zagallo was unable to contain his happiness after the opening victory against Scotland in the World Cup. The Brazilian coach said the team overcame the nervousness of the debut and was able to reassure its fans.
“ ‘Brazil should be jumping for joy,’ he said.”
GERMANY
Berlin left-of-center daily Berliner Zeitung, on singing national anthems:
“French player Fabien Barthez found the best reason not to sing: ‘To sing the Marseillaise would move my emotions so deep that it would destabilize my body.’ He asks for being excused from singing--for medical reasons.”
Berlin conservative daily Die Welt quotes German TV starlet Verona Feldbusch on her advice for the German team:
“ ‘I’d shave the players’ legs or at least put a strong styling gel on their legs. The boys must get more aerodynamic.’ ”
RUSSIA
From the daily Russky Telegraf:
“Since 1930 there have been 15 soccer epochs which many people appear to remember much better than events in their private life, rough political and economic crises or even war. Only in the USA, where soccer is associated more with eating hot dogs and popcorn at a stadium rather than with the game itself, such historic events as the Vietnam War and Watergate stand out in time on a par with the games. In the rest of the world, time is measured in soccer World Cups. . . . “Once every 4 years there appears the most unhappy person in the world--the captain of the team that lost the final match and finished second.
“On July 12 a new Most Unhappy Player in the World will be ‘nominated’ in Paris. The inhumane and merciless world wants to witness his sufferings, not its own.”
ISRAEL
From the Israeli daily newspaper Maariv:
“At least half the world’s population has contracted World Cup fever, which is expected to last for slightly over a month. The centers of this universal disease, afflicting Israel as well, were naturally in concentrations of Brazilians in Israel. In Kibbutz Beror-Hayil [in the Negev desert of southern Israel], with its dozens of South American families, hundreds of fans support Brazil and a carnival atmosphere could be seen.
“Brazil did beat Scotland, 2-1, but during the period of the draw between the two teams, many of the kibbutznik fans were on the verge of a nervous breakdown: ‘If we lose the game against Scotland, the psychologists . . . will have to treat us en masse,’ said Paolo Zeligman, one of the organizers of the Brazilian carnival at the kibbutz.
CHINA
The South China Morning Post:
“Marriage counselors are bracing themselves for a busy month as World Cup mania threatens love matches. . . .
“Starting on Wednesday, nurse Chan Wai-leng declared their bedroom a World Cup-free zone. Her husband will sleep on the living room couch in front of two TVs until July 12.”
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Correspondents Sebastian Rotella in Buenos Aires, Christian Retzlaff in Berlin, Alexei Kuznetsov in Moscow, Batsheva Sobelman in Jerusalem and Maggie Farley in Hong Kong contributed to this report.
