WORLD VIEWS
FRANCE
From L’Equipe:
“No French team has ever won all three of its first-round matches in a World Cup, and the Blues of 1998 have done it. They will thus enter history, but this is less important than to not exit in their next two games.
“The start of the World Cup with 32 teams accentuated the gap between European nations and the rest of the world: also, the double qualification of France and Denmark from Group C surprises no one. But with its nine points, which was not certain at the start, the French team can look its public in the eye.”
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“There are two black marks in this beautiful World Cup. There is the nauseating hooligans. The worst. They menace life. And, a few degrees less serious, there is the referees.
“The state of affairs of the first round is saddening in the matter of the officiating. The cacophony concerning the tackles was such that after 15 days and 30 matches one still doesn’t know the official policy in this matter. And there’s worse. Since Monday night, two teams were sent home because of officiating errors. These were two African teams, Cameroon and Morocco, which can only increase the feeling of injustice, almost paranoia, that is being nurtured on the black continent.”
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From Le Monde:
“Poor Africa! The Indomitable Lions of Cameroon and the Lions of Atlas of Morocco had everything to advance to the eighth-finals of the World Cup: heart, a good game, commitment, joy. A spectacle. They should have advanced on merit. They had it all Tuesday except inspired referees. . . .
“Poor Africa, which could have presented for the first time in its history--Nigeria already qualified-- three representatives in the second round. From which comes a feeling of injustice. That of the ‘little’ football country against the ‘big.’ ”
GERMANY
From nationwide daily Frankfurter Allgemeine Zeitung:
“After the lost match against Norway, Brazil’s coach Mario Zagallo reminded to the match against Norway in 1997 that was also lost. Zagallo said: ‘The players were tired then after a long day, but they were even more dazed after watching sex movies at the hotel.’ But this time the defeat can’t be blamed on the TV program: They watched movies like ‘The Lion King’ or ‘The Terminator.’ ”
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Berliner Zeitung, on Norwegian player Tore Andre Flo:
“The 25-year-old Flo said after the match to journalists: “Today you may call me Flonaldo.’ ”
POLAND
From Gazeta Wyborca:
“When FIFA President Sepp Blatter says that he is satisfied with the work of the referees he must be expressing one of the most ridiculous opinions I have ever heard. It’s difficult to expect a politician or a sports official to be telling the truth, but we could demand that he at least refrain from talking nonsense.
“The referees’ work can be described one way: nightmare. If there is a foul, one referee will only shake his finger, another will tell the player to leave the field. It’s difficult for both the players and the fans not to feel that something is wrong here. Coaches are openly talking about fear of the referees.”
Correspondents Helene Elliott in Paris, Christian Retzlaff in Berlin and Ela Kasprzycka in Warsaw contributed to this report.
