It was a beautiful goal. And I always like watching Buffon play in cold weather. He gets himself all adorned with dangly, droopy, tufting protective gear and when he stoops he ends up looking like a hag, as if Baba Yaga had traded her chicken-leg house for a goal.
Other than that, I found it hard to get too excited about a game in which the players were exchanging shirts at halftime and the wheezing Adriano was allowed to lumber in isolation until Dunga finally put him down in the 80th minute. Probably just because it was a friendly, there was something oddly detached about it, as if Italy were playing (and losing) against themselves and Brazil were playing against—I don’t know what exactly—something like the concept of falling profits for the Coca-Cola Company. Did anyone else take anything special from this? Tell me something about Júlio César’s reflexes or the reasons for Pirlo’s infirmity.
Read More: Brazil, Italy, The Occasional Match Summary
by Brian Phillips · February 10, 2009
Does wanting to have Felipe Melo’s serene, righteous, periodically ferocious children count as something special?
[I'm also very high on Adriano these days, but this probably isn't the time or the place for lugging that particular cross around.]
It was a beautiful goal indeed. But Pirlo looked like a dad playing football in the garden with his two-year-old, giving the ball up on purpose and chasing him with mock intent.
“Mr. Zambrotta, may I have this dance?”
Martha — I…I think that counts. Yeah.
Fredorrarci — That’s exactly what Pirlo looked like. Reminds me of this classic Roswitha post about Milan.
Good times.
That’s fantastic…
What’s happening to Pirlo reminds me of the very similar decline of Albertini in the mid 90′s both truly wonderful passers who inexplicable and disappointingly began to fade in what should be their primes.