Our Times Are Tendrils

Check back tomorrow for some thoughts on The Match That Capsized My Pharynx. In the meantime, we’re overdue for links. For the cutting edge in flag-draped honest talk, don’t forget to join the team on Twitter.

This week, I wrote a bunch of things for Yahoo!, on topics ranging from North Korea being weird, to France being rude, to classic European political cinema of the 1960s.

• Poland cheers for Germany; end times draw nigh.
• North Korea’s most passionate fan is from Portsmouth. Lost in all the stories of hired Chinese actors, the tale of Bryan Clarke.
• North Korea players train in public gym. With mind-boggling video of them playing keepie-uppie amongst the Stairmasters.
• France rained out of training pitch; Denmark refuses to help. A paranoid leader. An isolated regime. News from within the French training camp.
• Thousands protest against FIFA, World Cup excess. A story that would have gotten national exposure had it not coincided with the far more serious “Dutch women in minidresses” scandal.
• North Korea fans finally see their team play. Seventeen hours later, the Brazil game is aired in Pyongyang.
• Algeria prepare for England by watching The Battle of Algiers.
• What’s the call that ruled out Edu’s goal? No one’s saying. My entry in the post-Slovenia referee-bashing ledger.
• Media-shy Gallas gives reporter the finger. I wrote a play about it.
• Prince William and Prince Harry’s World Cup tour: a gallery.
• Sponsors desert France as Sarkozy and Zidane chastise players.
• Dog named Sepp Blatter soars above South Africa. But the real Sepp’s jowls are more impressive.
• David Villa punches Honduras defender, may be suspended.
• Lucky England allowed to play on awful pitch. So bad, it was just like being at Wembley!
• Is this the U.S. team’s best-ever start to a World Cup? The only competition is 1930.

I also wrote a new piece for Slate, this one on the strangeness of international managers. Domenech was cut during the editing process, a decision which will make a lot more sense once Maradona eats a Hummer.

• International managers are the strangest men in sports.

Also: I finally got my copy of the inaugural issue of The Portage, the new zine from Tom at Pitch Invasion, and you should get one, too. Great writing, and bristling with contributions from Run of Play friends and commenters. June 2010 is yours for $5 plus shipping.

Furthermore: Zach on weapons of the weak, Roswitha on the beauty of Brazil, Richard on the social politics of French sport, Shoals on rooting for American soccer, and James Hamilton on the psychology of the England team, are all brilliant reads. This cartoon Bayeux tapestry of the French campaign is the last word on everything. Don’t miss it.