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Euro 2004 Diary : Day 11

U Rowe

Wednesday, June 23rd, 2004

1 Leave a comment on verse 1 0 Tuesday 22nd June 2004

2 Leave a comment on verse 2 0 You have to feel for Antonio Cassano

3 Leave a comment on verse 3 0 For 90 minutes
the nimble Machiavelli
foraged forlornly

4 Leave a comment on verse 4 0 Then, a through ball
from the boot
of Inevitability

5 Leave a comment on verse 5 0 Set free
Conspiracy theory
to finish with a flourish

6 Leave a comment on verse 6 0 Young Cassano
with joyous grin;
a spin, in celebration

7 Leave a comment on verse 7 0 A touchline hug
a quick conflab;
the cavorting ceases

8 Leave a comment on verse 8 0 Fate, has decreed
that any margin
is a hollow victory

9 Leave a comment on verse 9 0 And young Cassano
falls to pieces

© Umberto Rowe, June 2004

Notes

let down by his more senior colleagues
superstars Vieiri, Del Piero and Totti had very disappointing tournaments

Italy fail to qualify, even though they didn’t lose a game
Denmark, Sweden and Italy all finish on 5 points –
yet, becasue of the convoluted system EUFA chose, the 2-2 draw between Denamrk and Sweden meant that Italy beating Bulgaria by any number of goals wouldn’t matter – as it happens, Italy only scored in the 90th minute, and Sweden only pulled back their second equaliser in the last minute, in a match that was in no way a fit-up.

Niccolo Machiavelli (1469 – 1527)
Florentine Statesman and Political theorist.
Anything ‘Machiavellian’ is meant as :
‘immoral and deceitful behaviour’

no way can that be leveraged at Denmark and Sweden.

Sweden top the group, Denmark 2nd, Italy 3rd, Bulgaria 4th

Source: http://footballpoets.org/poems/euro-2004-diary-day-11/