Yet another post related to the World Cup (كاس العالم). In Lebanon, we use the slang “futbal.” In Arabic we say كرة القدم, which translates literally–and naturally–to “foot-ball.”

I recently wrote about my first World Cup, which took place in Italy in 1990. I was living in Beirut, Lebanon at the time. The following photo was taken not too far from where I lived and watched some of those games. It was taken by a friend near my Grandmother’s home in Beirut after the Italian squad (المنتخب اللإيطالي) made a shock first round exit from this World Cup. Fans of Brazil thought it would be a good idea to hold a mock “funeral” for the Azzurri (the Azzurri is the nickname for the Italian national team); so they made fake coffins and draped them with Italian flags to symbolize the downfall of the Italian team, who until then were the defending world champions.