{"id":344,"date":"2010-04-17T00:10:45","date_gmt":"2010-04-17T00:10:45","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/blogs.transparent.com\/french\/?p=344"},"modified":"2012-06-17T15:33:24","modified_gmt":"2012-06-17T13:33:24","slug":"344","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/blogs.transparent.com\/french\/344\/","title":{"rendered":"The (Broken) American Dream of a French Football Team"},"content":{"rendered":"

Today is vendredi<\/strong>.<\/em> A long week has mercifully come to an\u00a0end, Dieu merci <\/em><\/strong>(Thank God.)
\nWhat do you les gars <\/em><\/strong>(guys)\u00a0like to do in your fin de semaine <\/em><\/strong>(on the weekend) ?<\/p>\n

Personnellement<\/em><\/strong> (personally), one of my favorite\u00a0passe-temps <\/em><\/strong>(hobbies)\u00a0when I have du temps libre <\/em><\/strong>(free time)\u00a0is to play le football<\/strong>.<\/em>
\nLet us then… “tackle” a\u00a0bit\u00a0the topic of\u00a0le foot<\/strong>, <\/em>and a particular\u00a0souvenir <\/em><\/strong>(a memory) of mine <\/em>that\u00a0involves France, the US, and “soccer<\/strong><\/em>.”<\/p>\n

When French people start talking, passionately of course,\u00a0about the subject, they say: “Place au foot !<\/strong>” <\/em>(Something like “it’s soccer time!”)<\/p>\n

Lots of my American friends often get confused when they hear that I am about to go to play “football.” That’s why I always rush to clarify that we’re in fact going\u00a0to play “S-O-C-C-E-R<\/strong>“…<\/p>\n

Virtually all sports observers agree that “soccer” has in many different\u00a0ways achieved a\u00a0remarkable status progress in the US, thoroughly\u00a0inimaginable <\/em>(unimaginable)\u00a0only\u00a0two decades ago.<\/p>\n

It has maybe all started in that fateful year of\u00a01994<\/strong>, when la Coupe du Monde<\/strong> <\/em>(the World Cup) was hosted, pour la premi\u00e8re fois dans son histoire <\/em><\/strong>(for the first time\u00a0in\u00a0its history)\u00a0by the United States<\/strong>.<\/p>\n

That no doubt ushered a new era: The Summer of ’94<\/strong> was a historical moment savored by all American\u00a0supporteurs<\/strong> <\/em>(fans), who were eager to see\u00a0“le balon rond<\/strong><\/em>” competition come\u00a0invade their once quasi-empty stadiums (le balon rond <\/em>means\u00a0“the round ball”, maybe as opposed to\u00a0other shapes,\u00a0like the\u00a0ball played in the so-called\u00a0“football am\u00e9ricain<\/strong><\/em>.”)<\/p>\n

For les supporteurs fran\u00e7ais<\/em><\/strong>,\u00a0however, it was au contraire <\/em><\/strong>(to the contrary) a very time.<\/p>\n

The French team, known as “les Bleus<\/strong>“<\/em> (eponsymously named so after the color blue, even though\u00a0the players\u00a0could\u00a0choose as well\u00a0to\u00a0wear other colors, especially white), failed to advance through les matchs de qualification<\/em><\/strong> (the qualifier games.) At the very last minute of the epic face-\u00e0-face<\/em><\/strong> opposing les Bleus <\/em>to la Bulgarie<\/em><\/strong>, just when the French players were ready to enter\u00a0les arr\u00eats de jeu <\/strong><\/em>(extra time), the Bulgarian player\u00a0Kostadinov\u00a0<\/strong>unleashed un\u00a0boulet de canon <\/em><\/strong>(a cannon ball) that went straight\u00a0into the goal… Only ten seconds before le sifflet final<\/em> <\/strong>(the final whistle.)<\/p>\n

The French\u00a0gardien de but<\/strong> <\/em>(goalkeeper), Bernard Lama<\/strong>, could absolutely not do anything. Kostadinov had indeed delivered the <\/em>cruel coup de gr\u00e2ce <\/em><\/strong>(fatal shot)… <\/em>The\u00a0teammates of the French star Jean-Pierre Papin<\/strong>,\u00a0nicknamed “JPP<\/strong><\/em>” by the fans,\u00a0were prevented from fulfilling their r<\/em>\u00eave am\u00e9ricain<\/em><\/strong> (American Dream) chez l’Oncle Sam <\/em><\/strong>(at Uncle Sam’s.)<\/p>\n


\n<\/em>Some have argued that\u00a0the arbitre<\/strong><\/em> (the referee) should have whistled une\u00a0main<\/strong> <\/em>(a handball) commited by Kostadinov, right when he intercepted the ball.<\/p>\n

\u00c0 vous de juger<\/strong><\/em> (you be the judge) on this video:<\/p>\n

Notice\u00a0the French commentator, Thierry Roland, yelling: “Quelle catastrophe !<\/strong><\/em>“, “\u00c0 dix secondes de la fin !<\/em>“<\/strong> (Ten seconds before the end of the game!)<\/p>\n