World Cup

[Ebusitanus]

http://www.break.com/index/zidane_head_butt_game.html


It seems the riff between Italians and French is getting bigger:

(ANSA) - Rome, July 11 - Controversial ex-minister Roberto Calderoli was at the centre of a fresh storm on Tuesday after making derogatory comments about France's national soccer team .

In a statement issued Monday in celebration of Italy's World Cup defeat of France, deputy Senate speaker Calderoli said the French team was made up of "blacks, Muslims and Communists", sparking protests from the French Embassy .

Calderoli is a leading member of the regionalist Northern League, one of the four parties in the centre-right opposition headed by former premier Silvio Berlusconi .

He was forced to resign from the Berlusconi government earlier this year after he appeared on television wearing a T-shirt printed with cartoons of the Prophet Mohammad .

In his World Cup statement, Calderoli held up the Italian victory as a "triumph of our identity" - a phrase which was already unusual for an anti-Rome party which fiercely champions devolution .

"A team which fielded Lombards, Campanians, Venetians and Calabrians won against a team which sacrificed its identity for results by fielding blacks, Muslims and Communists," he said .

Calderoli said the new centre-left government headed by Premier Romano Prodi "would very probably have supported this France with no identity and the headbutts of Zidane" .