A Glimpse at Italy & World Cup Sunday Notes & Videos

Well, it was not a good day for the defending World Cup champions, Italy, as their Sunday match with New Zealand ended in a 1-1 draw. New Zealand got an early goal when Fabio Cannavaro failed to properly play a free kick from Simon Elliot thereby giving Shane Smelt a great scoring opportunity, which Smelt didn't waste. Italy's only goal was off a penalty kick after Daniele De Rossi's shirt was tugged in the penalty box. Granted the penalty kick was without controversy since many viewers believe De Rossi dove so that Tommy Smith would pick up a yellow card.

On Thursday Italy faces Slovakia, which has proven to be the weaker side in Group F to date. Slovakia picked up a point thanks to its draw with New Zealand on Monday, but lost to Paraguay. Despite only having 2 points, like the US, Italy can advance with a win in their final group stage match. New Zealand, also with 2 points, has a shot at advancing out of the group stage for the first time ever if it beats Paraguay on Thursday.

Coming into this World Cup finals, I did not expect Italy to successfully defend The Cup, in fact I didn't expect them to get into the quarter or semi-finals, but I did expect them to advance past the group stage, which they will do with a win over Slovakia.

France, the team that Italy beat in the 2006 final of the World Cup finals, continues to be a mess. On Saturday, word came out that the French National Team was taking a page from the US Women's National Team by punishing Nicolas Anelka for disagreeing with the team's coach. On Saturday, news came out that Anelka was being sent home after insulting French coach Raymond Domenech and refusing to apologize. It's not completely clear what exactly Anelka said to Domenech, the Telegraph claims it was "go screw yourself, dirty son of a whore", while The Bleacher Report claims it was "F*ck off, dirty son of a b*tch." Either way, expelling Anelka did not fix the troubles at the French camp.

Today, Jean-Louis Valentin, the director of the French National Team, revealed that the team refused to train after an argument between the fitness coach, Robert Duverne, and team captain, Patrice Evra. In a statement to the press, the French players claimed they refused to train as a protest to the fact that Anelka was sent home. Meanwhile, Valentin also announced that he was quitting his job with the team and heading back to France.

Anelka and Valentin will most likely be joined in France by the rest of the team. France, which is in Group A, plays its last group stage match on Tuesday against host country South Africa. Both teams each only have one point and little shot at advancing to the group stage. If Mexico and Uruguay finish their match with a draw on Tuesday, then they automatically advance no matter the outcome of France-South Africa. Having wins in both matches doesn't necessarily mean the winner of the France-South Africa match will advance, it will boil down to goal differential, which Mexico and Uruguay control at the moment.

Now for some recent World Cup related video:

French Reporter Eric Bielderman tells ESPN's Bob Ley what Anelka said:



John Terry's Press Conference:



Patrice Evra Press Conference:



AP Report including Bob Bradley Presser:



Evra beats Steve Nash in hoops:



Steve Nash discusses US-Slovenia:



Finally, our own Erin Dutka made it onto the broadcast of US-Slovenia about 3 times Friday, here's one of those times:


Now for some fun - Rob "The Stoner" Stone takes on the hottest chile pepper:

And So It Is: The Weekend that was in Football

Poor Chivas USA just can't get a break when it comes to playing the Houston Dynamo. Last month, Chivas USA came to Houston looking to kick the Dynamo, who had just lost 0-2 at home to the L.A. Galaxy, while they were down. Unfortunately for Chivas, the Dynamo bounced back with a solid 3-0 victory. Saturday night, the Houston Dynamo paid their only visit to Chivas USA in LA, coming off a rough 1-0 loss at home to FC Dallas on Wednesday. Once again, Chivas wasn't able to overcome the Dynamo who picked up their first road victory of the 2010 MLS season.

Brad Davis set the tone for the match when he scored a beauty of a goal in the 4th minute, putting the ball over the head of Chivas keeper, Zach Thornton, who had come too far off the line to even think of making a save. In the 8th minute, Adrian Serioux picked up the second, and last, goal of the night when he headed in a corner kick from Brad Davis.

Credit to Chivas for not letting up during the entire match, but once again they were unable to break through the Dynamo's backline, which looked light-years better than it did this past Wednesday. In the end, Chivas only managed 2 shots on goal.

Here's some video highlights from the Chivas USA - Houston Dynamo match:



Up next for Houston is a visit to Rio Tinto Stadium in Sandy (Big Love), Utah on Thursday night. The match will be broadcast live on ESPN2 at 7:00 pm central time.

The interesting story line of the weekend in MLS was the number of goals scored. Real Salt Lake, the Dynamo's next opponent, picked up a 3-0 home victory over Philadelphia Union. Los Angeles Galaxy went up to Seattle and pummeled the Sounders, 4-0. Landon Donovan finally picked up his first goal of the 2010 season, and for once, none of the LA goals came from Eddson Buddle. New England's offense showed up at Columbus, but so did the Crew's offense, end result was a 2-1 victory for the home side. Toronto managed a solid 4-1 victory over Chicago, while San Jose pulled off a 4-0 victory over RedBull New York. Finally, FC Dallas took advantage of the shambles that is DC United with a 1-0 victory in Frisco, Texas.

Galaxy's strong victory over Seattle puts them atop the table in the west and in the lead for the Supporter's Shield with 22 points. Seattle, a team picked by many to go far in the playoffs, sits at the bottom of the table in the west with 9 points. Over in the East, despite losing to San Jose, New York sits atop that table with 15 points and both Philadelphia Union and DC United share the bottom with only 3 points apiece on the season.

Meanwhile in Europe, the seasons are winding down and champions are being named. The big news today was Chelsea clinching the title in the English Premier League. The even better news for US Soccer fans is that Stuart Holden came off the bench in the 66th minute for Bolton in its 2-1 victory over Birmingham City.

Bundesliga also wrapped up its season this past weekend. In the end, Bayern Munich, who face Inter in the European Champions League final on May 22nd, picked up the German title. On the downside, Hertha Berlin were relegated, meaning Berlin won't be represented in Bundesliga next season.

There's still one match day left in France, but Marseille have already locked up the title in Ligue 1. This is Marseille's first title since the 1992-1993 season. Meanwhile, Charlie Davies did not suit up for Sochaux in its 0-2 loss to Bordeaux. We'll see if he suits up on Wednesday when Sochaux hosts Auxerre on Saturday in their last match of the season.

The title race is still not over in Spain, where Barcelona have a 1 point lead on Real Madrid. The 2010 La Liga season ends next Sunday, with Barcelona hosting Valladolid and Real Madrid visiting Malaga. Both of these opponents are hovering in the drop zone as they, and two other sides have 36 points. The only team assured of relegation is Xerez, which has 33 points.

Finally, it's still status quo in Italy as Serie A heads into its final match day next Sunday. Inter still holds a 2 point lead over Roma, but it was a rough day for both teams. Inter managed a 4-3 victory over a Chievo Verona squad that refused to give up and looked close to getting an equalizer to end the match 4-4. Roma took on a scrappy Cagliari that got the first goal in the 73rd minute. The Cagliari goal fired up the Roma offense and Francesco Totti picked up the equalizer in the 79th minute, after missing a sitter, and then converting a penalty kick in the 83rd minute. Next Sunday, Inter has to face a Siena squad headed to Serie B next season, but it's also a Siena squad with a close relationship with Inter's foe Juventus. Inter cannot take their match at Siena lightly. Meanwhile, Roma hosts Chievo Verona, and based on how the Flying Donkeys played against Inter today, Roma could have their hands full on Sunday.