Offside Odds and Ends: Cannavaro and Ballack and Facebook, Oh My

By: Laurie | July 16th, 2008

Finding stuff for a blog like this is a little like shopping at garage sales. Occasionally you strike gold, like a mint-condition “How the Grinch Stole Christmas” book, aka a photo of Ronaldinho getting in shape for the Olympics. Or sometimes you find total garbage that you would never take home, like the toilet seat with the crown on it, aka photos of Cristiano’s ex’s cellulite.

But you also find a lot of stuff that is pretty cool, except there’s no place for it in your house. Like that seventies-era arcade-style Asteroids video game, aka photos of Zidane celebrating the anniversary of World Cup 1998. Stuff that deserves more than a Daily Dose link, but isn’t quite important enough to stand on its own.

So we’re creating the occasional Odds and Ends post like this one, for the things that are kind of cool, yet not quite cool enough to deserve their own posts. Consider these posts to be a mantel above our imaginary fireplace, where we can proudly display things like Soccer Jesus.

And now, our Odds and Ends:

How to piss off your employers in twenty-first century style.

Facebook is a wonderful invention. Just ask Ashley-Paul Robinson, who had been with Crystal Palace for five years, since the tender age of fourteen. He had played several years with their youth squads, and this year he broke into the first team.

Crystal Palace is a Championship side, so who can blame the boy for being excited about getting a trial with the Premiership club Fulham? He was, in fact, so excited that he wanted to share it with his 194 closest friends. And the easiest way to do that was…you guessed it…by Facebook.

Robinson posted a message on Saturday which read: “Ashley-Paul is goin fulham on monday. If i pull dis off im on dis ting.” On Sunday he added: “Ashley-Paul is travling 2 Bath With Fulham Fingers Crossed.”

Two words for you, Ashley-Paul: Privacy. Settings.

Seems somebody at Crystal Palace also has Facebook access. They were not amused, and club and player have since parted ways.

No word on how that Fulham trial worked out.

Michael Ballack gets married at last

And yes, Michael Ballack has tied the knot at last with longtime girlfriend Simone Lambe.

Why get married after many years and three kids together? I suspect it went something like this:

“I was runner up in the EPL, runner up in Champions League, runner up in Euros. Dammit, I’m going to win something this year!”

Simone, you are the prize.

Fabio Cannavaro says “Not yet”

Fabio Cannavaro is not ruling out a return to international football. The thirty-four-year-old captain of the Italian team missed Euros with an ankle injury, and had been widely expected to hang up his Azzurri boots. But not so fast.

“If the coach wants me, I will be there to retain the World Cup in South Africa. I will always make myself available. Always,” he said.

“I will have to work more, as at 35 years of age (he turns 35 on September 13) everything becomes more complicated. But playing for Italy is a pleasure and an honour. It’s unique.”

(We all know I’m not a big Italy fan, but I wouldn’t mind seeing Il Capitano defy biology, logic and gravity and make a go of it in 2010.)

And France would prefer to think of 1998, not 2008

Speaking of (former) international captains, Look! It’s Zinedine Zidane! I wonder how he got into one of my posts?

France celebrated the ten-year anniversary of its World Cup 1998 win this weekend with a big charity match — the France 1998 team vs. the World XI, which included players like Edgar Davids. Final score was 3-3, with Zizou scoring the equalizing goal.

And yes, Lilian Thuram did play, despite his recent diagnosis of a heart defect. Only for fifteen minutes, but I’ll bet there were some big sighs of relief when he left the field still breathing.

I can see why he did it though. If your career were drawing to a close, wouldn’t you prefer to go out this way than with that France-Netherlands game as your last football-related act?

More photos at l’Equipe.

Melt-your-heart Photo of the Week Award to…

And finally, so I can’t be accused of being a complete Eurosnob, this gets my award for “Adorable Photo of the Week.” It’s Colombian player Victor Hugo Aristizábal being greeted by his son Emilio. They’re celebrating his retirement after eighteen years of professional play.

(And if you’re not Colombian and are wondering why that name sounds familiar, Daryl linked to his amazing scorpion kick yesterday. The one at the bottom of the post.)

Okay, that’s it. I’ve displayed all of my cute and kitschy recent finds.

I’ve never really been a garage sale kind of person, but I think I’m starting to see the appeal. Because now I get to go out and find more stuff.