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The 15th century church of Sant'Elena and its modern bell tower (finished 1958) serve as a backdrop to the national anthems
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For the first time ever the Italian National team played in Venice tonight: a friendly game between the Under-21 side against that of France on the 70th anniversary of the founding of the Republic of Italy.
Italy had many more opportunities in the first half than the visitors, but France scored in the last seconds of extra time before the break, controlled most of the second half, then withstood a late barrage by the Italians in the four minutes of extra time that concluded the game, to win 1-0.
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Late in the game France's goalie just manages to stop this shot on goal--partly with his face--to preserve the win
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Have you gone to many games at the stadium?
ReplyDeleteI used to go to one or two games a season during our first 3 years here, Yvonne, but this is the first one I've gone to in a couple of years. As is the case with most professional sports (at least in America) I began to be put off by the maneuvering of the team's owner for construction and concessions (in the form of a mainland stadium, for example) which had, as far as I could see, little benefit for actual Venetians. That was a Russian. Now the Venice team are owned by an American with similar plans to "build the brand" and a mainland stadium and "go big" and I find the whole thing tiresome and too familiar. But as this was a national team game I went.
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