FOOTBALL OFFERS NATO RESPITE FROM UGLY DIVISIONS

Brussels: Football came to the rescue of tense NATO leaders at a summit on Wednesday, providing them with a welcome diversion from the tensions roiling the transatlantic military alliance. The group is facing one its most difficult meetings in years due to US President Donald Trump’s criticism of the organisation and his targeting of German leader Angela Merkel. But with the Cup semi-finals in Nato’s traditional adversary Russia made up exclusively of members of the western military alliance, the heads of state and government in Brussels were able to turn to football to lighten the atmosphere.

— AFP

France began dreaming of World Cup glory after a two-decade wait after Les Bleus on Tuesday defeated Belgium to reach the final, unleashing a wave of soccer euphoria across the country.

Delirious supporters draped in the Tricolor flag spilled on to Parisian boulevards as the blare of car horns reverberated through the French capital. In a fan zone outside City Hall on the banks of the River Seine, jubilant supporters embraced and lit smoke flares.

“I’m totally blown away, this is crazy,” said 41year-old Gilles Rove in Paris’ Belleville neighbourhood. “Nobody believed this could happen at the beginning of the World Cup, but this team has really shown something in recent weeks.

“This team gives me goosebumps, even more so than the team of 1998,” he added, in reference to the last time France won the World Cup, on home soil against Brazil 20 years ago.

“We’re going to the final, we’re going to the final,” scores chanted in one central Paris bar before breaking out into an impromptu rendition of the La Marseillaise national anthem.

The partying was marred by clashes between riot police and mobs on the iconic Champs Elysees avenue. Live TV images showed bare-chested men hurling plastic crowd-control barriers and other missiles at the armed officers, who charged back.

Hundreds of thousands of fans had poured on to the Champs Elysees and around the Arc de Triomphe as bars, cafes and restaurants enjoyed a bumper evening of revelry after the World Cup equivalent of a local derby between the neighbouring rivals. — Reuters