Friday, May 30, 2008

Latvia, Lithuania, Lilliput, whatever

And you thought Americans were bad with geography...

Apparently, the Czechs aren't so handy with maps. On Wednesday, the Czech Republic displayed Latvia's flag and played the Latvian national anthem before their friendly against...

Lithuania.

To be fair, though, aren't all L countries the same in terms of soccer? Latvia, Lithuania, Libya, Laos, Liechtenstein, Luxembourg, Lebanon, Liberia, Lilliput... oh wait... Um, okay, that argument doesn't hold much water. Sorry, Czechs.

Perhaps Lithuania can play the Slovakian national anthem the next time the Czechs visit Lithuania.
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4 comments:

  1. artnsueMay 30, 2008 at 3:20 PM

    Wow, if that is true, that is inexcusable. The team should have walked

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  2. L.B.May 30, 2008 at 4:14 PM

    Apparently several people lost their jobs over that. The Czech government had to apologize to the Lithuanian government and all that. Truly embarrassing and a complete lack of respect from the Czechs.

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  3. AnonymousMay 30, 2008 at 5:24 PM

    This wouldn't be the first such incident. See http://www.iht.com/articles/2004/04/17/flag_ed3_.php
    for an account of how Slovenia is always confused with Slovakia. The offenders include Berlusconi, Bush, et al.

    Just fyi - it's "Slovak", not "Slovakian"; while we're at it, it is "Europe-based players", not the cringeworthy phrase "European-based players" that you journalists seem fond of :-)

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  4. L.B.May 30, 2008 at 5:35 PM

    We conspire to make people cringe ;)

    ReplyDelete