Ribery Plans to Steal Trophy, Tease Teammate

Apparently, most readers here at The Offside and World Cup Blog seem to think it will be Italy raising the cup next month at Euro 2008. France and Bayern Munich winger Franck Ribery has other plans for that prized piece of hardware. Step 1 – win it. Step 2 – he’s taking it home.

Speaking from France’s training grounds at Clairefontaine, Ribery joked with the French press that he had a spot all picked out for the trophy. “I won’t do a lap of honour” he told them, “I will take it home with me,”

Grand theft trophy wasn’t his only plan for the coming weeks. He’s also planning to get a few jokes in at the expense of fellow French threat Nicolas Anelka, over his penalty miss at the Champions League final. It might be a bit soon to be bringing that up with Le Sulk. Regardless of the progress Anelka might have made in the attitude department, there’s nothing like a trophy-losing penalty miss to bring on a relapse. Luckily for France fans, Ribery is taking precautions, and waiting at least a little while to bring up the subject. noting “He could have an axe or a hammer in his bag.”