A traditional rival from the south of Europe.
photo: the pre-game ceremonies at the World Cup in Canada are always impressive. The pause after Scotland wasn't very long. So we manage to buy a Subway, have a short meeting, and then we're off to the next game. The Italian team, led by Diana Gaspari, has become our destiny at the Olympic Qualifier, though not exclusively. Our record with this team hasn't been very good of late, and somehow they're always tough to play. Through training we gained the advantage of the last stone and after mistakes on both sides we scored for one and were not happy about it. We went into the second half at 3 : 5 and at the break we said we had to throw away our respect and turn up the heat. We played a nice deuce, in the seventh for one and again in the eighth. When we forced the Italians into one in the ninth, it looked good. One up with the advantage going into the tenth actually gave us two lives to win. We lost our first life after narrowly missing a double and only knocking out one Italian stone out of two. The extra end was thrilling, but in the end our better weight (Betsy) made the difference, as we covered the best stone near the middle and the Italians didn't have much to throw. Anna didn't have to play the last stone and it was done. 11 : 7, after a four in the last end. The evening practice had exhausted us completely. In the morning, half the team has a postponed breakfast and I hope everyone will be fit. Hopefully Eva (physio) will make it happen.