Pires: Philadelphia isn't 'beautiful'
I think we all know how this is going to go over.
Pires: Philadelphia isn't 'beautiful'
Jonathan Tannenwald
Okay, I think we all know how this is going to go over.
Robert Pirès is not coming to Philadelphia. It's not about money, or visa problems, or something else... it's because he doesn't like the city. Rather strongly, it seems.
Pirès spoke with the website of the Frech sports newspaper L'Équipe, which gave its story the headline "Pirès refuse Philadelphie." I don't think you need a dictionary to translate that.
"Pires refused the American club's offer," the reporter writes.
"I didn't like it [Philadelphia] very much," Pires said. "I don't want to make this difficult, but to leave and take my family far, I would prefer that it would be to a beautiful city."
The exact words in French were "je préfère que ce soit dans une belle ville." This is not one of those situations where you lose something in a direct translation, believe me.
To make matters worse, Pirès then saluted Thierry Henry's impending move to New York in rather particular language.
"I wish that he does go there," Pirès said. "That is a beautiful city."
I'll let you have at this in a moment. But before you do, I would just like to point out that Reims, the city where Pirès was born, is the 13th-largest city in France; and Vila-Real, where Pirès' club is located, isn't even in the top 50 of largest Spanish cities.
If I really wanted to, I could tell you plenty about how great the Languedoc and Provence are (and Paris, of course) compared to Champagne-Ardenne. I could also tell you why I think the Union are better off without Pirès, whose best days are well behind him after all the injuries he's suffered.
For now, though, the best thing might just be to have a glass of cider. That's the drink of choice in Haute-Normandy, where Sebastien Le Toux's home town of Mont-Saint-Aignan is located.
Cheers.
The Tonner's glad he doesn't want to come here. Philadelphia needs a bad-tipping, holier-than-though, bellbottom-wearing, body odor-having Frenchie like it needs a whole in the head. Besides, this guy is a goalie on a soccer team. That's one step behind placekicker in football in the athletic skill department. Glorified sanitation engineer.- I remember being in some amazing places in France, but being HORRIFIED of the nasty, rascist graffiti all over the highways, not to mention piles of trash in the worst places. Like right next to a small stream by a wine vineyard. So, it cuts both ways Frenchie.— MichaelZoe
He was refering to Chester........— Earl J- Better for us. I've thought for a while that getting Pires would just take away from team chemistry; it is still early enough for this team to gel and play better from top to bottom. The difference between Piren and Le Toux...well...I'll let you make the snazzy analogy. But most Union fans would, I think, take Le Toux.— Icemannj
- I guess he took the wrong tour. I LOVE THIS TOWN!— KillerPotato
- good thing they put it in chester, who wouldn't want to play there? : )— dreinterests
- Judging by his comments, it sounds like Philadelphia fans would have embraced this guy about as much as Hepatitis C anyway.— Darren9
- He's a washed up, broken down, has-been who likes New York? I'm sure the Mets can have a contract drawn up by the end of the day...— ChrisInConshy
- While Lurie and Banner are holding their breath hoping for the Flyers to lose the Cup can imagine what they will be like if The Union or worse yet the Sixers win before them? It all goes down before Dawk gets invited to Canton.— Earl J
Unfortunately, the Frenchman's assessment is accurate.- That's funny... we didn't want him either. He career peaked right around the time Sisqo's did.— BigBrain61
- 1) hes washed up; 2) our midfield is fine the way it is with young, exciting players (i.e. torres, jacobson, nakazwa, salinas); 3) hes french— mufc4ever9
- I've been watching international soccer all of my life. Who is Robert Pires??— Sportsphan
Time to start selling Liberty Fries instead of French Fries at the next Union home game.- Pires probably supports Mumia, too.— everydayguy
Reach Jonathan at jtannenwald@phillynews.com or 215-854-2330.
