First half is pretty good. I’m impressed with the italians, for a defensive team, they sure have good offense. A
ny thoughts on the call for the penalty scored by Zidane? I think Malouda served the italians with a taste of their own medicine because I’m not sure he was touched that hard (if at all !-).
The game started rough for the French side with Henry and Vieira being hit quite hard.
Edit: I guess Malouda’s fake was made up later (53’) when he was really fouled but didn’t get the call.
The rule is pretty clear, during a tackle, contact on the player before the ball is a foul. The rule doesn’t state how hard you have to be touched during a tackle. It just says contact.
The ref called it right in the first half, but called it wrong in the second half.
You and your rules!! I didn’t really say anything about right or wrong! I talked about the fake. Whatever you think the rule is doesn’t change the fact that a fake is a fake!
My second post was just to make sure the hook was well set.
About the game, it’s too bad that Zidane lost his cool. Materazzi probably said something about his mom. What a bad end to a stellar career.
Also, it is a bit of a let down when a team like Italy, who started well but then became more and more defensive, stalls the play and doesn’t produce offense in hopes to win a penalty kick showdown. I mean, after the red card, they should have poured down into the French end and try to score but I don’t recall them coming close while the French kept attacking with one man down.
Italy wasn’t playing “The Beautiful Game”. France was.
Italy didn’t deserve to win today but after their great performance against Germany, I think they are worthy World Champions.
[quote]
About the game, it’s too bad that Zidane lost his cool. Materazzi probably said something about his mom. What a bad end to a stellar career.[/quote]
I wonder what he said? I can understand (but don’t agree with) Figo’s headbutt – it was about the Dutch not giving the ball back on a bunch of occasions. But what set off Zidane?
[quote]
Italy wasn’t playing “The Beautiful Game”. France was. [/quote]
I was also cheering for France, but diving and headbutting isn’t the Beautiful game.
I’m not sure about Italian Flag etiquette. I don’t know if it’s a tradition to blow your nose on the flag when celebrating a World Cup victory. Perhaps it is, I dunno.
One must digest the last month for at least another month before thinking of the next big tournament. Italy must savor this moment without having to think about whatever comes next for a little while.
One question I would ask the German coaching staff is where was Scweinsteiger when they played Italy? Ballach played well but it seems he was injured. Scweinsteiger who beat Portugal by himself only came in late in the game against Italy. I wonder why he didn’t start.
Oh, and I don’t consider diving and headbutting as part of the game. These are just stupid things that players being seen by a billion people shouldn’t be doing. Moving the ball, passing and shooting in order to get a goal is what I mean by playing the beautiful game. I think France did it fairly well towards the end of the game while it was evident that Italy were not trying to score.
(btw, nice fishing)
Heh, France’s first qualifying match for Euro 2008 will be against Italy!
They’re both in the same qualifying group. They’ll be playing on September 6th, I think.
Speaking of Euro 2008, the current European champions, Greece, are currently banned from FIFA competitions (including Chapions League and Euro 2008, etc) due to Greek government interference in the Hellenic Football Federation.
The current thinking on the Zidane headbutt is that the Italian player made a racial slur of some kind (Zindane’s parents are Algerian immigrants). Zidane himself is a Muslim and speaks Arabic.
It’s unfortunate to see him lose his cool like that, but I’d love to know what actually set him off.
Well, racism is a problem big enough in european football that there are a few organisations devoted to stop it. (One is called “kickitout” and another “football unites, racism divides”)
I think we can speculate that something very bad was said to Zidane. It doesn’t excuse his behaviour but it sure sheds a light on the racism problem. Here is a good article that talks about the effect of this headbutting on how the world sees the game: http://sport.independent.co.uk/football/comment/article1169761.ece
And another thing… why is the World Cup trophy so small? I’ts miniscule compared to the trophies I’m used to seeing… The Stanley Cup, the World Series, Super Bowl etc etc.
Yep I’m pretty sure that Materazzi said something to set the guy off and it’s not exactly Little Red Riding Hood that Zidane took out. This video from the folks at You Tube kind of suggests that Materazzi isn’t a proponent of a gentlemanly game himself.
Zidane winning the Golden Ball as “MVP” for the World Cup is odd. Not strictly because of the Materazzi take-down, but was his play so instrumental that he was the sole reason France made it as far as they did? He was invisible in the group stage. I thought Canavarro did way more, and was by far the best defender in the Tournament, including the group stage. Italy did not allow a goal during the regular run of play, scored by the other team. The goal that they let in versus the US was an own goal. Anything else was via the PK.
It almost makes me think that the voting was done before the final match.
At least Canavarro won the Silver Ball. Maybe he can invite Hernan Crespo (ARG) over so he can kick it with his Silver Shoe.
