GRANDE FINALE Italie Italie vs France France 14h00-17h00

[My PC is loud]

Zidane wins World Cup's best player award

Good for him! He definately was definately awesome to watch throughout the tournament. Beckham and Rooney (from my home team) didnt really impress me that much as well as the egotistical Brazilians. I've read that Zidane told his agent that Materazzi called him a "terrorist" as Zidane walked away and that was what sent him over the top. If thats true he should've butted him in the head instead

[AMD_FX51]

Zidane was totally deserving of the player of the year award, he's no actor or someone that does what he mistakenly did last night.


.....But then again this story here kind of gives it some color and understanding. Even though this is a NFL contributor, this story makes sense!

SI.com Article

[Enmore]

Good for him! He definately was definately awesome to watch throughout the tournament. Beckham and Rooney (from my home team) didnt really impress me that much as well as the egotistical Brazilians. I've read that Zidane told his agent that Materazzi called him a "terrorist" as Zidane walked away and that was what sent him over the top. If thats true he should've butted him in the head instead

Yes, I heard that Materazzi actually called Zidane's mother a terrorist. Materazzi's a dirty bastardo at the best of times though:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=WJPKM...h=Materazzi%20

Zidane should have just decked him in the tunnel afterwards. Most rugby games I've seen contain at least one proper punch up. Mind you, they aren't a bunch off pussies like footballers are.

[_dangtx_]

hmmm

http://ca.news.yahoo.com/s/10072006/...-set-sent.html


Zidane's red card was anything but unusual. He was sent off 14 times in his career at the club and international level.

At the 1998 World Cup, he stomped on a Saudi Arabian opponent. Sitting out a two-match ban, he came back to score two goals against Brazil in the final.

Five years ago with Juventus, he head-butted an opponent in a Champions League match against Hamburger SV after being tackled from behind.



and the best of it :

"You can take the man out of the rough neighbourhood, but you can't take the rough neighbourhood out of the man," striker Thierry Henry said Sunday.

[Pehu]

One thing that's off the mark in this thread is claiming that France doesn't belong amongst the 'football greats'. It most certainly does and hardly any team has been as dominating as they were in the -98 WC and the -00 EC. And it's not like they had been lacking great players before or haven't come close to winning the WC before. Asking 'Who the heck is France?' or claiming that they don't belong amongst the top football countries just shows you don't know your footie.

[StanRoman]

One thing that's off the mark in this thread is claiming that France doesn't belong amongst the 'football greats'. It most certainly does and hardly any team has been as dominating as they were in the -98 WC and the -00 EC. And it's not like they had been lacking great players before or haven't come close to winning the WC before. Asking 'Who the heck is France?' or claiming that they don't belong amongst the top football countries just shows you don't know your footie.

They don't belong man..let it go. Who cares wtf they did in '98 and only one cup? No one ever gave a second place team or a one championship winning team any respect and no one ever will.

I've been watching futbol possibly before you were born and when I was in Peru I played a little bit and watched it alot since that's all they have there. Like I said man..if the sports book don't give them any respect then they don't deserve it and they don't..again..answer the question..wtf is France? How many cups have they got and what did they do this last tournament? Exactly.."first loser". Get over it man. If England gets no respect France gets even less. Why is this even a discussion?

[StanRoman]

hmmm

http://ca.news.yahoo.com/s/10072006/...-set-sent.html


Zidane's red card was anything but unusual. He was sent off 14 times in his career at the club and international level.

At the 1998 World Cup, he stomped on a Saudi Arabian opponent. Sitting out a two-match ban, he came back to score two goals against Brazil in the final.

Five years ago with Juventus, he head-butted an opponent in a Champions League match against Hamburger SV after being tackled from behind.



and the best of it :

"You can take the man out of the rough neighbourhood, but you can't take the rough neighbourhood out of the man," striker Thierry Henry said Sunday.

Yes but he's always been f'ed with first as far as I've known and that stepping on the Arabian guy was cool as hell.. even though France SUCKS!

[_dangtx_]

now now stan,just because france beat some ppl's fav team(s) doesnt mean it..well,on second tought...they suck,no point in defending them

i never expected happy boy henry to be manlier than ole zizou...
+ hes lucky for not playing in italy,them ultras would like linch him on the street

[Pehu]

They don't belong man..let it go. Who cares wtf they did in '98 and only one cup? No one ever gave a second place team or a one championship winning team any respect and no one ever will.

I've been watching futbol possibly before you were born and when I was in Peru I played a little bit and watched it alot since that's all they have there. Like I said man..if the sports book don't give them any respect then they don't deserve it and they don't..again..answer the question..wtf is France? How many cups have they got and what did they do this last tournament? Exactly.."first loser". Get over it man. If England gets no respect France gets even less. Why is this even a discussion?

'...and only one cup.' That's always one cup that you can't take away and is one more than e.g. Peru has. England does 'get respect' anyway, but to be honest, France has truly been more of a force to be reckoned with than England in the past few decades (which in my book is a shame, since England's pretty much my favourite).
French bashing is just something that has been made a favourite past time of the ignorant by the current regime in the US, shame that it carries over to sports. I pretty much dislike the Bush administration, but that doesn't mean I wasn't routing for team USA in the football world cup, the team played their hearts out and certainly deserved a win against e.g. Italy (which might have very well also got Italy out of the playoffs). Italy also got a lucky break against Australia. However, Italy deserves respect though since it was always able to pick up their game a notch and it is the champ. That said, I repeat: if you don't consider France among the 'football greats', you simply don't know your football.

[Wolf2000me]

What "IF" Brazil hadn't missed one of the 50 shots they took at France's net? alot of "IFs" there bro.

No m8, just one if. Trezeguet missed by hitting the post. The ball went straight down like Zidanes penalty in the beginning of the match. Only this time the ball didn't go over the line. Talk about a close case.
The match was decided with a penalty shootout. From that point on both teams have about an equal chance of winning the cup. So here's my point: There was an equal possibility that the French had won. If they had, and I repeat my question from the last reply which you so conviniently dodged, would they have been up there in your list of great nations?

Miss one penalty is a totally different story than your example with "Brazil and 50 shots".

They don't belong man..let it go. Who cares wtf they did in '98 and only one cup? No one ever gave a second place team or a one championship winning team any respect and no one ever will.

I've been watching futbol possibly before you were born and when I was in Peru I played a little bit and watched it alot since that's all they have there. Like I said man..if the sports book don't give them any respect then they don't deserve it and they don't..again..answer the question..wtf is France? How many cups have they got and what did they do this last tournament? Exactly.."first loser". Get over it man. If England gets no respect France gets even less. Why is this even a discussion?

lol man

I remember every team who played in the semi final of any world cup I watched. This is usually the case for every football follower over here.
England gets my respect for beating our arse back in 1990, a goal by Platt. I remember that vividly and many Belgians with me. That's how one lives on with the world cup and I'll be damned if I let someone tell me different, and certainly not an American
All respect to the Germans too with their third place this world cup.
And who cares what the bookies say? During the beginning of the penalty shootout I can assure you, those blokes were shitting their pants. There was every bit of a chance that any of both teams won at that point. If France had won they would have had less of profit?
Do you know how well Greece was placed with the bookies during the EC? They may have been the ones with the worst bookie standings. But they won it. They won by defending very well and with a good portion of luck too.

Yeah France got out in the first round last tournament, they played poorly. If you play poorly you don't go through it's that simple.

Zidane should have just decked him in the tunnel afterwards. Most rugby games I've seen contain at least one proper punch up. Mind you, they aren't a bunch off pussies like footballers are.

I couldn't agree more. A rugby player who gets slammed on the ground usually spends only several seconds on the ground.

[_dangtx_]

o no.the game got screwed when the ref gave a 'penalty' to the french couple minutes into the first period.
shouldve been 1-0 for italy all the way

[StanRoman]

'...and only one cup.' That's always one cup that you can't take away and is one more than e.g. Peru has. England does 'get respect' anyway, but to be honest, France has truly been more of a force to be reckoned with than England in the past few decades (which in my book is a shame, since England's pretty much my favourite).
French bashing is just something that has been made a favourite past time of the ignorant by the current regime in the US, shame that it carries over to sports. I pretty much dislike the Bush administration, but that doesn't mean I wasn't routing for team USA in the football world cup, the team played their hearts out and certainly deserved a win against e.g. Italy (which might have very well also got Italy out of the playoffs). Italy also got a lucky break against Australia. However, Italy deserves respect though since it was always able to pick up their game a notch and it is the champ. That said, I repeat: if you don't consider France among the 'football greats', you simply don't know your football.

Alright.

[StanRoman]

o no.the game got screwed when the ref gave a 'penalty' to the french couple minutes into the first period.
shouldve been 1-0 for italy all the way

Exactly.. that was bs but it's irrelevant since France is first loser and Italy the champs. I'm done arguing how France sucks since it's obvious aside of the 2 or 3 people here that caught eye and ear infections the last few decades they watched futbol

[Pehu]

o no.the game got screwed when the ref gave a 'penalty' to the french couple minutes into the first period.
shouldve been 1-0 for italy all the way

The foul on Malouda reasonably early in the second half should have certainly given France a penalty though, but the ref just didn't dare to make the right decision, after that first 'so-so' penalty. Can hardly say the game got 'screwed' by that first penalty though, since Italy won, didn't it?