World Cup

[HedleyLamarr]

ZIDOWNED!!!

[DEAD!]

ZIDOWNED!!!

Correction:

It's BUFFOWNED!!!

[zig]

Matterazzi got ZIDOWNED

ZIDOWNED!!!

ZIDUMBASS!!!

[ProvidenceRI]

This final is another reason why I gave up on soccer.

Any sport that allows the world championship to be decided on a random skill like penalty shots needs to rethink it's rules.

At Wimbledon, they don't allow the 5th set to be won in a tiebreaker, they play it out until one man or woman or doubles team is standing.

They should just play overtime until somebody scores, after all, it is the last match of the tournament.

[zig]

You did watch the Australia game did you?

Will Buffon get the same treatment as Cristiano Ronaldo?

Football loses when Italy wins.

Look, this is the first year I've watched the world cup, I only saw a few games, but i made sure towatch this final one because when the US lost I wanted Italy to win because I'm Italian. No i didn't see that game. But I know that no one on Italy's team is being accused of cheating, and no ones accused of scandalism.

you're actually wrong about that, ramsfan. there's a whole match-fixing scandal in italy , and alot of the players on this team are a part of club teams involved in this scandal. so, by association, they are cheats and if you've watched any of the italy games in this tournament, they're divers as well.

Well, I heard that no one from Italy was being accused, they said that right after the game....

Ahhh! I'm confused!

The scandal has nothing to do with players. It's about what the owners have done to influence refs. BTW, 3 of the French players are involved with those teams also.

I know if people were actually following the scandel they would know that it wasn't the players that were fixing the matches. Also Everyone seemed to love Zidane so heres a cheer to the dumbest guy in the world. Thanks Zidane you retired in a grand fashion and Italy thanks you. Also people say Italy dived, well you should have seen France in this game. They flopped like a fish out of water and got a goal out of it.

It was a great finish for Italy. My italian relatives came over and we went crazy.

CHEERS TO ITALY

[winghaz]

I'm having spaghetti for supper in honor of Italy's win.

Of course, I probably would have had French toast if France would have won.

Too bad Portugal didn't go on to win because I love Portugese sausage.

[harperdc]

what you missed, ziggyluc, was an act of vigilante justice by the referee in the second half, denying a much more clear-cut penalty for a foul on Malouda in the box to deny a penalty. A non-call to make up for a bad call earlier.

and Materazzi, for his worth, looked like he ate that headbutt about as well as any pro wrestler would sell a hit, and tried to kick up at Zidane on the way down to boot.

It goes both ways...and it's terribly sad that so much diving and play-acting has influenced the world cup. However, we have seen the best-playing, most consistent team life the trophy...

[HedleyLamarr]

I'm having spaghetti for supper in honor of Italy's win.

Of course, I probably would have had French toast if France would have won.

Too bad Portugal didn't go on to win because I love Portugese sausage.

Heh....in honor of France losing, I'm cooking a baked chicken....stuffed with dressing, you know, because the French are full of it.....

[zig]

what you missed, ziggyluc, was an act of vigilante justice by the referee in the second half, denying a much more clear-cut penalty for a foul on Malouda in the box to deny a penalty. A non-call to make up for a bad call earlier.

and Materazzi, for his worth, looked like he ate that headbutt about as well as any pro wrestler would sell a hit, and tried to kick up at Zidane on the way down to boot.

It goes both ways...and it's terribly sad that so much diving and play-acting has influenced the world cup. However, we have seen the best-playing, most consistent team life the trophy...

hey maybe I missed that non called penelty but do you thing getting head butted by a charging Zidane wouldn't knock the wind out of you. He was like a bull. I think that cheap shot really took him off guard and he went down hard. I will agree on the last part though . Now does anyone have a picture of ZIdane in the action of head-butting?

[LMU]

Zidane's checklist:

1-Change name

2-Buy fake moustache and wig

3-Move to the US, because soccer takes the back burner here and nobody would recognize him

[zig]

I'm having spaghetti for supper in honor of Italy's win.

Of course, I probably would have had French toast if France would have won.

Too bad Portugal didn't go on to win because I love Portugese sausage.

Heh....in honor of France losing, I'm cooking a baked chicken....stuffed with dressing, you know, because the French are full of it.....

Classic

[FiddySicks]

Great win for the USA in this one. They tied the champs with 9 men. Now if thats not justification for US Soccer, I dont know what is. Plus, the french suck!!!

[HatCityEnforcer]

I saw the highlights, pal. They had more chances in the game after their only goal and what did France do to counter? Well, not much.

Plus, France went down a man because Zizou can't take damn joke and took his anger out on some poor sap.

and what the hell is catenaccio? It sounds like a stinking meat dish they make in Italy.

Italy had more chances? Are you drunk?

From what I saw through the 2nd half and in the Extra Time, the French were pushing the play forward a LOT more than Italy was...

That being said, the French couldn't finish to save their lives (Henry had a chance early in the 2nd and couldn't convert...Ribery came close to burying one, but put it wide in OT...and then there was the Zidane header that Buffon turned aside in what was the save of the game, IMO)..

The only real chance Italy had was negated by an obvious offside....other than that, the Azzuri were playing the football equivalent of a neutral zone trap the rest of the way...especially when it was late in the 2nd half in in the OT periods.

As for the Zidane incident, who the hell knows what Materazzi said to him, but it must have been something that set Zidane off to get a reaction like that.

But then again, the Italians did JACK when they had the man advantage...they just sat back and packed their zone....not that that's shocking seeing a lot of teams do the same thing when the situation arises.

But, when it came down to it, the Italians converted their PKs....and they should have been kissing that crossbar after Trezeguet's shot off of it that proved to be the margin of victory....

[Dave Ship]

4 Times World Champions!!!

I know it's hard for you to understand, but i never felt something like this. My father was telling me about 1982, but live this experience has been great. I've no word to describe it.

It's something about proud and glory, blood and heart. I'll never forgot these moments.

Thanks guys!

[DGivens87]

Great win for the USA in this one. They tied the champs with 9 men. Now if thats not justification for US Soccer, I dont know what is. Plus, the french suck!!!

That was pretty much my reasoning for rooting for Italy as well. We tied, with 9 men, the eventual World Cup champion. That, and after Zizou headbutted his way outta the game, I saw Buffon pointing to his head at the French side saying "We'll remember that" in plain English.

Plus, who can root for the French???

[zig]

4 Times World Champions!!!

I know it's hard for you to understand, but i never felt something like this. My father was telling me about 1982, but live this experience has been great. I've no word to describe it.

It's something about proud and glory, blood and heart. I'll never forgot these moments.

Thanks guys!

I agree with you on this. My brothers telling me about all the times italy lost in pks and my mom, aunts, great aunts and cousin were telling me about 82 but I have never had a team i rooted for win the world cup. Also with my whole family over it was very tense, exspecially pks.

Also how did you guys react when Zidane headbutted Materazzi ? My family and I were like what the hell was that, and my brother is saying that was one of the dumbest moves he's ever seen. I was thinking nice way to end a career.

ESPN's Team of the tournament http://soccernet.espn.go.com/columns/story...ht&lid=tab1pos1

5 of the 11 are Italians

[CZzyzx41]

OK the emotions have calmed a bit.

Here is my take.

France: Early in the World Cup Zidane and Henry just didn't have any sense of the other. Their passes to each other were more like what they themselves would want vs what worked for the man they were passing it to. The team as a whole looked very confused as if they had never trained together. Somewhere at the end of the group stage they started to find themselves and in that match against Brazil they put it all together very well. The score was 1-0 but they totally dominated the match. Meanwhile up into this match the keeper, who I will only refer to as "Popeye", had no clue whatsoever and was definitely the weak link on this French team. Meanwhile, I thought Zidane was back in his best form right up until that horrific lapse in judgement (HUGE understatement). He had my vote for the Golden Ball right up until that moment.

Italy: I've always deeply detested the Azzurri and all Italian football as a whole. They cheat, they play dirty, they're very boring to watch and there is absolutely nothing whatsoever that I could ever say positive about their players, coaches or anything. When the investigations started about match fixing within Serie A for me it was just one more candle on the cake.

Then I watched the match against Germany. I talked a lot of smack these past few days but honestly that semi-final game really started to change my mind about Italian football. They really deserved to win that match. Both teams dove but they did it equally and pretty much got away with it equally. At the end, the Italians were the better team and it showed.

NOW FOR TONIGHT: I think from kickoff to the 120th minute, the French outplayed the Azzurri. They controlled the ball, controlled the tempo, and it was a fairly good football match on both ends. What upset me was 3 things. First, both teams dove far too often and I felt they got away with it more than they should have. The PK that France first got was on a dive and I felt it was unfair until Malouda FINALLY got a REAL foul in the box and the justice was done as the foul was waved off on that.

Second, France again started to get confused on the pitch. As each substitution was made, the passes got more sloppy and the Azzurri were taking the ball from them far too easily. Lastly, the Italians also were playing their stereotypical very boring football, placing 7 guys in the box to defend all the time and leaving the last 3 guys o try and mount an attack. In reality, once that equalizer was scored, they were just trying to get to PKs where they knew they couldn't lose.

ZIDANE: This guy has been the best player in the World Cup I think. Right up to the 89th minute when he made the most blatant, horrific, and idiotic assault on a player I have ever seen. I don't care what Materazzi said to incite such rage from Zinedine. There was absolutely no excuse for something like that and I'm frankly not surprised that his teammates supported him. It's what teammates do and really it's just...well..very French of them.

Italy wins the World Cup. Probably the most undeserving World Cup champions in history but that doesn't take it away from them. It's theirs and no one can take it away. Congradulations. Now...can we please get Juventus and AC Milan sent to League 5 so perhaps there could be SOME justice in this world?

[zig]

Italy and Purtugal are in a neck to neck race for most exciting team

[fonz]

Forza Italia!!!

[NJTank]

My Blog take on Soccer

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