Sunday, July 09, 2006

Italy - World Champions

We are the Champions!

Italy beat France in penalties to win the most coveted trophy in sports, after the game finished 1-1 after extra time. Italians are no doubt deserved winners for they have shown the spirit and commitment in all their games.

Meanwhile, Zidane's exit from football was ugly as his headbutt on Matterazzi had him sent off in extra time.
Zizou off for good!
The ghosts of penalties are buried for the Italians as they won their first ever penalty shoot-out! And what a stage to do that?!!! Simply awesome! One of the moments to remember in world football....I know I will :) Grazie l'Italia!

10 Comments:

Blogger Itinerant said...

Very sad to see the great man go this way.If I were Blatter i would investigate wht Mataraze said.Apparnetly he called him a Terrorist bcos of his ALgerian roots. ANd hence the reaction from him.
It was a moment of madness on Zizou s part and nothing can justify the head butt. I just hope that this is not a blemish on a glittering career.
AllezFrance.Allez Zizou.

9:18 PM  
Anonymous Anonymous said...

Did he call him a terrorist? Are you sure?! What a terrible way to go out. I will never forget this final. Or the replay of Zidane head butting Mr. Materazzi.

11:51 PM  
Blogger Lucas said...

even if matt had called zizou a terrorist, Z could have dealt with the issue after the match...or, he could have taught him a lesson by winning the cup for france...head butting an opponent on the sport's biggest stage, especially for a guy of his stature is inexplicable behaviour, whatever be the reason.

12:00 AM  
Blogger Itinerant said...

Dude if you have played Football even at backyard level then you ll probably agree with me that controlling emotions when you are running and sweating and tackling is not easy. The heart is beating fast and the brain can stop working at times.
But i agree that he should have been calm about it.
Also the fourth officials saw the replays and then made the decision.Is it allowed? I dont think so.
All said and done he goofed up. But i think his sending off didnt have a major effect on the outcome.I am sure that even if he had been there, Trezwguet would have taken a penalty.
All in all Italy nicked it.There was just a single penalty in it.

12:35 AM  
Blogger Lucas said...

Agreed that it's tough to control your emotions but then we are talking abt a 3-time world player of the year! even if matt had provocated him, that doesn't warranty his inexplicable behavior.

The officials have come out and said that the decision wasn't made after seeing video replays. It seems that the the fourth official did notice that incident live and immediately pointed it out the main officials.

Who knows what might have happened if Zizou had not been sent off...there were 10 more minutes to be played...France could have even scored a goal. Anyway, i think the sending off did affect the morale of the French.

5:03 AM  
Blogger Itinerant said...

Dont u think it depends from person to person? I probably wud v done exactly what Zidane did.
Anyways he s got the Golden ball.Rich tribute to the greatest player of our generation

6:53 AM  
Blogger KayAik JiaYi said...

A dazzling career ended by such a blemish. Mr. Zidane, it's not wise to do that. Well, maybe I agree with you people that it's difficult to control emotions, but it's especially unjustifiable that it's occurred during such a BIG match.

But anyway, the Golden Ball is a top-class honour, and he thoroughly deserved it after a tough fight in the quarters and semis. Still, I was quite puzzled why Cannavaro did not win it - he settled for second instead.

7:04 AM  
Blogger Lucas said...

I do not take anything away from Zidane but Cannavaro is extremely unlucky not to bag the top prize...he has been a rock in the Italian defence and has been performing right from the first match, unlike Zizou who started to play well only from the knockout stages.

Isn't it so typical that a superstar, who is viewed more than a mere mortal walks away with the ultimate acclaim whereas another player loses out just because he doesn't have that aura about him even though he may be the best performer?

7:17 AM  
Blogger Itinerant said...

For once, i agree completely with you :).Cannavaro was very very unlucky not to win.As u corrctly pt out its the "superstar" image that works in such things.Thats why inspite of the incident in the final,Zizou got it. Cannavaro was equally deserving if not more.I am not complaining though.i love the man.

8:58 PM  
Blogger KayAik JiaYi said...

Yeah I totally agree. In such cases, which people would call it ambiguous, the more popular would almost always have the 'benefit of the doubt', and it has been correctly pointed out.

Reminds me of the world ranking system nowadays, where underacheiving teams are now ranked higher than deserved. (eg. Czech - 2nd, USA - 5th) That's the problem. Fortunately FIFA's going to revise that system soon. ;)

4:21 AM  

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