I'm absolutely disgusted.

Not with France losing. Not with Italy winning. Not with the referee. Can you guess who?

Zidane.

What the **** he was thinking (or even if he was at all) I will never know, or understand. On any game, that was a horrendous action. But in the World Cup final, on your very last game, after such an incredible performance, it's...unthinkable.

I was plucking for France to win this. My dad was supporting Italy, and we were watching together, having a few disagreements every now and then but (on the whole) agreeing that it was a great game. Then after Zidane's dismissal I couldn't care either way. What he did ruined that game, and all the work the French put into playing. I had so much respect for him when he came back on after his arm injury. But, everyone's remembered by the last thing they do, and I hope he's ashamed.

*sigh*

Wow, Zidane was a douche in that game for sure. I can't imagine, did he think he'd get away with that one?
Do all you goons still think he's the most valuable player?

I really don't think much of the Italian team. They seem like horrible babies, and they cheated the Aussies with that bogus penalty.
Oh well, at least the French didn't win.

Why do you hate Football this much?

GRAAAAAAA!

bah, i was routing for france as soon as i knew what the final would be, i will never be happy with a win from the italian team (shoot their heads and spit on their graves).

Heheh, popular winners the Italians then...?

Zidane was obviously provoked. He did something wrong intentially and got the appropriate punishment for it - I dont see how it's that much worse than some of the other red card decisions we've seen this cup.

It was a clear cut red card. No amount of provocation should be responded to like that, especially from an experienced and mature player like Zidane. He was even smiling at Materazzi a few seconds before he turned back and headbutted him.

I wanted to kick Zidane in the balls after that. Be the bigger man and just shrug it off. You don't need to freaken headbutt someone in the sternum.

Yay Italy!!!!

Sod to both teams.
I only cared for England and Australia

I'm glad it's over.

if anything, zidane should have just taken him down with a vicious tackle and gotten a yellow at most, that would have been the best idea... or break his nose after penalties.

Or be in the PKs, help France win, then go after the guy.

they have a vicious reputation for it, back in the 70s they used to spit at players in order to provoke them.

theres a good reason why most italian players dont play outside italy.

they do not gel well with other teams, they play this horrible game called i-taiball that has the same rules as football.

Well, now with the World Cup over I can pontificate about what I've witnessed. It was quite enjoyable, with many an exciting game to be had. This certainly has provoked an interest that I've never had for the sport before, and I'm going to try and watch more soccer.

The only negative bit was watching these games, and seeing the flopping. At points, it disgusted me. In America, there really isn't flopping to that degree in any of the sports, with basketball probably containing the most. But usually, that flopping doesn't affect the outcome of a game, like the Italy-Australia game a while ago. And then of course after the flopping, there are the players who stay on the ground after receiving what looks to be very, very minor injuries. Hell, I've never seen so many stretchers brought out before. I suppose this is part of the strategy of the game, but I don't like it.

Other than that, the World Cup was quite fun to watch, and I am definitely looking forward to the next one.

[QUOTE=Mr. Stafford]they have a vicious reputation for it, back in the 70s they used to spit at players in order to provoke them.

theres a good reason why most italian players dont play outside italy.

they do not gel well with other teams, they play this horrible game called i-taiball that has the same rules as football.[/QUOTE]

We get the point. But quit fussing. Italy outplayed France and you know it.

Neither side outplayed the other. Each side had spurts where they were better than the other, but it was more or less even.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=9wNm0K2N_eQ&search=rivaldo%20world%20cup

another one: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=zKUV0JIqVnY&search=soccer%20diving

If anything the French were the slightly better team overall. Did wonders for my office Fantasy League team - I've come first and netted £30 and a little tacky trophy

[QUOTE=IRG SithLord]We get the point. But quit fussing. Italy outplayed France and you know it.[/QUOTE]

meh, i reckon france dominated the second half.

but generally, i still hate them and would belly-laugh at their demise.

[QUOTE=IRG SithLord]We get the point. But quit fussing. Italy outplayed France and you know it.[/QUOTE]

Opinions here were opposite

That one is hilarious

The thing that gets me is just pure shock at it. He knew exactly what he was doing - that if he went through with the headbutt it would be the last thing he ever did in professional football. I can't imagine anything that could be said to him to provoke that. What a waste, particularly after his great comeback.

Oh well, bring on the Euro 2008 qualifiers - my boss and I were talking about going on a day trip/overnight to Ireland for a match or two.

I thought it was great how the Italians won. They've been playing really clean the past couple of games. Sure, France may have been dominating a bit more in the end, but both sides had some good opportunities.

Zidane loses. That red card was entirely appropriate.

I can't see why people are shocked with Zidane's headbutt. It's not like this is his first time doing it. I do not condone bad sportsmanship, however when the other team uses cheap tatics it sort of cancels each other out like karma:

- France winning the cup, losing the cup
- Italy losing penalties, winning penalties
- Totti diving: getting away with it, Totti not diving: getting booked and then serving suspension, benched
- Zidane: French hero, Zidane: French villain
- Serie A: best european league, Serie A: worst european league, match fixing scandal
- Italian players overpaid and glorified, Italian players villified and labelled accordingly
- Me: getting turned down by a hot semi-italian chick, me: dating hot semi-italian chick


I'm still waiting for Grosso to get his coming though. I'm hoping for something along the lines of an anvil falling on him or something ironicly humorous. Come on KARMA, don't fail me now.

I'm getting in on the final a little late because I was at work and had it recorded.

I know it's been said, but I'm going to say it again, Zidane's behavior was disgusting. Atrocious. Though, according to the commentators, it's not the first time something like that has happened with him. They mentioned him stomping on the back of a Saudi player back in 1998. In any case, no matter what the Italian player may have done, he more than deserved to be sent off the pitch. Here is a great player who has had an amazing resurgence, and all for naught as he completely loses it towards the end of the game. I've lost so much respect for that man.

That said, France had a wonderful second half as far as pressing the ball forward and getting it into the box goes. The Italian side was usually all over them though, and just didn't give them many chances to shoot the ball. Henry was having a good half as well as Zidane. Their skill on the ball, being able to split or pass by the defenders was evident. There were a couple of occassions when I think Henry or Ribery should have taken a shot rather than pass it back to each other to try and find a lane when there wasn't one there. France looked dangerous as far as pressing into the box, but none of their shots, with the exception of Zidane's header and Ribery's shot before he got subbed, looked to trouble Buffon.

I've watched Italy's past couple of games and they've played fairly cleanly. Not that I think they should be recognized for that, because playing cleanly is something they should be doing regardless. I hate Italian football and the way it's played because of how dirty it is. Though they played a mostly clean game today, there were a couple of incidents that looked like obvious dives to me. The one I noticed immediately was when Toni kicked Thuram in the 73rd minute in his attempt on goal. Toni went down immediately, clutching his shin despite the shin guard absorbing most of the impact. It looked like Thuram was hit in the knee, but I didn't see Thuram even flinch. So yeah, Italy looked like cheaters to the end.

Despite some very iffy reffing, and the whole Ronaldo man of the tournament fiasco, and Zidane completely losing it, this was a pretty entertaining world cup to watch. I'd like to see FIFA make some changes so we don't have another Portugal vs. Netherlands in the future. That game was ridiculous and the ref should be fired for his abysmal control and card calling. I'm also disappointed in Poland, and just a little in the United States, though they did fairly well considering the group they were in. I was more than a little surprised to see just how little of a threat the Czech Republic presented in the first round.

I've decided I'd like to travel to a world cup tournament, or perhaps even a Euro championship if I can find a way to follow the club teams. Unfortunately, in the US, there are very few opportunities to watch football outside of some payperview package. Correct me if I'm wrong, but I hear that the 2010 Cup will be in South Africa, and the 2014 will be played in both Poland and Ukraine. I'd love to travel to South Africa, I think it would be a beautiful venue overall for the cup. Also, because of my Polish heritage, I would be in Poland for the Cup in a flash. Here's to hoping that that becomes an achievable goal.

"no matter what the Italian player may have done, he more than deserved to be sent off the pitch."

Well according to an article on fox http://msn.foxsports.com/soccer/story/5767794:

"According to members of the French media, French players told them that Matterazi called Zidane a racial slur which prompted the headbutt."

(Zidane is of algerian decent)

So if this is true then Matterazi deserved it

Just because the guy was a ******** doesn't mean you head butt the guy and get tossed. It was a complete lack of control on Zidane's part and a perfectly played mind game by Matterazi.

Im not saying it was a smart/good move by Zidane, but if that was the case, Matterazi did deserve it, but Zidane shouldn't have fallen into that trap

Yep, they're paid millions to keep their cool for 120 minutes - nothing should prompt such a reaction.

But anyway, it matters not now.

I'm happy that you enjoyed the tournament overall. Although don't hold your breath waiting for the next one, they only happen every 4 years

To be honest, after watching a few of the games this year, I have to admit I was wondering what kind of bad impression you were getting of the sport. But I'm glad you were able to see past the low points and still enjoy football for the sport rather than the fighting and cry-babies.

If it's true, then Materazzi deserved retribution. But not on the pitch.

Most definately agreed. You beat him up after the match in the parking lot with a baseball bat and make it look like suicide.

Provoking a guy into getting sent off is no better than being the guy who is sent off. I'd argue that it's worse. Sure, fantastic mindgames and all, but it's the most unsportsmanly conduct I can imagine.

That's the spirit of the game!

detty, its the itai way.

Who is leading in dives?

http://www.informationbuilders.co.uk/ontheball/wcuk.htm

true, which is actually against the rules of FIFA

Ughhh. Tell me about it. That game honestly made me mad, and I was just watching it on TV. In general, the refs had way too much influence over the games in the first two rounds. Handing out yellow and red cards for minor fouls is the quickest way to get players mad and make the situation worse. You've got to let them play.

On a positive note, I thought the final game was refed very well. He let play continue when people took obvious dives. Although the call against Italy that resulted in the PK early in the first half was probably wrong, there was another one later in the box that definitely was a penalty, but wasn't called so it all worked out in the end.