Zidane’s head butt was as flagrant as any foul I’ve ever seen in any sport. But there is one thing that I don’t understand- there are times when a team will kick the ball softly back to the opposing goalie, deliberately forfeiting possession of the ball. In what situations is that done?
On another board I read that tweaking a man’s nipple has a sexual meaning that’s an insult to a muslim. Zidane is a non practicing muslim I believe, he was Algerian born, but if this nipple tweaking is an insult then that could be the reason he blew his top. He does have a history of a fairly short fuse at times.
The Beeb are now reporting that Zidane has won the best player award, so all may forgiven.
Sorry, here’s the report on the best player result.
I’d also like to congratulate myself for forecasting the the eventual winners (although I did have Argentina as a finalist too, which due to the way the draw was made would have been impossible.)
Only when the opposing team has kicked the ball out of touch deliberately so an injured player can receive treatment, giving away a throw-in in the process. Then the ball is traditionally returned to the team who played it out. Used to be a sportsmanlike rarity but is now subject to increasing amounts of gamesmanship, with some players staying down and feigning injury to “force” their opponents to kick the ball to touch. Irritating.
Incidentally, the similarity of the terms “sportsmanlike” and “gamesmanship” always amuses me, given their almost diametrically opposed meanings.
Thanks for the reply, Dead Badger. That had always mystified me.
As others have said, I can’t wait to hear the rationale behind Zidaine’s attack. All I can think of is that the Italian said something extremely offensive. Although I do like the Mafia theory.
I haven’t heard much about Italy’s equalizer. But, I thought Materazzi had his right hand draped over the shoulder of the defender and was holding him down. I know it goes on a lot, but I’ve seen less called. Anyone who thinks France was handed one by the refs should consider this.
See the final image in this video.
(kinda poor quality but you can see it)
I really have no love for Italy but I thought that was just a good header. I watched it several times looking for a strong push off but it was just not there.
FWIW I also thought the foul that gave France a penalty kick was a foul, albeit not the most flagrant ever. But no less a foul than the one that gave Italy a penatly kick against Australia.
Oh, it was all leap, and a great header.
But, what it did was keep the defender from being able to rise and potentially clear it.
According to the Guardian, Materazzi, called him a “terrorist”.
I hate the Italian “style”. We call it “cheating” on this side of the pond.
Very disappointing final, if you were hoping for a good game. Anything ending on PKs is disappointing, of course, though you do have to pick a winner somehow. But when one team doesn’t even try to attack for the entire second half and both overtimes, even when they’re up a man, it’s disappointing for a fan. When that team ends up wining in PKs, it’s also disappointing. I mean, if this was judged like boxing, France would be hoisting the cup.
I was also disappointed with Zou-zou’s destroying my incipient hero-worship.
I thought the refereeing was only mediocre at best. On the plus side, didn’t reward too much diving. On the minus side, at least half of the fouls called were on replay clearly poor calls, and so I assume there were plenty that should have been called. I couldn’t tell how much Zidane was diving, but it’s hard to believe none of those hard tackles every time he touched the ball were fouls.
I mean, I guess credit the Italians for understanding how the games were called, and doing what it took to win, but can’t say it was ever fun to watch, or produced very much respect for them on my part. Man, I’m beginning to think I’d rather have the arrogance of the Brazilians; at least they have some style and are fun to watch. [Who’d have thunk it; criticizing Italy for having no style or grace? And France being the less underhanded and cynical one?]
The nicest thing from the weekend was seeing those crybaby whiners divers and tattle-tales Portugal get Rooney-style nut-stomped as a team by the Germans.
Yeah, at the time I saw this it reminded me of England’s last-minute winner-that-wasn’t against Portugal in Euro 2004. Almost the same situation but that time the goal was disallowed (and England went out in the resulting penalty shootout).
Whoa, whoa, whoa. According to a Guardian article which has now been edited to remove the reference completely, there were (and I quote) “suggestions last night that Zidane was called a terrorist” (bolding mine). So let’s not go shooting our mouths off about cheating just yet, eh? Unlike some loony in the Guardian’s comment pages who thinks Materazzi is guilty of “racially aggravated disorderly conduct” and would be arrested in the UK. Because, of course, physical assault pales next to rude names. Heaven forbid Zidane takes up cricket:
Glenn McGrath: “Oi, Brandes, why are you so fucking fat?”
Eddo Brandes: “Cos every time I fuck your wife she gives me a biscuit!”
Classic.
It doesn’t matter what was said, beacuse 1) what is said is gone into the ether in seconds and makes no difference; 2) there is no rationale no matter what is said; and 3) even if you could rationalize the headbutt by what is said you cannot rationalize it in the context of the game being played and getting yourself sent off.
ZZ did not deserve the golden ball even without the headbutt. He was nowhere during the group stages, even missing a game do to accumulation of yellow cards (the only game his team won in the stage) and while brilliant in the Spain game and very good against Brazil I don’t think he was particularly special last night. Canavarro should have won with or without the headbutt from Zizou.
Shooting my mouth off? How was I to know that the Guardian was going to change their report. My psychic abilities aren’t quite honed to that level.
I wasn’t referring to this incident as the cheating anyway. I was referring to the constant diving, whining, lying, and faking as cheating. You may like it, but I think it cheapens the game.
I’m not sure it matters what was said to Zidane. It probably was inflamatory but he shouldn’t have reacted that way. Maybe his nipple was twisted but so what, happens all the time. The fact that it might be especially relevant to Muslims is not important at all.
And no, he did not deserve the player of the tournament.
That should have gone to Cannavaro, Buffon, Riquelma. Heck, I thought Drogba of the Ivory Coast was fantastic despite his entire team not showing up.
Sorry, I wasn’t clear; the mouth-shooting comment was aimed at the Guardian loony I linked to who thought Materazzi was a racist criminal, not you. The point is, we only have speculation about what was said at the moment, and even the original article acknowledged this.
I’m on record all through these threads complaining about the diving and the encouragement thereof throughout this tournament, so there’s no point starting down that road. I normally hate watching Italy for precisely this reason, but I have to say that I think people criticising their style and attitude in this particular tournament must have been watching some other team. Sure, they’ve taken some dives, but I don’t think they’ve been any worse than anyone else. And as for claiming they’ve played negative football, I just can’t see how anyone who watched their games can really think that. Yes, by the end of the final they were playing for penalties, but that doesn’t really characterise their tournament. No, they didn’t really have one particular flair player up front scoring wonder goals, but as a team they were consistently more positive than most. I agree that the diving has been atrocious this tournament (hell, I’ve hardly shut up about it), but I just don’t get why people are picking on Italy in particular.
I completely agree; the vote was clearly influenced by sentimentality for Zidane’s retirement. Even in his better matches, Zidane was anonymous for large stretches. But then, a defender getting the Golden Ball? Okay, Oliver Kahn, but still, check out the list of winners - not many a defender in there (nor even in the second and third place spots).
One player who seems to have escaped the notice of most of the media pundits is Gennaro Gattuso; which is a shame because I thought without all the work he did in midfield, Cannavaro’s job would have been a lot harder.
Absolutely. It also goes to my point that Zidane does poorly when faced with an energetic and dogmatic defensive midfielder. I firmly believe it was one of the reasons that he lost his cool.