The Register’s clips were laugh-out-loud funny.
Zudane fell for the oldest trick in the book. Target the best player on the other team with verbal abuse to get them thrown out. That kind of crap would make me laugh in the face of the abuser (which would then piss them off and they’d inevitably start playing like crap). It would be a different story if someone were trying to hurt me. I would take them out on the next play. Oops, sorry… I never got a yellow card for it either.
I am curious, what is the italian reaction to what Matterezzi did? Is he being hailed a hero?
Those clips were hilarious.
Materazzi got his “due” by getting the most dangerous opposing player tossed from the game. Behind all the lies, he’s laughing his ass off. He won the battle. His team won the Cup. I’m sure that’s very much worth being “physically embarrased”. Zidane was outsmarted by a thug.
How is Materazzi a thug? I believe he has gotten less red cards than Zidane has. He was not tossed from a world cup game for literally stamping on an opponent the way Zidane was (against Saudia Arabia in '02). He’s a central defender and a tough player but he is no more of a thug than Zidane himself.
Setting a high standard there.
Heard on ABC radio Australia -’ More news on headbuttgate’.
It has been christened as a ‘…gate’.
Bad news for Airman Doors USAF
More Materazzi thuggery http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=fGJ4grSnN38 You pick the wrong guy for yoour hero worship.
Is diving cheating?
Firstly, I certainly don’t wprship Materazzi. Secondly, these sorts of comments again point to what I see as your lack of basic understanding of football.
Let’s take a step back. Materazzi is a centre back. That is, he is the main defender before the goal keeper. This means that he has to be able to deal with strikers as well as oncoming midfielders. He needs to be good in the air as well as tough tackler. Because strikers are often moving in and out of position there is a lot of pushing and pulling going on between the striker and the defender. The central defender is also usually the player who marshalls the defense. That is, he tells players where to stand on set-pieces, who to mark etc. Also, because of the propensity of crosses in football the central defender must be good in the air. 50/50 balls are very difficult in the air and they lend themselves to tough arial fights. Also, as a defender he is often the last line of defense so he has to make some very tough and perhaps even questionable tackles.
Now, let’s compare this to Zidane. Zidane is a central midfielder yet he is not known as a ball winning player. He orchestrates the flow of play from the defense/midfield to the strikers. He controls the game through movement, passing etc. Now Zidane is not a particularly good tackler so he doesn’t get into those 50/50 situations (he has Viera and Makalele on the French team to do that). Yet despite this position the man has 14 red cards. That’s an astonishingly high figure for a non-tackling midfielder. To put it in perspective, Roy Keane (an astonishingly tough midfielder) has 12 red cards to his name (will have to confirm that). So we have a player who stamped on an opponent on the ground in the last world cup with 14 red cards to his name versus a player who plays in a position that requires tough tackling.
Do you see the disconnect with your position? I am not saying Materazzi is an angel just that he is no more or less of a thug than Zidane.
I said nothing except to show you what a hack he is. However, it seems that you approve of his behavior.
Is diving cheating?
He is no more a hack than most other central defenders. I can how you some horrific challenges from Steven Gerrard, is he a thug?
He is no worse than Zidane and given their positions I would Zidane might even be worse. I think the demonization of him is wrong given that Zidane is no angel and is a petulent player at times.
I think diving is cheating, yes. I never intentionally dove in a match though to be frank my mind never worked that fast for me even to consider it. I’d like to think I would not have dove.
To say that I approve of his behaviour suggests you just did not understand my post. I can understand a number of his tackles. The ones that were eggregious he was carded for. I can put his playing style in context of his position (and the fact it is similar to 95% of all central defenders) whereas you clearly cannot. Again, Zidane as a non-ball wining midfielder with 14 red cards is much more damning.
Diving is cheating, usually resulting (if “caught”) in a yellow card.
1)Materazzi didn’t dive on the head butt.
2)Neither one is a saint.
3)The punishment (getting sent off) fit Zidane’s crime.
4)This whole thing really is just a molehill.
5) Hi Opal!
I played soccer for quite a few years and never heard the term “diving”. What is it?
I don’t play or watch much football, but he lost it over a “yo mama” trashtalk?
As an American I may not understand the sport, but I understand "yo mama"s and trashtalk, and that weren’t no quality trashtalk. Pathetic on all counts.
Watch any high-class game for a few minutes and you will see an attacker trying to go by someone with the ball. The defender will make contact in executing the tackle, and the attacker will go down like Bambi on ice. Advanced practitioners do this even when there’s enough fresh air between attacker and defender to drive a freight train through. The objective is (a) to win a free kick or penalty (see the Italy-Australia game for this) and (b) to get the defender cautioned or sent off.
In fact, offensive, insulting or abusive language or gestures are a red card offense already (see here: http://www.fifa.com/en/laws/Laws12_04.htm). At local league level people do get sent off for it. Unfortunately, FIFA (or the FA in England) don’t seem to ensure that players get sanctioned for it.
Most of the Materazzi videos just show a few hard tackles, which anyone will commit eventually. Lots of these dangerous plays (on a per match basis) are evidence of thuggery, but from the compilations, there’s not way to tell if these are regular events or a few culled from a career.
However, there’s not much excuse for this one: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=oPSjdq3dBTc&search=materazzi
I say, Thug with a capital T.
(Again, not saying this excuses Zidane)
Well, here’s a team caught practising this Black Art.
Did you hear that Sophie Ellis-Bextor has been found headbutted to death in the apartment of a famous French footballer?[spoiler]It was Murder on Zidane’s floor.
Courtesy Popbitch[/spoiler]