As far as I saw Rivaldo wasn't on the team. Most exciting team : Argentina.....distant second Korea (I really thought they were going to fall apart not being at home, but they proved me wrong....again!!) Most disappointing team : England, they are too damn talented and yet played well below their form. It's one of those teams that looks great on paper.
From CNNSI.COM This is absolutey outragous.... MILAN, Italy (AP) -- FIFA president Sepp Blatter says Zinedine Zidane could be stripped of his Golden Ball award for the best player at the World Cup due to violent conduct. "The winner of the award is not decided by FIFA, but by an international commission of journalists," Blatter said in Wednesday's La Repubblica. "That said, FIFA's executive committee has the right, and the duty, to intervene when faced with behavior contrary to the ethic of the sport." Zidane head-butted Italy defender Marco Materazzi in the chest after the two exchanged words on the field in extra time of Sunday's World Cup final. He was sent off and Italy won its fourth title on penalties. FIFA's disciplinary committee opened an inquiry Tuesday into Zidane's behavior. World soccer's governing body has declined to say whether Materazzi's conduct is also being investigated. Zidane was awarded the Golden Ball on Monday -- ahead of Italy's Fabio Cannavaro and Andrea Pirlo -- but the ballot box was open until after the end of the final, making it unclear how many votes were cast before or after the incident. Blatter said he was "very hurt" by Zidane's violent reaction and that "to see him act like that made me feel bad, for him and for fair play." "I was told that at the end of the game the French federation executives asked Zidane to go and receive his medal, and he replied that he didn't deserve any medal," Blatter added. Zidane, who won the World Cup in 1998, had said he would retire after the tournament. Materazzi has admitted he insulted Zidane, but denies calling him a "terrorist." "I did insult him, it's true," Materazzi said in Tuesday's Gazzetta dello Sport. "But I categorically did not call him a terrorist. I'm not cultured and I don't even know what an Islamic terrorist is. "I held his shirt for a few seconds only, then he turned round and spoke to me, sneering," the Italy defender said. "He looked me up and down, arrogantly and said: 'If you really want my shirt, I'll give it to you afterwards."' The 32-year-old Inter Milan player did not elaborate exactly on what he said to Zidane. "It was one of those insults you're told tens of times and that always fly around the pitch," he said. Media reports, based on interpretations by lip-readers, have suggested that Materazzi called Zidane a terrorist or insulted his mother or sister. Materazzi denies these claims, too. "For me, the mother is sacred, you know that," Materazzi told the newspaper
http://soccernet.espn.go.com/news/story?id=373767&cc=5901 Zidane set to speak out on Materazzi Zinedine Zidane is expected to speak publicly for the first time on his controversial sending-off in the World Cup final. The Frenchman has so far not commented on the red card he received for head-butting Italy's Marco Materazzi in extra time in Berlin on Sunday. The 34-year-old will appear on French TV station Canal Plus at around 1900 this evening when he is likely to give his opinions on the incident, into which FIFA have launched an investigation. The sending-off, despite Italy's subsequent victory on penalties, has been the main talking point of the final. Having retired after the match, Zidane, 34, may feel uninhibited by FIFA's investigation and free to speak out. Theories have abounded over what defender Materazzi might have said to provoke such a furious reaction from Zidane. The former Everton defender has conceded he made an offensive remark but Zidane is yet to give his version of events, although his agent has admitted the reaction was due to a 'serious comment'. Materazzi had been expected to make a statement on the matter today, but that was before FIFA announced they would be looking into the incident. FIFA have given no indication as to how long their investigation will last.
http://football.guardian.co.uk/worldcup2006/story/0,,1817551,00.html..article_continue Tuesday July 11, 2006 The Guardian An Italian lip-reader last night claimed to have deciphered the words Marco Materazzi said to Zinédine Zidane that provoked the French captain into butting him in the chest during Sunday's World Cup final, the great midfielder's final act before a red card ended his career in top-level football. According to the BBC, Materazzi said, "I wish an ugly death to you and all your family," and then told Zidane to "go **** yourself". Article continues -------------------------------------------------------------------------------- -------------------------------------------------------------------------------- A Paris-based anti-racism group, SOS-Racism, earlier said that "several very well informed sources" had suggested Zidane was called a "dirty terrorist". But though video evidence is being used to judge Materazzi, it was not used by match officials to condemn Zidane. Fifa yesterday released a statement insisting that "the fourth referee saw the incident with his own eyes and told the referee and the assistant directly through their headsets". The controversy did not stop Zidane from winning the Golden Ball as the World Cup's best player, ahead of the final's other captain, Italy's Fabio Cannavaro. The Frenchman earned 2,012 points in a poll of journalists covering the event, with Cannavaro on 1,977 and the Italian midfielder Andrea Pirlo third with 715.
I agree, especially if they take Zidane's award away This Italian Senator is also a joke...this is what he had to say about Italy's victory: Italy had beat a team [France] which, in the quest for results, sacrificed its own identity by selecting blacks, Muslims and communists http://express.lineone.net/sport.ht...IDST_0_OUKSP-UK-SOCCER-WORLD-ITALY-RACISM.XML I love how people think Europe is all progressive, but never acknowledge the fact that the continent is rampantly racist
If you want a good laugh check out FIFA's new rankings http://www.fifa.com/en/mens/statistics/index/0,2548,All-Jul-2006,00.html & Comment:
Holy crap...Iran dropped 24 places recieving -62 points this may but Serbia Montenegro gained positve 114 and moved up..good god..i thought they were going to fix these rankings? Not make them worse.
If that's the case put that up there with the rest of the Crap FIFA is putting out there.... Oh well...im glad FIFA doesn't mean anything to me ranking wise...it's all figured out on the pitch...
I think it has to do with the regions the teams are from. Most European teams got a big boost whereas all of the Asian teams dropped considerably. Maybe with their new criteria their region has a bigger effect. Regardless the rankings are still a joke.
Looks like the Lip Reader was pretty darn close..insults to his mom and sister set Zidane off. His mom is apparently in the Hospital at the moment. http://soccernet.espn.go.com/news/story?id=373809&cc=5901 PARIS -- French soccer star Zinedine Zidane apologized for head-butting an Italian opponent during the World Cup final, saying Wednesday that he was provoked by insults about his mother and sister. "I apologize, to all the children" who watched the match Sunday, Zidane said in his first, highly awaited comments about the act of violence that marked the end of his career. Zidane did not specify exactly what Italian defender Marco Materazzi said that enraged him, but that it was insulting to his sister and mother. "I would rather have taken a punch in the jaw than have heard that," Zidane said, stressing that Materazzi's language was "very harsh." Zidane and Materazzi exchanged words after Italy broke up a French attack in extra-time. Seconds later, Zidane lowered his head and rammed Materazzi in the chest, knocking him to the ground. Zidane was sent off, reducing France to 10 men. Italy went on to win in a penalty shootout. The France captain said he felt no regret for his act, "because that would mean [Materazzi] was right to say all that." At nearly the same moment Zidane was appearing on French TV, excerpts from an interview that Materazzi gave to Italian sports daily Gazzetta dello Sport were posted on the newspaper's Web site. "I didn't say anything to him about racism, religion or politics," Materazzi told the Gazzetta. "I didn't talk about his mother either. I lost my mother when I was 15 and even now I still get emotional talking about her. Naturally, I didn't know his [mother] was in the hospital, I give her my best wishes." "He's always been my hero, I admire him a lot." For days, sports fans around the world have been riveted by the question: What could Materazzi have said to set Zidane off? Media from Brazil to Britain hired lip readers to try to figure it out, then came up with different answers. Materazzi has acknowledged he insulted Zidane, without giving specifics. Materazzi spoke to Zidane in Italian. Zidane, who played several years for Juventus in Turin, speaks Italian. Despite the head butt, Zidane was awarded the Golden Ball award for best player at the World Cup -- though FIFA president Sepp Blatter has suggested Zidane could be stripped of the honor. "The winner of the award is not decided by FIFA, but by an international commission of journalists," Blatter said in Italian newspaper La Repubblica. "That said, FIFA's executive committee has the right, and the duty, to intervene when faced with behavior contrary to the ethics of the sport." In France, many have already pardoned Zidane, even without his explanation. A poll published Tuesday in Le Parisien newspaper showed that 61 percent of the 802 people questioned forgave Zidane.
Let me break down the embarrassment that is Brasilian soccer… Parriera is an idiot…. Really hes not an idiot but at the same time he is… he named his starters for the cup months before the world cup… causing the extreme confidence that you saw on the field which in turn caused complacency…. Its good to be confident but not to the point that you never considered losing (see Roberto carlos)…. Also ronaldo and Adriano play the same position and do the exact same functions…. Having them on the field at the same time caused for less movement up front and made it extremely difficult for brasil 2 move the ball from midfield to the attack…. That’s why robinho should have been in the game for one or the other…. He was the connection between the midfield and the attack…. Brasil didn’t have that in this world cup… I assumed ronaldinho would have done this but he was really a non factor much like beckham has been for England the past eight years…. What else…. Yeah cafu and Roberto Carlos killed us…. Really hard 2 watch.. first off they horrible defensive players and always have been so when they start 2 slow down on the attacking part of the game their really big liabilities… Without a doubt cicinho should have been in for cafu…. And you can make the same case for Gilberto being in for Roberto Carlos, who by the why apperantly cant cross the ball and needs 2 adjust his socks when the games r being decided…. Anyways sorry about the long rant on brasil…. Im brasilian and its horrible 2 wait 4 years for this crap… On the rest of the cup…. No one played great football… Italy played great defense and created some scoring opportunities….france made a magical run…. Argentine passed like they usually do they just ran into a buzzsaw playing germany at home which is understandable…. Anyways that’s about it….
I know it's OT but on behalf of my country I really feel I have to apologize here to all the people offended by that phrase. This guy is a parliamentary of "Lega Nord", a party strongly ingrained in north Italy with a bad racist attitude, specially against stranger of North Africa which come in our country. I'm really really sorry, these people really make me feel ashamed to be italian sometimes.
I saw many African-French on the France team but I didn't see any African-Italian on the Italy team. Are they just not good enough to make the national team in Italy or it's also because of discrimination?
