SC Soccer Forums SCSoccer.com Forums College, Pro & International Soccer The Cheating French!!!!!!!!!1

I gotta give props to Zidane..he's got guts, balls, cahoneh's..whatever you want to see..he chipped a goalie on a pk and then headbutted a guy..what a BAMF.

Harsh words from this reporter at The Chicago Tribune.

quote:

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INSTANT MESSAGE: Tribune reporter Philip Hersh weighs in on the World Cup final.
Philip Hersh, Tribune reporter

July 10, 2006

L'Equipe, the French daily sports newspaper, is famous for summing up momentous events on its front page with large one-word headlines followed by an exclamation point.

I'll help the L'Equipe editors with the mot juste--the right word--to sum up Sunday's World Cup final:

HONTEUX!

Translation: DISGRACEFUL!

That adjective applies equally to French legend Zinedine Zidane and to a sport that allows its world championship to be decided by penalty kicks, as Italy's victory over France was.

Zidane's entire career has been sullied by what he did in the last game before his announced retirement, getting ejected for a malicious head butt of an Italian opponent in overtime. Add that to his ejection in the 1998 World Cup for driving his cleats into the side of a Saudi player, and the lasting image of Zidane is not of his brilliant play but of his dirty play.

On penalty kicks: Could you imagine settling the Stanley Cup with penalty shots? If soccer's leaders had any imagination, they would try to avoid such a meaningless ending by allowing three to five more substitutions in overtime (after all, the teams have 23-player rosters) or playing eight-on-eight in overtime.

The status quo? The World Cup ended with everyone but a goalie and a shooter standing idle and Zidane exposed as a false idol.

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And while we're doing away with pk's to decide matches, why not get rid of that pesky off side rule too, Mr. Hersh? We could get the scoring way up there. And if timeouts could be used sparingly there could be real TV advertising...

I saw a link from another site right before the final where a guy was ranting on about how Materazzi was just a thug and a punk and a blah blah blah...

He pointed out a few links to YouTube for some proof of this. My only experience with Italian soccer was listening to three girls that had a show on Big Soccer radio and they mostly talked about the thighs the Italian men had, so I had no idea. Here is a link to one video. A quick search of YouTube will provide more.

I think there was a whole match of things that caused Zidane to get the red card. There were several times that I saw Zidane on his knees in frustrastion after the Italian defense stepped up time and time again. As you hear in American Football all the time, the retaliation will always get you the penalty.

I think there probably was a strategy of frustrating Zidane. Just like Malouda did to Totti. I think taking advantage of a known hot head is a valid tactic. The responsibility is on Zidane not to fall for it.

I don't think it will harm Zidane in the long run. Maridona had his problems and they are usually mentioned as a footnote. Hey, he won the golden ball by halftime. It's a whacky world.

I have become a giant fan of Cannavaro, Gattuso and Ribery now. Gattuso just cracks me up. He's a tiny (and hairy) version of Wayne Rooney. All heart!

what an idiot.....i dont care what materazzi said, that is the most classless thing you could possibly do. the whole world cup is rallied around how zidane still has it in him and he's a world class player and the best in the past 20 years; but he headbutts a player because an opponent talked about his mamma? i was pulling for italy and i felt bad for french fans. i hope zidane gets crucified from the press, because he has no response for what he did.

Today some french players are calling Italy cheats for baiting Zidane.!!!!!
What a joke. They conveniently overlook Malouda's performance which was despicable to say the least. He dives for the PK, elbows an Italian player in the head and gets away with it. Took dives all night long. He was seen kicking some Italians whilst in a defensive wall at a free kick. The French calling the Italians cheats is a bit rich.!!

..if there were any justice in the game. England and Germany would have made the Final and then we'd all be talking about the first 6-0 arse-whipping in World Cup Final history!

In favor of which team!!!!!!!!!!!!????????????

The English of course! With Klose and Podolski up top..they would have just destroyed the inept Germans.

..wait.

god save the queen....