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Italy are cheats, there's no getting away from it. It was not down to time-wasting because they did it all game long. Taking a dive when they got even the slightest contact. Rolling around holding their faces when replays showed no contact was made with the face. At one point when Lehmann came out and blocked a shot, on the replay you could see the Italian looking up to see where the ball had gone and when he saw Germany were mounting a counter he stayed down so they had to kick the ball out.
They got 2 German players carded for innocuous fouls.
Italy has good players and can play a nice game when they want to but when they do all this other stuff it just leaves a sour taste in your mouth.
Ditto for France and Portugal, because they both do the same thing. I hate to think that the winner of the World Cup will be a team that employs those tactics, but sadly that is the case with Germany out.

L-E Dude and Bazza:

Italy are cheats for the domestic scandal not for being divers. Every team in this World Cup dove, baited the referee and went beyond "FIFA fair play" because they knew the initatives sent down to the referees. FIFA is to blame for turning the sport into touch American football and card throwing.

Italy are taking enormous flack in the U.S., more then anywhere in the world, because of the match vs. U.S. Get over it!

Everyone around the world today is praising the Italians for this tournaments's performance while you two burden outdated stereotypes and hard feelings toward Italy.

Two of the World Cup's most theatrical players and divers? Rudi Voeller and, yes, Jurgan Klinsmann. Two Germans. And, if know anything about the 1990 World Cup, then you'll use the word "cheats."

How did I KNOW you would bring up Klinsmann?!?!

I also had a feeling you'd totally disregard my post.

Perhaps you just missed the part where I pointed the finger at not JUST Italy.. but also Argentina, Portugal, and Spain. Contrary to whatever stereotype you have me pegged as.. I actually watched a majority of the matches.. in all groups.. not just the inept Red, White, and Blue.

Ultimately.. I guess I'm not surprised you put the blame on FIFA.. ..the players are just playing the game.. if they can get away with it..it's okay. That would be the only rationale I could imagine that would make that kind of play acceptable.

Yet again.. I feel sorry for you.

I don't disregard your post and appreciate true soccer dialog. It's great to have. And, if you knew I'd bring up Klinsmann then you appreciate my point and must agree.

I know some diving is unwarranted but what's the difference when a foul occurs and all players run over waving their hand with the card gesture. Just as repulsive! Again, the players know FIFA's directives and push the limits with that as well.

Has Italy, and everyone else, taken dives? Yes. Italy branded cheats? Hell, no. Or, every team goes with them. And, of course, Voeller and Klinsmann.

As far as your "point" concerning Klinsmann and Voeller ..I understand what you're trying to say. But I think what this is really about is more than individuals..it's about a nation's soccer culture/mentality. Those Germans may have dove/cheated but that is not indicative of German football.


As for your "point": Has Italy, and everyone else, taken dives? Yes. Italy branded cheats? Hell, no. Or, every team goes with them.

Certainly dives and all this mess is an unfortunate part of the game now. Yes, I admit that. Every team dives or has dove at some point. There are holes in the system that allow this type of play..but you'll never convince me that it is anyone else but the player's fault for diving. I don't care how many refs you put on the field.

Having said that.. I think the countries I mentioned go a step beyond what everyone else is doing. They use dives as a game strategy ..and that is what REALLY gets me. As Bazza mentioned.. you could see the Italian look up to see who had possession after his collision with Lehmann..then he started rolling to get the ball out of play. This is just one example from a laundry list. These countries feign injury to dictate the pace and rhythm of the game. To me.. that is sorry. You're supposed to do that with your feet..

Once again.. I recognize that this is a plague upon the game..encompassing ALL nations and clubs.. but the countries mentioned are the primary offenders and innovators. So I will not celebrate their success in those tactics.

Diving, faking injury, delaying, etc. is done by all teams to a degree, and that kind of play cancels itself out anyway, over the course of a game. If it is excessive and pervasive then it should be handled by the Ref. Read these postgame quotes from the teams' players. No complaints here(when it is time to complain)about diving, faking, etc. from the Germans. I would assume that they don't complain because they know it is done by all teams, at certain times.

noticias.info/ by FIFAworldcup.com

Andrea PIRLO (ITA), Budweiser Man of the Match (ITA)
It was a fantastic game, absolutely overflowing with emotions. It was a childhood dream for me to play in a semi-final. I think that we earned our win today. We created a lot of chances, and we also definitely had the luck we needed.

Miroslav KLOSE (GER)
We are obviously incredibly disappointed. It was an even contest and both teams had their chances. Well done to the Italians. They were clever on the break and scored two lovely goals. We can still be proud of what we have achieved.

Lukas PODOLSKI (GER)
We were just two minutes away from penalties. We created the better chances over the course of the match, and in the second half, we had three absolutely clear-cut chances. I'm not making any accusations or complaints, though. That's just the way football is.

Philippe LAHM (GER)
I don't think that we played worse than Italy today. It's a bitter pill for us to swallow. We concentrated on one thing and kept our focus right until the end, except for that one attack of theirs. We definitely want to win the Third Place match though.

David ODONKOR (GER)
Of course we're disappointed and sad, because we had set our sights even higher. The Italians played well, but so did we. It's a pity that we lost the way we did in the last few minutes.

Bernd SCHNEIDER (GER)
We ended up being punished right at the death. It's really disappointing, because we only made that one mistake. I've no doubt that it'll be tough to pick ourselves up again now, but it was great, the way the crowd still cheered us on when we went one down. I don't know, it's difficult to say whether we can really be proud of ourselves.

Per MERTESACKER (GER)
We could have won today. Of course we knew that Italy would be even tougher than the teams we'd played before, but I still think that we did what we set out to do. We weren't looking beyond this match.

Christoph METZELDER (GER)
We just didn't take our chances. Everyone is really disappointed. I've already been through a similar experience before. Coming third in a World Cup would be wonderful and we're going to do all we can to win the Third Place match.

Tim BOROWSKI (GER)
We just couldn't step it up a notch, even though we gave it all we'd got up front. Italy were simply that little bit tougher than the Argentinians. At the end of the day, we just couldn't quite raise our game. We could have gone all the way.

Gianluigi BUFFON (ITA)
We wanted to reach the Final and we’ve done it. (Marcello) Lippi made sure we were really up for it. I thank my team-mates for having scored two wonderful goals. I started to think about penalties from the beginning of the second half. All our wins are down to team spirit. They say Italy reach the Final every 12 years, and we’ve done it this time as well. Now we hope to go on and win.

Alessandro DEL PIERO (ITA)
You could all see how happy I was when I scored. We were desperate to win. The quality of this team lies in the strength of the squad. I’m not thinking about Sunday yet, I’m going to enjoy this moment and reflect on what we’ve done up to now. The job isn’t finished yet though.

Fabio GROSSO (ITA)
What a feeling and it’s because of our team spirit and the work we’ve done. The match was very hard. We were already thinking about penalties when luckily I scored. I shed tears of joy, I just couldn’t believe it. The Final will be just as difficult and memorable. I dedicate the goal to my wife, son and everyone else who wants the best for me.

Gianluca ZAMBROTTA (ITA)
We’re happy, it’s what we wanted and it’s a great feeling knowing we’re in the Final. They put us under pressure but we also created lots of chances. At the end of the day, we’re a great team and deserved to win.

Luca TONI (ITA)
We played a great game even though they did put us under lots of pressure. Our team spirit brought us victory. To win in front of such a partisan crowd is something to tell your grandchildren about. We’ll concentrate on the Final now. We want to win it!

2004striker: Great point!

L-E Dude: HOWEVER.. what I saw of Italy yesterday.. was a squad that consitantly got back on defense (which is good..and I would have my players watch that 100x over) ..but instead of hustling or moving as a team into the attack. They opted to either let 1-3 men move the ball up..maybe get the midfield into the attack if they hold it long enough.. or find a freekick somewhere..so everyone could get up into the attack.

My response is simple but first to address one of my big soccer pet peeves. L-E Dude, we say field and soccer NOT pitch and football. Those words are for other sports in this country, the United States.

Italy v Germany: Not only do the above quotations, from players who played, reinforce my point of Italian quality and intentions during the match, but so does 1) the score 2) shot count on goal 3) corners and 4) possession stat and 5) the fact of Italy hitting the post and crossbar in OT as well as playing four strikers to avoid PKs .

The diving issue is, obviously, a strong opinion for you. The countries mentioned have been bad at times in soccer history but by no means were they any worse then others in this World Cup. Podalski and Klose both had numerous diving moments yesterday as well as a few of Ballack's run-in's with Gattuso. Again, outdated stereotypes are changing for better with these countries.

I would have been happy with either team winning yesterday. Germany had a great tournament and played great yesterday, but the aggressive stategy by Italy of putting more guys up front in OT to press the attack is my kinda soccer. With the world's best GK, Italy could have easily played for PKs in OT (as Germany did), but did not and its attack paid off.

To L-E Dude: Today vs. France, Portugal's antics were poor. By the far, the worst of the tournament and, to me, the first of what you mentioned.

If that's the first you're seeing of this..then you didn't watch much of group play.

I sat down to watch France/Portugal expecting the typical divefest. Which by and large..did not occur. Probably mainly because of THIS. Larindo (the nut job that reffed US/Italy and another laughable group match) called this one pretty tight.. and despite the desperation dives in the last 10 minutes he managed to handle the pressure.

We can sit here and argue the degree to which each team employs the diving tactic.. how bad.. how often.. whatever.

I think we've pretty much beat this thing to death. So..this will be the last thing I say on the issue (hopefully).

As a man.. you only take me off on a stretcher if I can't stand.. you only sub me off if I can't walk. And sure as hell better whack me really f--kin' hard to bring me down. These tactics take advantage of the "gentlemen's game" ..and has turned it into the "sissy's game" ..that doesn't sit well with me.