What happened is that Materazzi whispered something in Zidane's ear, then they both proceeded to walk alongside each-other, like nothing was wrong, then Zidane walked in front of him, turned around, and head-butted him. While Zidane's had red cards pulled at him in the past and a history of being at times temperamental, this didn't look like a "heat of the moment" kind of thing, with two players struggling for a ball.
Materazzi clearly must have told Zidane some f'ed up sh!t, and Zidane snapped. If what Materazzi said was really that bad, in hindsight I'd say oh well, sad for France to lose, but way to expose Materazzi as a trash-talker on the field. Sad way for Zidane to end his career? He's likely crying his way to the bank right now, and given how far he's taken the French team, including resuming play after a dislocated shoulder in the final, he's earned it. Hopefully Ribery, one of the true great players of this tournament, will cary the French team forward.
It's really sad, because Italians played a pretty good technical game, with a strong defense, and a beautiful goal against Barthez. And at the end of the first half, in light of how crappy we were playing, i felt Italians deserved to win ... that is, if they weren't playing such a dirty game in the first place. Dirty in the sense that every 2 minutes, one of them was rolling on the floor for no good reason beside buying time. They were fouling like crazy *and* rolling on the floor.
Beside a great Italian goal, and a near-goal by Zidane beautifully diverted by Buffon, this final was devoid of impressive actions on either side, mired in dirty play, and as far as i can tell, nobody won. If I'd been there, I'd want my money back.
And as far as that so-called "questionable" foul in the 7th minute, watching the replay clearly shows it as a foul. You can't just lay yourself in front of the attacker's legs, right in front of the goal, without coming close to touching the ball, and get away with it. Whether or not the Italian player succeeds in knocking the attacker's legs down with his feet will affect whether he gets a yellow card or not, but the foul was clearly there. And again, it was pretty consistent with the Italian "foul-then-roll-on-the-floor" stance throughout the game.
Regardless, France was fouled-on later again, that was clearly penalty material, and nothing was called.
Agreed. Italian boys are dramatic in quite a literal sense. They've been doing that every game I've seen them.
I'm sure there are plenty of trash talking on the field. Sure Materazzi could've said some f'ed up crap to Zidane. Sure he deserved the head butt. But for Zidane to lose his cool on the field is just too bad.
What makes soccer great is that there is no video review, and that's when the ref, for all we know, is god on the field. Yet they're so human and call what they call, good, bad or ugly. Fair calls? There are those. Bad calls? There are even more so of that.
4 comments:
Hey, I told you not to wear your *blue* jersey!!!
You know, at one point I thought France would win. Then Zidane went insane...
What happened is that Materazzi whispered something in Zidane's ear, then they both proceeded to walk alongside each-other, like nothing was wrong, then Zidane walked in front of him, turned around, and head-butted him. While Zidane's had red cards pulled at him in the past and a history of being at times temperamental, this didn't look like a "heat of the moment" kind of thing, with two players struggling for a ball.
Materazzi clearly must have told Zidane some f'ed up sh!t, and Zidane snapped. If what Materazzi said was really that bad, in hindsight I'd say oh well, sad for France to lose, but way to expose Materazzi as a trash-talker on the field. Sad way for Zidane to end his career? He's likely crying his way to the bank right now, and given how far he's taken the French team, including resuming play after a dislocated shoulder in the final, he's earned it. Hopefully Ribery, one of the true great players of this tournament, will cary the French team forward.
It's really sad, because Italians played a pretty good technical game, with a strong defense, and a beautiful goal against Barthez. And at the end of the first half, in light of how crappy we were playing, i felt Italians deserved to win ... that is, if they weren't playing such a dirty game in the first place. Dirty in the sense that every 2 minutes, one of them was rolling on the floor for no good reason beside buying time. They were fouling like crazy *and* rolling on the floor.
Beside a great Italian goal, and a near-goal by Zidane beautifully diverted by Buffon, this final was devoid of impressive actions on either side, mired in dirty play, and as far as i can tell, nobody won. If I'd been there, I'd want my money back.
And as far as that so-called "questionable" foul in the 7th minute, watching the replay clearly shows it as a foul. You can't just lay yourself in front of the attacker's legs, right in front of the goal, without coming close to touching the ball, and get away with it. Whether or not the Italian player succeeds in knocking the attacker's legs down with his feet will affect whether he gets a yellow card or not, but the foul was clearly there. And again, it was pretty consistent with the Italian "foul-then-roll-on-the-floor" stance throughout the game.
Regardless, France was fouled-on later again, that was clearly penalty material, and nothing was called.
Agreed. Italian boys are dramatic in quite a literal sense. They've been doing that every game I've seen them.
I'm sure there are plenty of trash talking on the field. Sure Materazzi could've said some f'ed up crap to Zidane. Sure he deserved the head butt. But for Zidane to lose his cool on the field is just too bad.
What makes soccer great is that there is no video review, and that's when the ref, for all we know, is god on the field. Yet they're so human and call what they call, good, bad or ugly. Fair calls? There are those. Bad calls? There are even more so of that.
But that's soccer for ya. :)
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