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[Shinobi]

Well, I finally caught up in this thread. Last 25 pages are filled to the brim with ****ing stupid. Dumb shits, smart asses and unparralled ignorance. Par for the course on this board. :lol

Time for my usual "quote the best quotes" bit, interjected with my own thoughts. And I'll have more to say later today.

I agree dude and speedpop, I dedicate Italia's win today to you and Shinobi today in terms of the GAF crowd.

:lol But I wasn't even cheering for Italy!

where's Jim Grey to interview Zidane right outside the French locker room?

:lol

I guess the italian strategy worked -- don't make the opposing keeper do anything for so long that when it goes to shotouts he's not warmed up. :lol

:lol To be fair to him Buffon wasn't much closer on France's kicks. Seriously, both teams were excellent on all eleven on their chances (Zidane's penalty was one of the best I've ever seen...no goalie in the world could've stopped it), but Trez was simply bitten by horrible bad luck. A quarter of an inch down and they might still be kicking penalties.

-**** Trezeguet for being a useless piece of shit
-**** Domench for taking out Ribery and Henry and putting on bitches like Trezeguet
-**** Barthez with his old can't save shit ass

**** you for making such a stupid ass post.

He should leave joke attempts to people that are actually funny.

:lol I actually agree with this...Forza has been in form the entire World Cup, making half the posters in this thread look like petty fools. The fact that he was ultimately right while making his posts in a half-joking manner just makes it that much funnier.


For a forum that features people talking shit about plastic boxes with circuit boards in them, you'd think people would be able to handle the shit talking that takes place IN A ****ING SPORTS THREAD.

Sangol took the PK that Zidane would have. France lost the game on Trezeguet's god awful PK.

Awful? WTF are you smoking? If it's a half inch lower it's the best kick of the entire round. Buffon wouldn't have had a chance to stop it even if he knew it was going there and moved in advance.

A bad penalty kick is some slow ass squibbler on the ground, or missing the entire net. Not hitting the underside of the crossbar with power.

Everybody will forget this headbutt in a couple years, especially when everybody knows that's out his character.

People who say it's going to tarnish his legacy are ****ing morons. The only people who are going to think that way are those who hated him to begin with.

Maradona is a perfect example of this. If you hate his guts (and while I don't, most English fans do), you remember him for his "Hand of God". If you like the guy or are simply objective, you're gonna remember him for what he did five minutes later when he dribbled through the best defense in the world at that time and slotted in the eventual winning goal. It's all about perspective.

Same thing with Michael Jordan...haters will yap about him ruining his legacy because he played a couple seasons with the Wizards and put up "average" numbers. For the fans and the objective viewers, six rings, three MVP's, mutiple scoring titles and his ability to drain clutch shots are all people are gonna give a shit about.

This red card will mean shit in a few months...it was a shocking thing to see, but to say it had an effect on the game is ****ing ridiculous. France STILL controlled the last ten minutes, and took five great penalties. Trez was simply unlucky with his miss. To blame either man for the loss is simply idiotic...it's unsurprising that the "I WATCH SOCCER EVERY FOUR YEARS!!" crowd thinks that, but I expect far better from people who claim to know the game.

also i am happy for del piero, the only italian player i love. the rest of italy, italian fans and specially the "italians" in brooklyn can go **** themselves. nobody knows shit about soccer, but come wc time, everybodys a patriot! freaking bandwagon jumpers.

To be fair, that goes for fans in most countries. Hell, goes for 90% of the people in this thread too. :lol

I think his prolonged shoulder ache altered his mood -- he simply couldn't bear anymore.

Excellent point.

Defense forever!

Tell that to Switzerland. :lol

Good Lord...Zidane looks like he wanted to ****ing kill him.

Congrats to Italia. A completely deserved win as they showed to be the best team of the whole tournament. They were too cautious today, but it still worked, so good for them.

Most importantly, this will be a HUGE boost for the Serie in these times of trouble. At least it'll help them cope with it until the traditional teams get back on track.

I'm so extremely disappointed because of what Zizou did today though. Watching him end his career in such a pathetic fashion after always admiring him as a classy and fantastic football player really hurts me. When they showed the headbutt for the 1st time I just sat there speechless and actually felt like I was going to tear up(although I didn't tongue ).

I understand that frustration can get the best of us sometimes, but the moment he was living, being in a position to say goodbye to the sport showered in glory and knowing how far above Matterazzi he is, I would've expected a different reaction from him. Sadly, he ****ed up and I won't be able to erase that image from my mind for the rest of my life.

Still one of the greatest of all time, but his goodbye will be forever tarnished by a completely unacceptable action.

All this from a Bruce Bowen defender :lol...this thread has been hysterical.

I really can't understand why anyone would faulter a team for winning, in this particular World Cup ,by playing ugly.

Why? Because the mediocre level of play has been what characterized the whole tournament. There were a few bright spots here and there, but overall, teams were more worried about not losing than going forward and creating enough chances to secure a victory. You can count the really good games in one hand.

I understand that tactics play a huge role in today's game, but the extreme caution applied by almost every team has really diminished what should be a fantastic show. And this really applies to every team in the WC, with one team or another breaking the mold in one game or two.

Sure, at the start of the 2nd half and a couple of plays in ET, France looked good and they could've converted, but overall both teams played poorly and for a World Cup final it was an extremely average game.

So people can talk all the crap they want about how awful Italia played, but comparing it to the rest of nations, their level wasn't really far apart. They just know how to apply the system better.

At least you resurrected yourself with this post. :lol

I don't know, i respect your opinion but i still doubt anyone would really want to wait for PKs in a wc final. My opinions is France definately had much more energy, Italy was exhausted; i don't think they didn't want to try, they just couldn't; France was much faster.

That's exactly what happened. For whatever reason Italy didn't have any energy at all from the start of the second half on. Considering they had an extra day of rest it was surprising, but then that semi-final against Germany (which again was the best game of the tournament by miles...full of emotion and intensity) probably took a ton out of them. France meanwhile played far more cautiously in their game, due to having several key players on yellow cards. So despite losing out on the extra day, they clearly had more in the tank and were able to dictate play from the second half on.

Im so glad its over and this thread can die, if i hear "THEY DESERVED TO WIN" one more time i'll go nuts.

If you dont score more than the other team you dont deserve jack. Thats football. If the 90% or so of you that only read 1 soccer thread every 4 years would like to take one thing from this thread. Please take that.

Preach. And the PK thing doesn't fly either...a million games have been lost in regulation time by teams who had the superior play. Doesn't mean jack shit...all that matters is the result (which is what I said during England's wins). That's the beauty of sport.

So going by that way of thinking it was ok for totti to spit at another play, for beckham to stick his middle finger up at the crowd, for adriano to punch someone in the face, for rooney to say "**** off" to the ref after every decision going against him and for cantona to kick someone in the crowd?

Well everyone in the thread agrees that shit talking is part of the game right? That would include cursing and swear words, right? So if a mic happens to pick some of that up and it gets beamed to a worldwide audience, how is the player responsible when everyone says it's part of the game to begin with? Can't have it both ways.

Charles Barkley had it right years ago...he was paid to raise hell on the court, not paid to raise your kids.

The UK press who already hate the Italians you mean? :lol

Weak counter argument...the UK press hates everyone. :lol

 

[Shinobi]

what early lies - even the Italian coach said the linesmen in question looked at the replays on the bigscreen before the lead official came over, and commentators during the game noted the same.

A couple newspaper writers said that no replays of the incident was shown, which is likely why the majority of the crowd booed Italy whenever they touched the ball afterwards since they had no idea why Zidane was sent off.

I think Fifa, as they talk about fair play, should have stepped in a taken Zidane out of the possible winners.

Using that logic, FIFA should've booted Italy's ass out of the World Cup for their embarassing match fixing scandal. :lol

Zidane was a joke of a selection BTW...he was invisible in the first two games, and thanks to two yellow cards wasn't even in the third. He played masterfully against Spain, Brazil (probably the best performance of the entire World Cup) and Italy (I thought he was a bit off against Portugal, though still effective at times), but that hardly constitutes the best, most consistent performer of the entire World Cup, which I believe the award should've been for. Buffon or Cannavaro should've won it in a walk. And Thuram was easily France's most consistent and effective performer over the course of their seven matches. For all the talk about Italy's defense, people seem to overlook the fact that France only gave up one open field goal, against South Korea. And they acheived that with the biggest goalkeeping liability in the tournament in their net. :lol

That said, the idea that Zidane shouldn't have been a candidate because of his red card is simply idiotic. He didn't deserve the award, but that's because of overall merit, not because of some silly card that he got ten minutes from the end of the ****ing tournament. And BTW, spare me the fair play bullshit...we only need to look back to Italy/USA to see there was precious little of that on Italy's behalf.

This is the hilarity of the French backers, they claim Italy played so poorly and were so defensive minded they didn't deserve to win, yet France made it all the way to the final by playing a boring defensive style. Hypocrisy at it's best.

That's just silly talk...France was at least as balanced as Italy throughout the tournament. The only two games they really sat back was against Korea in the second half (tatical blunder) and Portugal (protecting themselves against more yellow cards). France/Switzerland was more of a stalemate then anything else, with the Swiss boasting the other great defence in the tournament (along with Italy and France). Unfortunately for them they proved that simply playing great defense doesn't mean shit if you can't score.

That said, the idea that Italy were the same old boring ass Azzurri is utter nonsense. Yeah they played that way in a couple games, but this team was far more open in terms of offensive and counterattacking play then previous editions. Hell, look at the Italy/Germany game...the best match of the World Cup by a mile (hell, one of the best in recent memory), and it wasn't because Italy sat back in their own half for 120 minutes. But ultimately their defense and goalkeeping is the backbone of their squad.

who the **** has accused italy of cheating in the final game? they played a fantastic match, but obviously had nothing left in the tank after the marathon against Germany and their offensive pace in the first half. and judging by the Italian players' PKs, they exuded a confidence that didn't make them seem worried about a situation that 'they are so bad at', as opposed to England, who also have a horrific history with shoot outs and showed it.

I've got a theory behind this. Basically if you've played like shit in a game but get to a penalty shootout, you've got nothing to lose. Therefore you just go up there and wing it, knowing that if you lose it's what you'd deserve anyway.

On the flip side of the coin, a team who's dominated play for much of the game, or had a huge lead and somehow managed to blow it, and then finds themselves in a penalty shootout, goes into it with a completely different mentality. They know that anything less then success is a failiure, and they've got far more pressure to succeed. As a result they end up thinking about their kicks instead of just winging it, resulting in soft shots or balls that miss the target altogether.

Sunday's final, Argentina/Germany, England/Portugal, Arsenal/Man United (FA Cup final) and Liverpool/AC Milan (Champions League final) all illustrate my theory. Which to be fair, is all it is. But I think there's something to it.

B.S. If France had won it, you would be rejoicing right now. You're just a sore loser.

Agreed. People who whine about penalty shootouts generally have no idea just how much strain these players go through just to play 120 minutes. Asking them to play until they drop is ****ing ridiculous, and the game quality would drop dramatically anyhow. Injury and the potential loss to the clubs that pay them MILLIONS of dollars have to be factored in.

Everyone knows going into a knockout game that a penalty shootout is a possibility. If you can't score one more goal then your oppponent in 120 minutes and go down due to penalties, that's your ****ing problem.




A couple more points...Henry played his best game of the entire tournament on Sunday. He was absolutely incredible in the second half...made two incredible runs that made an otherwise air tight defense look like fools. It's a shame he wasn't able to score, but he certainly showed up for this game. And BTW, **** his haters.

Italy were worthy winners. There seemed to be intent on their part to play France pretty rough, but that's on the ref to call that shit. To their credit Italy didn't do nearly as much diving/injury feigning as they'd done in prior games (of course Portugal had outdone them by miles in this tourney anyway), which was refreshing to see.

And I personally think Zidane let that guy off lightly...if he'd really wanted to do some damage, he would've head butted him in the face. Probably would've caved it in with the force he used. I think the use of his fists along with his head is what really cracked me up. Anyway, I understand why Zidane reacted the way he did (if certain reports are true), and wouldn't begrudge him of it. Also you could easily argue that Maseratti or whatever the **** his name is should've gotten a yellow card for twisting his nipple. I'm pretty sure he would have if he'd done that right in front of the ref. Acting as if he only provoked Zidane verbally is pretty ridiculous.

 

[eso76]

Yes you are. I dont like him at all but I can understand why Italians consider hima hero.

Well, you need to distinguish between the player and the man.
I for one can tell you he's still considered an asshole by many Italians.
A decent/good player, but an asshole of a guy nonetheless.
It has to be said that he lost his mother when he was 14 and still had to endure the thousand times his mom was called a b1tch by other players and by the crowd...i guess that's the kind of thing that can make a person more prone to using violence and losing his temper on the field.
Zidane on the other hand has always been held in high esteem by many Italians as a player and as a man, for the little known about his private life at least.

Don't be fooled by this thread; here you can see a bunch of Italians defending their team against all criticisms (sp ?) coming from other coutries. It's natural for people to circle around things they feel their own to protect them against the outside, or to give a good image of them on the outside. But Italians were the first to aknowledge the team's shortcomings and complain about it's faults.

 

[BatiGOOOOOOL]

All this from a Bruce Bowen defender ...this thread has been hysterical.

Shinobi, you're a great poster IMO, but that comparison was horrible. I've never seen Bruce snap like Zizou did. People think he is dirty, I don't. All I'm sure is I've never seen him trying to hurt someone with all the intention in the world. Playing hard, physical defense has got him into trouble with a few players, but I don't see him hurting a fellow player because he wanted too.

As you said, Zidane's legacy won't be tarnished by the headbutt, but what could've been a glorious goodbye, like no other, is.

 

[marc^o^]

Yes, connaisseurs will remember Zidane as a genious, and they will feel sorry he ended his career on that image. People who didn't know him will only remember that terrible (though not harmful) headbutt. But even if he's not a saint, few men on earth are as kind and humble as him in life.

 

[Scotch]

The new FIFA ranking is in. They've changed the way they calculate the scoring, and only count the last four years now. This new system seems to result in a more realistic list:


01. Brazil (1) 1630 points
02. Italy (13) 1550
03. Argentina (9) 1472
04. France (8) 1462
05. England (10) 1434
06. Netherlands (3) 1322
07. Spain (5) 1309
08. Portugal (7) 1301
09. Germany (19) 1229
10. Czech Republic (2) 1223

 

[Manics]

The new FIFA ranking is in. They've changed the way they calculate the scoring, and only count the last four years now. This new system seems to result in a more realistic list:


01. Brazil (1) 1630 points
02. Italy (13) 1550
03. Argentina (9) 1472
04. France (8) 1462
05. England (10) 1434
06. Netherlands (3) 1322
07. Spain (5) 1309
08. Portugal (7) 1301
09. Germany (19) 1229
10. Czech Republic (2) 1223

Italia should be #1

 

[polluar]

Zidane just told on a french tv channel : I appologize but no regret. The words of materrazi were too strong. It was about my mother and my sister

 

[Manics]

Zidane just told on a french tv channel : I appologize but no regret. The words of materrazi were too strong. It was about my mother and my sister

Care to elaborate Mr. Zidane?

 

[Dunpeal]

The new FIFA ranking is in. They've changed the way they calculate the scoring, and only count the last four years now. This new system seems to result in a more realistic list:


01. Brazil (1) 1630 points
02. Italy (13) 1550
03. Argentina (9) 1472
04. France (8) 1462
05. England (10) 1434
06. Netherlands (3) 1322
07. Spain (5) 1309
08. Portugal (7) 1301
09. Germany (19) 1229
10. Czech Republic (2) 1223

Only count the last 4 years? Hmm. So what do they base the points on?

 

[polluar]

no more word, just he will explain more in front of the FIFA, he wants to say that the two players must be punished, the one who gives a headbutt and the one who insult you.

But he didn't say if there was some racism in the Materrazi's words


BTW, He said that was his last game

 

[Mike Works]

so hey, where's jGuru

 

[Manics]

so hey, where's jGuru

Hiding.

 

[LJ11]

If what he said ever comes out as not being something related to Zinadine's heriatge, i want to be banned for a month

Do I smell a ban?? :lol

 

[Fularu]

http://www.lemonde.fr/web/article/0,1-0@2-3242,36-794882@51-734920,0.html

Basicaly Zidane says it was related to his sister and mother and that the english tabloids were on the money with their lips reading

Also that he didn'T say it only once, but 3 times. The first two times he walked away, on the third time, he bitchslapped/owned him

 

[Kabuki Waq]

http://www.lemonde.fr/web/article/0,1-0@2-3242,36-794882@51-734920,0.html

Basicaly Zidane says it was related to his sister and mother and that the english tabloids were on the money with their lips reading

Also that he didn'T say it only once, but 3 times. The first two times he walked away, on the third time, he bitchslapped/owned him

what did the tabloids say?

 

[LJ11]

http://www.lemonde.fr/web/article/0,1-0@2-3242,36-794882@51-734920,0.html

Basicaly Zidane says it was related to his sister and mother and that the english tabloids were on the money with their lips reading

Also that he didn'T say it only once, but 3 times. The first two times he walked away, on the third time, he bitchslapped/owned him

So he called his mother and sister a whore?

 

[Dr Zhivago]

Hmm. So what do they base the points on?

 

[elostyle]

Klinsmann called it quits. His assistant Joachim Löw has taken over and has a contract until after the eurocup now.

 

[bionic77]

what did the tabloids say?

They came up with like 90 different versions of what Mazeratti might have said.

 

[Manics]

http://www.lemonde.fr/web/article/0,1-0@2-3242,36-794882@51-734920,0.html

Basicaly Zidane says it was related to his sister and mother and that the english tabloids were on the money with their lips reading

Also that he didn'T say it only once, but 3 times. The first two times he walked away, on the third time, he bitchslapped/owned him

How did he say it 3 times? His mouth didn't move enough for that in the small exchange.

 

[Manics]

why is that funny?

I was calling Henry a bitch.

 

[Fularu]

How did he say it 3 times? His mouth didn't move enough for that in the small exchange.

Because we don't have a full record of the whole incient maybe? Maybe he said it several times dring the game? Lors of possibilities, none past Materozzi

 

[ForzaItalia]

Wow, I could understand Zidane going nuts over a heritage or racial thing but the "mom" and "sister" jokes??!!:lol :lol :lol That is so playground man....Zidane is a loser and a selfish player.....what a dick for doing that to his team...toughen up you pussy...oh wait, it doesn't matter....he's retiring....

:lol But I wasn't even cheering for Italy!

Because unlike many....you "GOT" it dude!

so hey, where's jGuru

Washing my pair....

 

[eso76]

How did he say it 3 times? His mouth didn't move enough for that in the small exchange.

throughout the whole game i think he meant.
He also said Materazzi was pulling his shirt, and he told him if he wanted to exchange shirts he'd have to wait till after the game, and Materazzi answered like that.
Now, not to defend Materazzi but it's somewhat common here using expressions like "...la puttana di tua sorella/madre" (which would translate into something like "the b1tch your sister/mother is" it would sound like "yeah...and your sister/mother, that b1tch") and when you say that in Italy you don't really mean to offend someone's sister or mother, it's not used literally. Those expressions are sometimes used as simple exclamations and are....hmm 'impersonal' ? does it make sense in english ? they are not really targeted to anyone in particular, you can use them to express something ranging from "yeah right" or "(your shirt) my ass" to just "damn" without any real intention of saying anything bad about anyone's sister/mother. It's also possible that Zidane understands the single words but doesn't really know what these expressions mean here.
Of course it all depends on how you pronounce/say it; i'd have to hear it to judge.

And to think this only happened because Zidane can speak and understand some italian...one wonders how many player's mothers were called ***** during the WC and no one understood

 

[bionic77]

Wow, I could understand Zidane going nuts over a heritage or racial thing but the "mom" and "sister" jokes??!!:lol :lol :lol That is so playground man....Zidane is a loser and a selfish player.....what a dick for doing that to his team...toughen up you pussy...oh wait, it doesn't matter....he's retiring....

Has Italy ever produced a player as talented as Zidane? I personally find him to be in the league of Maradona and Pele.

P.S. Adu is going to take out the Italians in South Africa.

 

[Fularu]

snip

Zidanes perfectly speaks and understands italian, he lived 7 years there while playing for juve

 

[tegdf]

The new FIFA ranking is in. They've changed the way they calculate the scoring, and only count the last four years now. This new system seems to result in a more realistic list:


01. Brazil (1) 1630 points
02. Italy (13) 1550
03. Argentina (9) 1472
04. France (8) 1462
05. England (10) 1434
06. Netherlands (3) 1322
07. Spain (5) 1309
08. Portugal (7) 1301
09. Germany (19) 1229
10. Czech Republic (2) 1223

the U.S. dropped from 5th to 16


also, soccer players get taunted horribly by some fans, they even chant racist stuff at black players during games

 

[Mike Works]

Has Italy ever produced a player as talented as Zidane? I personally find him to be in the league of Maradona and Pele.

No, we've only produced 4 World Cups

 

[eso76]

Zidanes perfectly speaks and understands italian, he lived 7 years there while playing for juve

you see, sometimes you even say that to someone you don't even know whether has a sister or not, or even to someone who you perfectly know doesn't even have one.
I'm not entirely sure one can learn and understand these things as an adult, if they're not part of their culture.
But of course i'm not ruling out the possibility Materazzi meant them literally.

 

[eso76]

Has Italy ever produced a player as talented as Zidane?

never heard of Rivera, Baggio, Paolo Rossi...?

 

[Shinobi]

Shinobi, you're a great poster IMO, but that comparison was horrible. I've never seen Bruce snap like Zizou did. People think he is dirty, I don't. All I'm sure is I've never seen him trying to hurt someone with all the intention in the world. Playing hard, physical defense has got him into trouble with a few players, but I don't see him hurting a fellow player because he wanted too.

As you said, Zidane's legacy won't be tarnished by the headbutt, but what could've been a glorious goodbye, like no other, is.

Come on man...Bowen has given people kicks, flying kicks and stood under players while they're landing, which are all vicious, potential career ending actions and completely unneccessary. Acting like Zidane has now ruined his image beyond repair due to a headbutt that did nothing but knock the wind out of Mido (or Mardo, Mydo, whatever) while you've stuck your head in the sand about Bowen's actions is just ridiculous. Well, in my mind anyway.

05. England (10) 1434

08. Portugal (7) 1301

Suck it Portugal!!!

Italia should be #1

They're champs of the ****ing world...quit yer bitchin'. :lol

No, we've only produced 4 World Cups

:lol

The Serie A scandal verdict is expected to drop sometime tomorrow. After that they'll have two weeks to put it through the appeals tribunal. Whatever the final decision is will be made by July 22nd (or something like that), as shortly after is the UEFA deadline for sorting out the Champions League entries (for which lower end qualifying has already started :lol...it's simply unreal). Meanwhile Euro '08 qualifying starts in August for a couple teams, with the bulk of the first qualifying games taking place in mid-September. It really is a neverending season.

Wow, I could understand Zidane going nuts over a heritage or racial thing but the "mom" and "sister" jokes??!!:lol :lol :lol That is so playground man....

If his mother hadn't just taken ill laid up in a hospital, I'm pretty sure it wouldn't have meant shit to him. The circumstances for such utterances almost made that reaction inevitable.

 

[ForzaItalia]

If his mother hadn't just taken ill laid up in a hospital, I'm pretty sure it wouldn't have meant shit to him. The circumstances for such utterances almost made that reaction inevitable.

Never knew that but you still can't put yourself ahead of the team. Imagine if Zidane had ignored it and then 5 minutes later drillied a goal and promptly talked some crap to Matz afterwards....

That would have hurt 10X more than the headbutt....

 

[Shinobi]

Well I also reckon he doesn't do that if it's like, the 20th minute in the first half. At that point in the game pretty much everyone knew that no one was gonna score. And since this was his last match and he'd never get another crack at him, he probably figured what the hell. :lol

 

[jamesinclair]

The new FIFA ranking is in. They've changed the way they calculate the scoring, and only count the last four years now. This new system seems to result in a more realistic list:


01. Brazil (1) 1630 points
02. Italy (13) 1550
03. Argentina (9) 1472
04. France (8) 1462
05. England (10) 1434
06. Netherlands (3) 1322
07. Spain (5) 1309
08. Portugal (7) 1301
09. Germany (19) 1229
10. Czech Republic (2) 1223

BS list. Mexico should be top 5.

 

[BatiGOOOOOOL]

Come on man...Bowen has given people kicks, flying kicks and stood under players while they're landing, which are all vicious, potential career ending actions and completely unneccessary. Acting like Zidane has now ruined his image beyond repair due to a headbutt that did nothing but knock the wind out of Mido (or Mardo, Mydo, whatever) while you've stuck your head in the sand about Bowen's actions is just ridiculous. Well, in my mind anyway.

Again, I think what people think is Bruce being dirty, is just a product of how hard he plays and how he never backs off of his man.

And I already said the headbutt won't damage Zizou's legacy, just what could've been a really unique goodbye.

 

[MrSardonic]

never heard of Rivera, Baggio, Paolo Rossi...?

those aren't players "as talented as Zidane"

 

[paul777]

those aren't players "as talented as Zidane"

Gianni Rivera certainly is.

 

[Remk]

Well, I finally caught up in this thread. Last 25 pages...

I commend you Shinobi, to actually go back and read this thread is indeed painful



While reading at the coca cola rankings:

16 USA 933 -11 177
18 Mexico 924 -14 166

Concacaf am cry!


and

11 Nigeria 1149 0 413
12 Cameroon 1109 3 387
14 Uruguay 985 8 296

wtf? not even qualifying for the WC puts you above those that did?

BS list. Mexico should be top 5.

It will happen

 

[gutter_trash]

Suck it Portugal!!!

pfff! whatever, Portugal was regarded as the most entertaining team to watch, people don't remember boring dull teams.

Even if the Germany crowd was over populated with Brits among the mist who read the Tabloids religiously and jumped on the Ronaldo bashing band waggon,,
Portugal still remained the most entertaining team for viewers around the world.

http://fifaworldcup.yahoo.com/06/en/060709/1/8r3w.html

 

[Mike Works]

BS list. Mexico should be top 5.

Mexico wouldn't be able to crack the top 5 of an alphabetically organized list of world cup teams that start with the letter M. They'd find a way to screw that up too.

 

[BatiGOOOOOOL]

pfff! whatever, Portugal was regarded as the most entertaining team to watch, people don't remember boring dull teams.

Even if the Germany crowd was over populated with Brits among the mist who read the Tabloids religiously and jumped on the Ronaldo bashing band waggon,,
Portugal still remained the most entertaining team for viewers around the world.

http://fifaworldcup.yahoo.com/06/en/060709/1/8r3w.html

I think people voted Portugal the most entertaining team just because they kept them on the edge of their seats waiting for the next spectacular dive or cheat they pulled out of their asses. I definitely thoiught it was entertaining.

 

[eso76]

those aren't players "as talented as Zidane"

for headbutts you mean ? maybe not

i don't think you have even seen them playing.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=C6M0lb0Isc8&search=baggio

 

[Lain]

for headbutts you mean ? maybe not

i don't think you have even seen them playing.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=C6M0l...&search=baggio

Yeah, Baggio has been a great player, one who did some really amazing things. He just didn't happen to win as much as Zidane did tho.

I loved watching him during his WC, too bad people then hated him for missing his penalty in the final, even tho it was almost all his merit if we even got there ( at least imho ) all the while being injuried.

 

[Naked Snake]

Was this posted before? http://www.corriere.it/Primo_Piano/Sport/2006/07_Luglio/10/pop_zidane.shtml

 

[Shinobi]

pfff! whatever, Portugal was regarded as the most entertaining team to watch, people don't remember boring dull teams.

:lol That entertainment was clearly devrived from how much more ridiculous their dives could look. Frankly I was laughing at loud at their drama queen antics in their last two games, while calling for every legit foul they committed to be called a dive. So in that sense yeah, they were easily the most entertaining team of the World Cup. In terms of actually playing football though, Germany, Spain, Argentina and even France were clearly more fun to watch.

 

[MrPing1000]

Maniche was awesome though, wouldn't surprised if a big time has a sniff around him.

 

[bionic77]

never heard of Rivera, Baggio, Paolo Rossi...?

Personally I don't put any of those players in Zidane's class.

 

[+Aliken+]

Paolo Rossi maybe not.

But the other two without a doubt.

 

[bionic77]

Paolo Rossi maybe not.

But the other two without a doubt.

It is a matter of opinion of course and no knock on the Italian players who were tremendous talents. In some ways they had some abilities that were better than Zidane's (who never was the fastest guy on the pitch). But Zidane's control of the ball is just out of this world. He is definitely a different player though. I just put Zidane a little higher because I love the way he plays the game, truly a football genius.

I personally put Zidane only behind Maradona and Pele.