Italy are the World Soccer Champions 2006
And it boiled down to Penalty kicks. 5 for each team. France’s second kick hit the goal post bar. Italy converted all, and become the World Cup Soccer Champions 2006.
The game was tied at 1 - 1. France got the first goal within the first 10 minutes, off a penalty kick awarded to them because of a foul by Italy infront of their goal.
Italy’s equalizer came in the 19th minutes.
And what an idiotic way to go for Zidane. What a disappointing way to end his career - for which no one is to blame but him.
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Out of pure frustration, with 14 minutes left in the second half of the overtime, Zidane head butts an Italian player right into the chest. The red card goes up, he walks out and France play with 10 players for the rest of the game.
But ultimately Italy kept their cool in the penalty kick decider. The Italians would walk up to the ball, keep their head down, having already decided what cornor they would be kicking at and wham! No mistakes.
An evenly fought match, I would say. But there were glimpses of that Zidane and his team’s magic,… not all throughout and whenever they shone, they failed to finish it. You have to give full credit to the Italian goalkeeper Buffon.
The Italian players get to kiss the cup, a well fought victory, … and its time to call it a wrap.
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July 9th, 2006 at 2:03 pm
What a great match! Happy that Italy won but extremely sad for the way Zidane ended his career.
~Manoj~
July 9th, 2006 at 2:10 pm
Almost in tears am i now. Such a dissapointing way for Zidane. What a Shame he couldnt even bid a farewell. He was not allowed to enter the playing arena. It would’nt have been a shame if he lost the finals and collected the second place medals, but this way? just cant believe it. this is the second time its happening with Zidane. In 1998 world cup too he kicked a saudi Arabian player and got a a red card and missed the next two games. So, obviously its not the case of once bitten twice shy case with Zidane. But, he is a LEGEND. All credits to Italy though. Good job Azzuri’s
July 9th, 2006 at 2:56 pm
World Cup: France Lost, Zidane Ejected, Italy Wins….
Anyone watching this world cup was probably surprised when the captain of France’s World cup team head butted an Italian player in the chest knocking him over. It is obvious that the Italian player said something to Zinedine Zidane to send him over the…
July 10th, 2006 at 4:13 am
Zidane rules… what a punch….. in a reaction to a probable racial slur ??????
how do we go kid … all guns blazing ( from Butch Cassidy and the Sundance kid )
thats the way zidane went .. and whatever one says this one incident will not in any way diminish his achievemnts. rememeber how he controlled the game against brazil.
it shouldnt be like what shakespear said ‘the good that men do gets interred with his death ‘
italy suckss
July 10th, 2006 at 5:29 am
Manoj, Zidane was the only good thing that France had…the rest of them are a bunch of fakers - Henry and Malouda being the biggest play-actors out there. France didn’t deserve that penalty in the first place. Anyway, Italy were the better team and had the best defence of the tournament. Conceding just two goals (one a self goal and the other being the penalty in the finals) speaks volumes about their backline.
I am personally a big fan of Zidane, but whatever may be the instigation, what he did was unsporting behavior. Do you see Tendulkar go and headbutt the players in the Aussie slip cordon? NO…he lets his bat do the talking. Zidane should have done the same. Isn’t it sad that he could not even come to collect his medal?
And it happens many times that the greatness of a talented person is forgotten and his one stupid deed is remembered for the rest of his life while one act of genius by a loser is remembered for the rest of his life
~Manoj~
July 10th, 2006 at 6:36 am
I was supporting France simply because of Zidane. But it was sad to see him end his career like that. And even though that headbutt may have cost France the match, I’m sure deep down inside it made Zidane feel good for whatever racial slur was thrown at him. The Itlaian defender must have said something terrible to have a normally calm man turn angry.
July 10th, 2006 at 7:10 am
i knew it would be worth watching in lil italy
we got free gelato after the match :d …and some really good gelato at that
the atmosphere was amazing…though about 75% of them didnt really care about the futbol…it was all about the alcohol…and the 101 reaons to consume alcohol that were introduced upon Italy’s victory….the way the place was stocked though, ud think they would drink either way
anyway, exciting match…Italy with their beautiful new formation are nothing short of a world-championship deserving team…though I still think it sounded better on paper than what it actually lived upto…I mean, the only real azzuri stars on the field were buffon and pirly and gattu…which well, they always were…and well, grosso….and cannou…ok, fine, I’m just aching that it could not be argentina…but yes, the Azzuris showed their worth…it was good, a good team…
Zidane is still the man…it doesnt really bother me…I have absolute faith in the calmness of the man to know it must have been something absolutely punch-worthy…and when its punch-worthy, thats all that can do justice- a headbutt….its sad, I didnt get to stand in the middle of an Italian crown and salute to a living legend…couldnt really do that after he just hurt an Italian…but its ok…I will still wear my #10 with pride and walk down the street doing a little futbol dance, everytime I miss him…which will be always forever…there is nothing left in the bleus anymore for me
*italian guys are hotness personified…damn*
July 10th, 2006 at 7:23 am
It was indeed a very big dissapointment to see Zidane get a red card at the very end of game. A very humiliating way to end his career, leaving France questioning why exactly did he have to head-butt Matarazzi…whatever the reason, the red card was well deserved!! It was surprising, because the referee didn’t see the act till the side referee told him what exactly had happened and who’s fault it was. For a moment I thought Zidane wasn’t going to get even a yellow card!!
Well i was rooting for Italy all along because France had defeated my favorite team: Brazil! So it made me happy!!
As for Italy…VIVA ITALIA!!
July 10th, 2006 at 9:51 am
i was supportin france all coz of zidane….he played well throughout the tournament….good guys finish last…i gess this is the way he’ll go down in history….but all that i have to say is that ZIDANE ROX!!! and never mind the head butt…atleast he used hi s head for somethin in the match….(remember the goal he missed in the second half…) hahahaaa….i wish france had won the world cup though…!
July 10th, 2006 at 10:54 am
well, now the media is going crazy…
speculations that matterazzi called him a terrorist…
which makes me think how this ones going to end….obviously, there is no way to solidly prove who said what…unless of course they retrieve angle stock from the media and decipher mouth movement and what not
honestly, i doubt anyone said anything along those lines…after all these years of play and now that his whole algerian muslim algerian identity had washed over well time ago, only an idiot would use that slur…i’d like to give matt more credit than that…he carries more of a decent head on those shoulders…and quite some age…
zizou was just probably…u know…something…early male menopause
July 10th, 2006 at 11:18 am
hmm, I think I’m over-reacting here but Oz, allow me to use ur blog as my diffusion board…thank-you…
I was just reading up on the whole zidane thing, coz well, I need to build a case here…and I came across some matt spiegel’s sportingblog where he called zizou a ‘bone head’ whose name he hadnt heard of before the butthead incident….and some random dude comments on how his wife uses Zidane as an ‘example of agression on friendly game’ with their kid (which makes me wonder what kinda parenting techniques they have been using if in the span of 21 hours, zidane’s butthead has already become an ‘example’)…and then I came across one reaction that I was absolutely impressed by….and by posting willodoherty’s comments here, I finally rest my case and sleep in peace :
———————————————-
“It’s probably not a bright idea to write a blog about the greatest footballer of his generation playing in the biggest game in four years when it’s pretty clear your grasp of the situation isn’t the best. To start by alluding to the fact that you and many of your readers don’t actually know that much about the man you’re writing about kind of undermines what you go on to say.
As has been pointed out, he doesn’t play for Juventus, having been signed by Real Madrid for what was then a world record fee back in 2001.
As has been pointed out, he single handedly won France the World Cup in 1998 with a n incredible performance in the final. He also was mesmeric in the 2000 European Championships — another tournament won by France.
He’s also not “one of the best players in the world,” he is considered by most to be the finest player of the modern era. Flawless technique and vision rather than pure muscle and pace. His legacy to those who know and cherish the game rather than adopt a fleeting and somewhat derogatory interest every four years will be far better summed up by his goal in the 2002 Champions’ League final than the grisly demise we witnessed yesterday.
If you ignore the whiter-than-white Pele — a man, miraculoulsy, with seemingly no skeletons in any closet — you will see that footballing brilliance and a tightly coiled destructive mechanism often go hand in hand. Look at Eric Cantona and the man who many see as the greatest of all time, Maradona. Like Zidane, Maradona was not blessed with the typical physique of a top footballer, he had to get where he did through natural talent, immense dedication and the development of a mile-wide mean streak.
Most of the world’s top players are born into poor neighbourhoods where the dark side of the game is learnt early and for survival. Very little changes as the street becomes the world’s great stadia: tough, unskilled centre backs and midfielders perform the art of the unseen foul, the prolonged assault on those that make the opposing team tick. The playmakers that survive and sparkle most, like Zidane, Maradona and Cantona, learn how to fight back.
Often this leads to an overreaction — Maradona’s assaults on his opponents as his rage boiled over after a succession of niggles, Cantona’s attack on the crowd after a match where he was abused by the fans and shackled by the unpunished transgressions of a plodding defender, and Zidane’s 16 red cards in his career — and what we witnessed last night was one of the worst cases of that. I don’t condone it as an act of a team player but I by no means view it as a defining moment in the career of one of the true greats of the world’s game.
While the image may linger in the mind, it will never come to define Zidane.
——————————————-
that’s it for me…
July 10th, 2006 at 11:38 am
u know…its basically just that…
I hate to sound condescending but the only people who are going to remember zidane and his butthead are people who dont see it as a moment in what is otherwise a career…ie: the world-cup watchers, the tune-in-every-4-yearers…
not that it is necessarily an advantage or a disadvantage- obviously a large population of the world-cup watchers are purely tune-in-every-4-yearers or at least 2-yearers…so they do matter considerably…
but I think im finding peace in this whole mess just by thinking of the ppl at scallys who I watch the leagues with…when zizou comes up, we’ll be thinking more about 96, 98, champions 02…not butt-heads
*wears her #10 and does a little free-spirit dance*
thank-you for the outlet, oz
July 10th, 2006 at 11:44 am
- Saba, no problem. And thanks for that. I’m sure none - who are soccer fans - and those who “KNOW” who Zidane is will let his parting act blind the view of his brilliance in the field, his track record and the fact that he is one of the greatest in Soccer history. :)>-
July 10th, 2006 at 9:11 pm
Right said saba….’His legacy to those who know and cherish the game rather than adopt a fleeting and somewhat derogatory interest every four years will be far better summed up by his goal in the 2002 Champions’ League final than the grisly demise we witnessed yesterday.”\:d/
Dear fenderbender, italy also wouldnt have been in finals, but for the cheating dive against the aussies in the dying moments of the game. had it extended to the extra time the 10 men italy would havebeen reduced to fodder to the aussies\:d/\:d/\:d/\:d/
July 22nd, 2006 at 3:54 pm
forza italia
we wre due for this win since 94
we are the best …forza azzurri