It's not out of character at all for Zidane. He's been sent off 14 times in his career, including in World Cup 98. As a youth, he headbutted an opposing player after a bad tackle. This is not really unexpected. I've heard rumours that Materrazzi insulted his Algerian background. Or something like that.
France were clearly the better team. Italy only looked dangerous from corners.
It's a cruel way for France to get beaten, but football is a cruel game. The best team doesn't always win!
While I think they were fortunate, I don't begrudge the Italians their triumph. They were one of the best teams in the tournament, they are trying to play a more adventureous style of football rather than their traditional catenaccio, and most of their players will probably find they are in Seria B or even Seria C by the end of today! (Although so will quite a few of the French team!)
You can certainly see the influence of Juve, with Del Piero, Henry, Trezeguet, Viera, Thuram, Cannavaro, Buffon, Zidane, Zambrotta and Camoranesi all playing last night, all ex or current Juve.
I'd like to mention something else, I don't know if anyone else noticed. Did anyone see how many times the ref was in the middle of play? Not like close by, in the middle. It was the first time I'd seen a player have to bend the ball around the ref to make a pass.
On Zidane, I fully accept his actions deserve a red card. But so did Maradona's "hand of god." If they wouldn't have shown the headbutt in the stadium, it would have ended up the same way, something a player shouldn't do but didn't get caught for.
Congrats to Italy, and now the US can brag they tied the team that won it all.
they didn't show the headbutt in the stadium, which is why the 30000 French Fans were going bananas. The referee was where he was meant to be, better too close to the ball than too far away
YEAH! A magnificent feeling!
I still remember when we won in 1982, but this time is better in terms of memory, lol.
I think we deserved the cup. We had the best defense, and we scored with 10 different players, scoring lotsa goals. Beating Germany on his own land is hard, too.
France, deserved it, too. Infact the final was very balanced, and deciding it with penalties was fair: in the first half they didn't do a single shoot to Buffon's goal, and we hit a post... Two very similar teams.
I'm very glad we avenged the Euro 2000 final where we were winning and lost the cup with a goal by Trezeguet (crappy golden gol, abolished after that! Damn!).
Regarding Zidane, I heard that Materazzi gave him the name "terrorist"... but a player with such experience, in a World Cup final, must NOT react this way! Football players exchange titles during the match in every match, so why react this way? Giving him the Best Germany 2006 Player award is a shame.
I dunno about the fate of the clubs, and sincerely I couldn't care less, evenif I hope they get what they deserve: being put in Serie C and B. I'm not a supporter of Milan anymore, and that kind of football, the one played in secred treaties, is crap.
Not sure about that at all. Yes he just about clipped him, but was it enough to make him fall? If it was a rugby match there is no way he's have hurled himself to the floor in that fashion. Giving penalties for the most benign contact as long as the player goes down is the sort of thing that causes diving.
Despite that, you often get some commentator saying "it's a man's game" during a match. It really isn't. The fact that scrawny metrosexuals and 16 year olds can not only survive, but flourish, at the very highest levels proves this. Even the "hard men" of football could not survive in rugby. Yet still we get this bollocks about warriors, lionhearts and "it's a man's game".
Although I agree about all the "lionhearts" and "warriors" business, I feel that players shouldn't be looking for excuses to fall down. If that clip on his ankles really gave him no choice but to fall over then yes, I agree it should have been a penalty, but I still feel that in a sport where he would have got nothing from falling over he would have stayed on his feet. The emphasis at the moment seems to be on looking for an excuse to go down instead of being taken down, which in my opinion is the wrong way round.