Who will win the 2006 FIFA World Cup: France or Italy?

[Levenspiel2]

As I said above, Italy was the better side in all the matches they played after the 1/16 game. They outplayed Ukraine, Germany, and France, imho. But, that penalty in the Australia game really bothered me, although they still could win it in the extra time or in the penalty shoot-outs.

So, I think Italy should be congratulated - though a stain in the mind remains!

France deserved to be in the final. Think of the Spain, Portugal and Brasil games, who was the clearly better side?

 

[wardjdim2]

France didn't lose the game because of the stupid foul of Zidane (which was indeed very very stupid and a clear red card) but because the ref decided that he would give a foul goal for Italy and no 2nd Penalty for Malouda - and because he let the Italians play their dirty game of provocations and divings.
Sorry, I can't congratulate such a team, they simply don't deserve it, there was only one team that played Football tonight and it was France.

NoNoNoNoNo...
Trifilli, I disagree on what you said. The ref whistled a non-existing penalty in the 5th or so min. of the game. If you had watched Italy before the final, you ould know that they start dominating the rhythm after the 15th minute... Instead, they unfairly had to start running and chasing to tie it. Indeed Italy was better in the 1st half and only in the 2nd, when they couldn't run anymore, they started playing defense.
I didnt see anything dirty here. The goal of Materazzi was clearly not a foul and of course the divings were never whistled as fouls.
Where was the provocation in your opinion? I didnt see anything on that...

 

[LuDux2]

Googled a bit about Zidane and red cards and here's what i found:

1998 World Cup
Zidane, tipped to be one of the key performers in the World Cup, is now likely to miss France's next two matches, but gained little sympathy from his coach Aime Jacquet afterwards.
"I think the referee was justified in sending him off for doing what he did," said Jacquet.
"We want our players to put on a good show but they also have to show their self-control. Hopefully we can remain calmer in our next matches."
Zidane responded: "Jacquet can say what he likes, but I don't think I deserved the red card, I did something I should not have done, but it was
not nasty and I am fed up with receiving knocks all the time."
______

Zidane was sent off for treading on Saudi Arabian captain Fuad Amin
during their group C match on Thursday, becoming the first French
player ever to be sent off at the World Cup finals.


1999 Italian league game
Zidane won the match with a great free kick and was later sent off for
diving.


Still great player

http://img469.imageshack.us/img469/7280/wclogol2cd.gif
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[elaj2]

I've got this from Lith friend, its really funny pic.

 

[Zalgirinis2]

I've got this from Lith friend, its really funny pic.

Oh you thief Thats mine pic, I had to put it, now Im gonna cry

 

[Joško Poljak Fan2]

have fun

 

[LuDux2]

http://www.cabalamat.org/weblog/ronaldo_and_rooney.jpg
http://pictures.mildlyamusing.co.uk/albums/userpics/normal_rooney.jpg

 

[woma2]

Reading some soccer-basketball-volleyball and other sports palmares, you will often find Italian names. This is probably disturbing you.

Not really, I don't have anything against Italians in basketball-volleyball-other sports, only in soccer, so don't worry about me.
They are prototypican villans and soccer suits them the best - you can make a dive/flop in penalty area, or provoke an opponent to basically win the game. You can't do this in volleyball or basketball, because you have to do something on your own there too, so my hatred for Italians exists basically only in soccer.

 

[Digdis2]

Portugal training camp:

 

[Marius1232]

The ref whistled a non-existing penalty in the 5th or so min. of the game.

Too categorical, I think. There's been a lot of discussion about it, I guess no need to provide arguments anymore. Malouda broke through two Italian defenders, Materazzi tried to avoid contact, but tripped Malouda's right ankle - a very slight touch. A dive? I'm not sure at that speed. Accidental tripping worthy of a penalty? Why not? Sometimes the ref will call it, sometimes he won't ...

http://i6.tinypic.com/1zmgo4l.jpg
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http://i6.tinypic.com/1zmgyuu.jpg
http://i6.tinypic.com/1zmh11i.jpg
http://i6.tinypic.com/1zmh21g.jpg

If you had watched Italy before the final, you ould know that they start dominating the rhythm after the 15th minute... Instead, they unfairly had to start running and chasing to tie it. Indeed Italy was better in the 1st half and only in the 2nd, when they couldn't run anymore, they started playing defense.

OK, that might be correct from the tactical point of view. But kinda hard to buy ... "they conceded the first goal, so they had to press to equalise ... when they equalised, they had no more forces to run" ... You can't ask to always control the tempo and make the opponent come from behind. The same France got hit by Spain, but managed to come back and even more.

I didnt see anything dirty here. The goal of Materazzi was clearly not a foul

Well, not an outrageous foul, but sometimes such holding by a shoulder will get whistled, sometimes not. This time Materazzi got lucky, on another occasion near that time ge got whistled for a similar holding.

Overall - Italy did great to equalise, they owned the first half after the Zidane's penalty. Not easy to break through the French defence, of course - but they found a very weak spot - dead-ball situations (corners, free kicks), where the French ... With Pirlo's great delivery, it was coming sooner or later, it seemed.

Compared to the semi-final versus Germany, where the Italians had very nice moments of passing and combinations, this time they were far from it (probably French defence?) ... I remember one magic moment in the 1st half (Gattuso inbounding the ball from the sideline on the right, some passwork between him and Totti, and Toni is released before Barthez - only a last-moment tackle by Thuram clears the danger ... that was really magestic ... ) ... otherwise, the Italians didn't manage to do a lot of that. (Not that fluent passwork is so necessary to win games).

The draw was a fair result, IMO. At the end, the French were more active and creative, but simply not enough to break down the tenacious Italians. Gattuso, Cannavro - not easy to beat those tough guys ... at the end, the penalty shoot-out, and after so many years - finally some luck smiled to Italy. The same Trezeguet, who killed them in 2000, smashes against the crossbar - boom!

The impression of the Italian team is mixed for me. Some fantastic football under Lippi - you gotta love the game versus Ghana (and we probably didn't know at that time how good Ghana) ... A nice semi-final versus Germany (one of those 0-0 games, which are exciting) ... On the other hand, some long stretches "old same Italy" - conservative, defensive, ultra-cautious ... But a welcome change anyway, IMHO.