What was Zidane thinking (or was he)??
- Thread starter Cobster
- Start date
Both teams were likely exhausted from playing 100 plus minutes of soccer. Italy new they had the superior goalie and felt confident going to penalty kicks. The header was brilliant wasn't it?Cobster said:
Ummm how come France couldn't score evenly matched only by penalty kicks in 2 straight games, and ummm how come they didn't net all of their penalty kicks like the Italians did? Sorry but Italy was the better team on Sunday.
Shut up cry baby!Cobster said:
Damn does it feel good to be WORLD CHAMPS!
Deal with it loser.
VIVA ITALIA!
Great points!tombaladi said:
I love the part "If I forgot his name" LOL! He knows so much about soccer and the game yesterday and can't even remember a name, LOL! By the way, it was Luca Toni, you moron!
Ahhhh the poor chap is just bitter because he had money on France and now he's broke and can't afford to pay for his next sp or rent for that matter, lol!
And I'm not a French fan nor an Italia hater. So there's nothing to "get over". Yes... I've always disliked the way Italy played because there's no need to play "not to lose" when there is such an abundance of talent. Canada playing that way... yeah, I can understand... but not Italy, or any of the other superpowers for that matter. Imagine a Canadian Olympic hockey team having to play the trap in order to win.tombaladi said:
Actually, they'd probably win, but that would be so disgraceful.
And how exactly does winning on penalties make a team the better side? It makes them the winner, but not necessarily the better team. Ten minutes of a crap shoot does not magically eliminate the events of the preceding 120+ minutes. You can't say, "forget about the entire game up until the penalty kicks"...!
That's ridiculous logic.
Almost on par with Maple Leaf fans who think that trading large numbers of useless players is fair and equal value for one superstar player.
And just as ridiculous as....
Because it does take some talent and mental skill to score a goal on penalty kicks with millions of people watching ,fatigued,stressed and with the fate of you're team in you're hands. Obviously 1 Frenchman buckled no?
And yes the leafs are cup bound next year ok!!!
And yes the leafs are cup bound next year ok!!!
Ahhuhhmmm.....
there's always 2010 for France...and hopefully the crybaby suck Zidane will only be a specatator...he basically ruined the whole tournament with his selfishness.
A penalty kick is the only reason France made it to penalty kicks....and a fairly questionable one at that. If your logic holds, the only real goal was scored by Italy on a header by Matterazzi.eleven said:
there's always 2010 for France...and hopefully the crybaby suck Zidane will only be a specatator...he basically ruined the whole tournament with his selfishness.
Continued from:Marco said:
And almost as ridiculous as.... Marco... buddy... what are you thinking?!
You're seriously going to "what if" everbody looking in on this thread? Is that how you debate people... using the classic "what if" scenerio? Okay...
Italy hit a crossbar... Maybe that was because Barthez is too damn short to have knocked it over the bar. Ok, ok... seriously now... France hit a crossbar. I know, I know, you're going to say one was in regulation, while the other was in extras. Honestly... wtf... who cares!! Crossbars and posts are a part of the game. Same as in hockey... shit happens. All that matters in those scenarios is, "did it go in"? Anything else is strictly "tough luck, maybe next time."
Trust me... athletes don't linger on a hit bar after a game and think, "damn that should have been a goal." You know why?
Because... it's... NOT.
Goals are produced from skill, timing and luck. Not from should have been's and could have been's.
And yes... Matt-boy scored on a nice header in regulation. So what... Happens all the time, especially on set plays, where in the first half, Italy was very dangerous. But that doesn't diminish Zidane's goal because he scored on a penalty that shouldn't have been. And it was evened up early in the second half when Malouda REALLY did get taken down in the box, and it wasn't called. So, it's still even steven...
As for the offside... very good call. Watch the replays. It was close, but being a little offside is no different than being a lot offside. Offside is... offside. In the same way that the side official saw what Zidane did, so too must he make the proper offside call.
3-0... highly unlikely.
Yeah, I'm sure it was a bit of a shock and very disappointing to have your leader and talisman momentarily lose his mind and selfishly hurt his team, but c'mon... these guys are professionals and are FAR from being little kids. Losing Zizou is not the reason they lost. They're trained to deal and to win. Period. They weren't able to get it done. End of story.
And while the scoring may not have been as spread out as the Italians, simply check out my previous post as to why that may have been so. Besides, if the team is electing to play through Zidane and Henry exclusively, then yeah... they probably will be your main scoring threats. And based on the system they play, that's pretty much how it all turned out.
In the end, how does that make them a less complete team? Every player had a defined role on the team, within the system. And Zidane ran that system perfectly. It may not have been the type of roles that they played within their own club systems, but more importantly, they chose to play this way in order to maximize their chances of winning. Spain... Brazil... Portugal... and almost Italy. Must be a pretty damn good system... and a true team to remove their egos in order to play it.
Hey, until this year, Italy had been doing the same thing for years upon years... only stifling all of the talented offensive players in the process. Italia lovers should rejoice that they finally have a COMPLETE team, instead of acting like braggarts that their team is actually doing what they should have been doing for lo so many wasted years.
As for the French lineup itself... a true and knowledgable soccer (football) person would know simply by looking at the starters, as well as the bench, what kind of quality this team boasts. Zidane and Henry without the rest could not have accomplished their tremendous run. Guys like Makalele, Petit and Gallas never get their due because they aren't goal scorers, but they provide EVERYTHING else in between. I could just as easily say that without Cannavaro (just him alone), and Italy keeping all of their "balanced" scoring, not only do they lose to France, but they probably don't make it to the Finals. And that's against much weaker competition. The guy truly is a difference maker and a MONSTER out there!!
Just calling it as I see it...
#11
And... a penalty kick is the only reason (because that simply is our reality) that Italy made it past Australia. And a fairly questionable one at that.wonkyknee said:
To be fair, Malouda's first call was an out and out dive. But the second wasn't and I'm positive that after the ref saw the replay at the half, he deliberately chose to wipe the second one away.
#11
I think we now can understand why football is such a popular sport outside North America.
Because it lends itself to these kinds of post mortem analysis that can keep the argument strong and ongoing for days... weeks... months.
And even for years!!!
And because it appears to be a simple game, everyone thinks they can sound like an expert even when they don't have a clue what they are talking about!
But, in fact, it is a very tactical and complex game that can turn on very fine margins of strategy, skill and execution that gives even the experienced players, coaches and experts headaches trying to fathom.
And how they love to argue about it!!! It is argument for the sake of argument... to Hell with the facts!!!
Perry
Because it lends itself to these kinds of post mortem analysis that can keep the argument strong and ongoing for days... weeks... months.
And even for years!!!
And because it appears to be a simple game, everyone thinks they can sound like an expert even when they don't have a clue what they are talking about!
But, in fact, it is a very tactical and complex game that can turn on very fine margins of strategy, skill and execution that gives even the experienced players, coaches and experts headaches trying to fathom.
And how they love to argue about it!!! It is argument for the sake of argument... to Hell with the facts!!!
Perry
Assuming for a moment that at that level you should be talented and possess some mental skill, really the most important attribute to have in a penalty shootout (including hockey) is confidence.tombaladi said:Because it does take some talent and mental skill to score a goal on penalty kicks with millions of people watching ,fatigued,stressed and with the fate of you're team in you're hands. Obviously 1 Frenchman buckled no?
And yes the leafs are cup bound next year ok!!!
Doesn't it say a lot when the Italians select Matterazzi, Grosso and De Rossi over the likes of Toni, Iaquinta and Zambrotta?
And I am very sorry and extremely disappointed to say that the Leafs... oh forget it. I just get depressed thinking about how long it's going to take before a fast, young, COMPETITIVE team is going to take up residence in this town. And I don't mean the Marlies...
#11
All I have to say to that is, read eleven's replies.tombaladi said:
He pretty much nailed it right on.
ps - Italians are dirty (players). Viva Italia, all you want, they're dirty in not only in my eyes, but a lot of others as well. I just laugh and think to myself "they actually think they're great".
Yea, he just won the Golden Ball award for best player. I think he stopped crying.wonkyknee said:
I know. When Totti (who I cant stand myself) got sent off for spitting, we took it, we knew he was wrong and moved on! How many slurs are said in the heat of the competition? Hundreds? He was purely fustrated at the lack of scoring punch the French were having. Italy's defense was the real motivator for his action, the allged slur was the back breaker. Remember Zidane has a history of headbutting and being sent off!! This should be no surprise to anyone, especially the French. All I can say, is thanks Zizue or whatever they call you (they should call him Zizue the Fool) for acting like a chump on the world's biggest stage!
