<p>Man o man how upsetting. The last time we get to see Zidane play and… this. I just hope it doesn’t forever tarnish his name and reputation because he’s such an amazing player, and for him to be remembered for this over all of the great things he’s done would be sad. So much for that storybook ending!</p>
<p>What a depressing final match!</p>
<p>I hope Zidane will be remembered as a great player also. It really was depressing seeing him red carded…especially since I don’t think the ref saw anyway.</p>
<p>Everyone will forever remember Zidane as the bald guy who headbutted someone in the World Cup final. That’s a damn shame too because he was amazing…but oh well, he brought this on himself.</p>
<p>theyre going down to Serie B not D (well the prosecutors want Juventus down to C). Nevertheless, all the good players are going to leave and it will kill italian football leagues. In fact, in my local paper today, it was talking about how this world cup would be a huge free agent showing because so many players are trying to impress big clubs. Just imagine how stacked Real Madrid, Barca, etc. will be after this :)</p>
<p>Real Madrid…psh, how about Chelsea, they’re really on a spending spree.</p>
<p>yeah i noticed that…shevchenko and ballack so far. nice additions. i heard today the commentators said Juve coach may try to go to madrid though and some players like buffon would try to folloe</p>
<p>Oh id also like to rank on French coach Raymond Domenech. Instead of being a good sport about the match, or instead of condemning zidane, he tries to shift the blame on italy. He says:</p>
<p>“When one takes what he had to for 80 minutes and the referee doesn’t do anything, one understands. You can’t excuse it but you can understand it.”</p>
<p>“We can say it wasn’t too bad but it is the Italians who are the world champions. They played for the penalties because that was the only option for them.” </p>
<p>“Yes, we can say that Zidane being sent off was the killing moment of the game. Especially in extra time – the Italian team were obviously waiting for the penalty shootout.”</p>
<p>Pretty much hes saying france deserved to win. Thats fine, they played well (althoguh i still think italy deserved it more, esp. since Zidane’s pk call was questionable and im not so sure Toni was offsides when he headed in the goal that wouldve made it 2-1). Nevertheless, the coach defends Zidane’s actions and seems to blame italy for being poor winners instead of just saying good game. His player did something that caused his team to fall behind. Italy wouldve won anyway, but if you believe otherwise, he only has his own man to blame. Italy played a fair game. It’s a shame France has to go out trying to shift the blame</p>
<p>Toni–> definite offsides.</p>
<p>France’s first PK–> not that justified, but a later foul justified it.</p>
<p>overall, france and italy both played really well. france lose by a few inches (the second shootout pk hit the crossbar).</p>
<p>I didn’t hear Domenech’s remarks, but that’s just obnoxious. True, it takes great self control to train to become a great athlete such as Zidane. But that self control needs to be displayed at all times, especially on the field.</p>
<p>And Italy’s second shot was definitely offside. No question about it.</p>
<p>The second PK wasn’t even off by inches. It was more like centimeters.</p>
<p>
ok thats fair. The other was a make-up call (or lack there of)</p>
<p>and yeah it did look like toni was offsides but idk…it seems to me like when they froze the screen he was already offsides but the ball was in the air. maybe thats just my desire for toni to score kicking in :(</p>
<p>One more thing on the coach. "Domenech added: "The referee was not on our side. I don’t know what Materazzi told Zidane - all I know was the man of the match was not Andrea Pirlo but Materazzi, he scored the equaliser and he had Zidane sent off.</p>
<p>“It’s sad, it’s a pity. He [Materazzi] really put on a great show when he fell down - we know how these things work.”"</p>
<p>In my opinion, regardless of how much of a show materazzi put on, the headbutt without question deserved the card. This coach really upsets me</p>
<p>Yeah Andrassy, Juve’s coach (Capello) has been confirmed as the new coach of Real Madrid and will be signing a 3-year contract. I highly doubt Buffon would follow though b/c Madrid already has the best goalkeeper in the Spanish league (starting keeper for Spain in WC2006), and he’s pretty young so he’ll only improve over time. Who knows though, I could be wrong. Real Madrid really needs to tighten up its defense, and hasn’t really won anything since they got rid of Makelele around 2003… since it appears Cannavaro and Nesta will be a free agents soon, lets hope they snap one of them up, or even Viera, even though he’s turned Madrid down twice before. I think this means good things for Real Madrid.</p>
<p>“In my opinion, regardless of how much of a show materazzi put on, the headbutt without question deserved the card. This coach really upsets me”</p>
<p>I thought that comment was made before he saw any video footage?</p>
<p>I don’t really see what’s wrong with Domenech’s comments… when you take them out of context, they seem much worse.</p>
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<p>And that quote finishes with: “‘I’m not saying I’m excusing it but I can understand,’ Domenech told reporters. ‘It was too bad, a totally useless gesture. We regret it and he also regrets it.’”</p>
<p>What’s the problem? He’s acknowledging that Zidane made a terrible mistake, but sympathizes with what Zidane had to endure throughout the entire game.</p>
<p>And I didn’t get the impression that he was blaming Italy for being poor winners. I do think he believes France deserved to win, and well… they did. They dominated possession and created more chances throughout the end of the first half, most of the second half, and the extra time. </p>
<p>"Domenech was asked if he thought Materazzi had goaded Zidane into the assault.</p>
<p>‘I don’t know. I think Materazzi was perhaps involved. Something must have happened,’ he said.</p>
<p>‘I don’t think Zidane decided out of the blue to react in such a way that he was sent off.’"</p>
<p>So Domenech thought Materazzi goaded Zidance into striking him (which was obvious to anyone who saw the incident), while acknowledging that Zidane shouldn’t have attacked him in the first place, and thought Materazzi made the most of it (which he did). I don’t understand what the coach said that was so awful?</p>
<p>amen to beat’s comments…</p>
<p>anybody know what exactly materazzi said to zidane???</p>
<p>i must have ****ed him off a lot</p>
<p>if u wanna consider zidane as one of the best players of all time</p>
<p>players such as maradona, pele, cruyff, and platini would never have done something like zidane’s headbutt. an aggression of that level at the world cup final is unfortunate. THE WORLD will only remember zidane’s headbutt and ITALY as the 2006 world champions</p>
<p>racist comments apparently…</p>
<p>along the lines of “muslim terrorist” etc</p>
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<p>He should’ve responded with “hitler’s second banana” or “godfather” or something along those lines.</p>
<p>“THE WORLD will only remember zidane’s headbutt and ITALY as the 2006 world champions”</p>
<p>This is ********.</p>
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<p>Uh? I’m sure they’ve all bent the rules of the game at some point, or been red carded for being overly ‘aggressive.’ Sometimes people just snap. Let’s not forget Maradona purposely handballing the ball into the back of the net against England in WC86.</p>
<p>Zidane is still one of the all-time greats, and should be noted as such in the history books.</p>
<p>Zidane polled 2012 points in the vote by journalists covering the tournament, beating Italians Fabio Cannavaro (1977 points) and Andrea Pirlo (715 points) in the ballot.</p>