Sorry, I must blog about this one last time. The World Cup is over, so there shouldn't be much more soccer to write about. The good new is, God answered my prayer!
It all started on July 4th when I got to play a bit of soccer myself at the Butmir shindig. The fact that I literally fell on my face...and my arm...and my hip...and was in terrible pain for the next few days is completely irrelevant. It was all fun. Then Italy beat Germany with incredible 2 goals in the last 2 minutes of overtime.
And tonight was the final where the French went down...hard! It was a decent game. It didn't start out well. Zidane scored a penalty in just the first few minutes, but Italy tied it up. They went into overtime again and were still tied. Italy, although at a severe disadvantage to France when it comes to penalties, were able to win it 5-3.
Even I can be moved to a bit of compassion when I see a grown man cry...then I remembered that he was French. They picked a good year to wear the white uniforms. They can now hoist those white shirts up on flagpoles in World Cup surrender. I would like to go on record to say that I do have a great deal of respect for the French goalie, Barthez. He's a wonderful player, and I would have truly felt sorry for him if he didn't already have the '98 World Cup under his belt.
Up until tonight I had a splinter of respect for Zidane. He is legendary material and is among the greats of the soccer world. Although I doubt that his overall legacy will suffer, he lost my respect tonight. I think everyone was shocked when Zidane, after having some (I assume) harsh words with an Italian player, head butted the man in the chest, knocking him right off his feet! If I could bring myself to believe in evolution (ha!) I would say that he was reverting to those primal "animalian" instincts. I would seriously think that he thought he was in the animal kingdom. It would have been hilarious if it hadn't been so sad that such a mature, professional soccer player would be so out of control. He got an instant red card for it, and this World Cup marked the end of his professional career. The world knew that this was his last professional game, but I don't think anyone dreamed that it would end with such disappointment. Fortunately, he fact that he played for the French makes it much less of a personal issue for me.
All that really matters at this point is that the French did not win!! I know I may be a bit harsh, but hey...can anyone really blame me? Go Italy!!!!!!
Sunday, July 09, 2006
That Would Be The French...who LOST!!!
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6 comments:
Remember, Zidane didn't get an instant read card... he had to confer with the line judge and then he got the red card - we were worried and disgusted that he may not have gotten the red card, remember?? Haha... the Bosnian commentator said the ref either didn't see or didnt' WANT to see the head butt because he didn't give the red card immediately...
But, yes, I agree with you... It was sad to see grown men cry and quite scary to see the Italian guy in his briefs, but viva Italia!!
Thank God soccer is finally over... even I was starting to get sick of it all...
instant red card just means that there was no yellow one preceding it. it was a red card. zidane is an idiot, i can't believe he did that.
Oh, I'm sorry... I wasn't trying to correct you or anything - i just didn't get what you mean by instant... my soccer speak isn't as advanced as yours :)
But yes, he passed yellow, went straight to red, and did not collect $200 :) It really was a sad and disappointing way for him to end his professional soccer carreer.
I agree with Joce too - rock on whoever is playing France!!
Oh, I'm sorry... I wasn't trying to correct you or anything - i just didn't get what you mean by instant... my soccer speak isn't as advanced as yours :)
But yes, he passed yellow, went straight to red, and did not collect $200 :) It really was a sad and disappointing way for him to end his professional soccer carreer.
I agree with Joce too - rock on whoever is playing France!!
Gee, you dont hafta rub it in Jana!
GO FRANCE!!! GO ZIDANE!!!!!!!!
I must confess. I was rooting for France at the beginning, but all that changed drastically when Zidane pulled that head-butting stunt. Truth be told, I wasn't thrilled about either of the teams. *shrug* Oh well. There's always next time
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