Gattuso: The French are Sore Losers

Seems to me that Gattuso is just stating the obvious. Can anyone say the French lost gracefully?

Unfortunately they did not.

I think that guy is good soccer player

One would think the French would be used to losing by now.

I agree with Gattuso.

I didn’t see the Eurocup game, but I remember the loss with Brasil, in the U.S. World Cup, when Italy was defeated on penalty kicks.

I didn’t hear one Italian go around saying, “We played better.”

Italy played in Germany like Turkey played in Korea, with a precision on passes that was better than any other team I saw in that World Cup.

France had a great tactical game, but no precision on shots. They scored one goal per game versus two per game during the elimination phase.

In addition, of course, look at the coaches’ demeanor. Domenecq did nothing but put down the referees any time a decision was handed down against France. Lippi might have yelled some, but he was always quite respectful.

I didn’t like what DeRossi did, what Materazzi said, but Zidane (a great player in my eyes, for sure) did something that was completely unexplainable (I don’t care how sick his mom was). It was a disservice to his team, to his country, France.

I think the Italian guy should have been kicked out of the game!!! The worst thing you could say would be against a man’s Mother or Sister. That was beyond nasty. Totally unnecessary Zidane should not have been disqualified.

I live in the US and France.

Zidane should definitely be put in a cage like Ezra Pound and then tried before a War Crimes Tribunal at the Hague.

I think Materazzi’s tactics were totally legitimate. He’s a good example to our kids.We should teach our kids to cheat, taunt and otherwise play dirty, because it is often an effective way to win. We should allow our professional athletes to hire goons to beat up the opposing team’s players before and after a game as a way to intimidate them… and why not go after the relatives also?

“Seems to me that Gattuso is just stating the obvious. Can anyone say the French lost gracefully? ”

Can anyone say that the Italians have ever lost or won graciously? Maybe in my dreams, that’s it.

When I read Gattuso’s remarks, I had to stop for a moment and drop my coffee because it would’ve sputtered out of my mouth. Anyone familiar with international football Italy is THE BIGGEST SOREST LOUDEST loser in the entire history of the sport. Italy consistently screeches about referees and losing games. Not a competition goes by in which they’re not complaining about someting.

Remember the threats (including death threats) and lawsuits over the 2002 referee debacle? Remember that a Korean player was fired from an Italian club afterward, just for being Korean? Remember the loud screeches about their loss to Brazil in the 1994 penalty? I certainly remember their years-long whining about the referees and conspiracy theories about that tournament — and they’re still complaining about it! They’re still complaining about France’s defeat of them at Euro 2000.

Words like hypocrisy, pots and black kettles aren’t strong enuf. Not only are Italy the sorest losers in the game’s history, they’ve proven themselves to be incredibly graceless, sore winners these last two months. Not to mention incredibly arrogant. I’ve waded thru reams of the Italian press and Italian blogs (yes, I read both French and Italian) talking in incredibly boorish, xenophobic ways. I’ve yet to see any Italian player or fan condemn the racist head of the Italian senate who said his country had beaten a team of “blacks, muslims and communists.”

Italy once adored Zidane and have now turned him into the devil incarnate – his argument was with that Materazzi, not Italy. They used to call Mati “the animal” – now he’s the poor little victim. Are they saying that Materazzi represents Italy?

Patrick Vieira was very gracious when he spoke to the press after he joined Inter Milan (where the Materazzi also plays). Vieira publicly rebuked the press for bringing up the controversey and said they should all be talking about Italy’s victory, and that he and Materazzi are on fine terms, and everyone should just put all of it behind them. Henry said the same thing – never a word of reproach toward anyone.

Now the italian boys come back from vacation and start whining all over the place to the press about Materazzi’s deserved and correctly applied punishment according to FIFA’s rules, and Gattuso has the straight face to call the French sore losers. And arrogant! Hah! That’s pretty rich.

The French have every right to be angry: France played the better football, Italy couldn’t hack France’s relentless attack, dropped back running around their half of the pitch for 75 minutes protecting their one goal waiting for penalties. Italy then chose to use cynical gamesmanship to get France’s best penalty taker off the pitch.

Zidane, Vieira and Henry were wounded and exhausted. Zidane was in a lot of pain but remained on the pitch after first asking to be substituted. Not to mention all the other stuff he was dealing with throughout the tournament (a very sick mother, the sudden death of his great mentor and 2nd father, the constant racist abuse from French racists and racist fans in Germany whenever their bus showed up). Buffon and others on the Italy squad know Zidane from their Juve days, they knew how to break him.

And what is it about Italian national football that always seems to generate so much controversy, drama and ill feelings all the time? This is by no means the first time some football controversey ending in bitterness has arisen involving Italy. In this tournament alone there were at least 3 Italy matches which left only resentment and player send-offs. I can’t remember one game in Germany in which Italy ended its match in the friendly manner the way the French ended their matches with Brazil and even Portugal (which was a tension-filled match).

Sore losers and sore winners. Unbelievable. Almost 3 months later and they’re still crying after winning the world cup.

http://www.foxsports.com.au/story/0,20797,20302109-23210,00.html?from=public_rss

“FIFA was adamant the punishment given to Materazzi was in line with its rules which state: ‘Anyone who insults someone in anyway, especially by using offensive gestures or language, will be sanctioned with a match suspension.

If the perpetrator is a player, he will be suspended from at least two matches.’”

From FIFA’s handbook on diciplinary policies:
http://fifa.com/documents/static/organisation/disciplinary_code_EN.pdf

Article 52 SERIOUS INFRINGEMENTS
A player is sent off if he commits one of the following infringements (cf. Law 12 of the Laws of the Game and art. 19 above):

n) making offensive, insulting or abusive remarks

Article 54 OFFENSIVE BEHAVIOR
1. Anyone who insults someone in any way, especially by using offensive gestures or language, will be sanctioned with a match suspension. If the perpetrator is a player, he will be suspended from at least two matches; if he is an official, he will be suspended for at least four matches.

Article 65 INCITING HATRED AND VIOLENCE
1. A player or official who openly incites others to hatred or violence will be sanctioned with match suspension for no less than 12 months and a minimum fine of CHF 5,000.

This BBC article interviews two English footballers (one of whom played for years in Italy) about taunting (or “trash talking”) in football:

http://news.bbc.co.uk/sport2/hi/football/world_cup_2006/5168622.stm
The article makes it clear that while taunting and provocation is common (esp. in Italian football), it never steps over the line into personal insults.

One player says ?I don’t think I ever heard anything really nasty or personal in all my years of playing, and I can only think that the episode with Zidane and Materazzi was a one-off.”

I happen to agree with the NBA here in the US who quite rightly banned player taunting (personal and racial) in order to avoid situations that might escalate into violence. It’s simply common sense.

I think Zidanes Tactics were legitimate, but backfired on him.

He thought by looking down and sneering at Materazzi while saying he could have his shirt at the end of the game, would send Mat into a fit.

Materazzi didn’t fall for this sleazy tactic employed (not for the first time, reference his record) by Zidane. Instead he did the right thing and responded in kind.

It’s a fine lesson for the children, if you dish it out you better be able to take it.

Nice try ZZ but you should have known better.

The French may have lost but if you looked closely at the game there was a penalty that the Ref did not see!. (In favor for France) They should have won without going to the penalty phase.

Zidane was probably the most experienced player on the field, what with his retirement pending at the end of the game; and he came uncorked because of a statement like that? If you suspended every player that said things like that, or worse, and players that reacted to those statements, the next World Cup would be played by Junior Teams from every nation! Zidane is a wuss!

The “italian calcio” in any soccer tournament or world cup soccer always shows an extra negative “macho” actitudes. FIFA need to control that kind of bad sport arguments. Italian soccer had a bad background in the regular proffesional league (drugs,players bets….)

Who cares? France lost the final of the WORLD CUP. Pretty big accomplishment to win .Huh?
France is not going to jump with joy on losing the final on pks they did great to get there and they could have won.

yes france maybe deserved a penalty in the second half. However after seeing what looked a lot like a dive from Malouda on the first penalty, he thought twice and thought maybe he was diving again. Its the exact treatment many refs give to other players such as Christian Ronaldo. And lets not forget Toni also scored a goal that was disallowed

The french are still crying. Get over it. It is a game. There is trash talk in all sports. Toughen up although I do not expect the french to be tough on anything.

i agree that the french need to get over the fact that they lost and move on. zidane was rightfully sent off for what he did i dont understand why people are saying that materazzi should have been sent off. if u play the game u kno as well as anyone else that smart little remarks go all over the field so i dont think that the game suspension on materazzi was right. zidane should have sucked it up and not let what the man said get to him because im pretty sure that zidane said somethings during the game that were just as nasty if not worse.(i also think that the french were wrongly given the fist penalty kick and that is why the second tackle wasnt called and given to the french.)

its not just a game u idiots, its the world cup where millions of people watch and watch their countries play, its a lifestyle not some game and say oh man we lost lets just have a party at zidanes house after we lost the final match wee!!! too many italian fanboys who dont understand anything

Europeans as a whole are sore losers; plus they have horrible body odor.

…i agree with david klein (who i reckon must be relative of the famous designer !!..) only what you define “odor” turns on many american women ! it is called Male Odor..wimp !

Its sad how people leave comments about the world cup final when they do not know ANYTHING about soccer (and im talking about most people that left a comment)..
first of all.. i dont care who played better, Italy’s the world champ because we scored more goals than they did..
Second.. there was no penalty on their first goal,
Third.. Materazzi should have smacked zidane back after he headbutted him.. he got a 2 game suspension anyway even though he didn’t do anything..
and, if you gotta suspend materazzi for what he did.. many many more players should have been suspended..
Third.. italian sports having a bad backround because of drugs, bets etc. (which every other country with a soccer league has the same problems)has nothing to do with Italy winning the world cup.. we won by beating everyone.. Period
And last.. every big soccer fan knows how FIFA and its president Blatter have always attacked italy (FYI..he wasnt even there to give us the cup)
The question remains “How could they nominate Zidane best player of the world cup?!”
Well.. no matter what anyone says.. ITALY IS THE WORLD CUP CHAMPION.. whether you people like it or not.. now get over it
Best wishes

i agree wit the italianstallion

The Italians,world reknown for dishonesty and trickery, wanted to win the Cup at all cost. First, they fingered Germany’s best player and got him suspended for the semi-final game. Then they got away with potential penalties from a very biased referee, who even though he witnessed all the fouls the Italians heeped on Zidane, felt no qualms to penalize them..

Can we please keep the conversation civil and discuss important football issues.

I would prefer to see all Four Golden Stars on top of the FIGC symbol. As Well I think the size of the stars should increase so as to FURTHER intimidate the opposing teams.

So Lilian Thuram is of the opinion that France deserved to win the World Cup final.

“We should have won that final”.

“Really, the best team on the night didn’t win.”

It all depends on which side of the fence one was sitting, Thuram. I was one of those sitting on the opposite side to Thuram, and I think the worst team lost.

Bob, what does Zidane’s sister look like? Can you post a picture to see if she is worth a headbutt? After hearing what Materazzi said I am puzzled as to why Zidane melted down and why FIFA gave a two game suspension. Seems to me to have been an immature remark that a 12 year old would make. Why get all bend out of shape over it? Yes, I am an only child.

Zidane doesn’t have a sister. It was all a mixup. He thought Materazzi was calling him a “sissy”.

Is this blog about Zidane and Materazzi. I think by now there is enough material for a separate website: “www.headbuttisbeautiful.com”

You know, I did a little mental test and asked myself: “If Zidane and Materazzi had a job other than soccer player, and did what they did, how would their employer react?”

In other work situations, Zidane would lose his job and go to jail for a day or two.

Materazzi would lose his job.

…and we are paying these people millions of dollars, when the Mexican kids who make the soccer balls we play have deformed fingers from using needles all day long…

I think it is quite obvious now that what Materazzi said was of little value. Obviously at that point in the game, Italy were looking to take the game. They had the momentum the whole tournament, France in this world cup could NOT convert their opportunities (unless against spain). Lets face it, Italy not allowing any goals in this world cup were going to allow a ‘French’ goal in the last 10 minutes of the game? please!! Not even Germany could convert against them. The reason why people are saying france deserved it is simply because, they are either italian haters or dont understand the fact that Italy went to the distance with the Host country Germany while france was sleeping against portugal. Who lets face it should have gone out against Holland long before the semi’s.

I am also shocked no one is mentioning the fact that Italy played every game of this world cup (aside from the czechs) with 10 men. Francesco Totti was in absolutly NO form this world cup. In the finals he didnt even touch the ball. had they played gilardino in his place, they would have easily come out on top against france. EASILY! But hey us Italians arent argentina we dont want to gain bad karma. So we played a man down to keep the tourny close!!! Also. That was in no way a penalty. the score should have been 2 – 1 Italy.

Now about todays game. THis should be an interesting one. Italy are definantly off form and I am still skeptical of Donadoni’s tactics. I did not really enjoy his strategy against lithuania. TAKE INZAGHI OFF and De Rossi should never be picked. Either of them have done little to nothing for this national team. Luccarelli should have been picked for this team. Imagine Cassano and Luccarelli playing alongside eachother. Also For todays game Gilardino needs to be on.

The verdict is. If Italy can convert they will win. If they come out with holes in the midfield and Inzaghi france will take this one. To me it doesnt matter, the Azzurri will be back on form for their october games anyway!

Soccer Fan, are you even one, your comments are absolutely disgusting. To suggest that personal intimidation and abuse of one’s relatives might be reciprocated in order to win just proves how low modern football has degraded. Just cast a look at the Russian empire and you see how the ‘Winning at all costs’ has been taken to the literal extremes. By the way, are you a Chelski fan? Because your philosophy of winning shows no class whatsoever. i sincerely hope you were being sarcastic.

Silly immature stereotpyical comments by people like david klein dont help either.

As for the France-Italy issue, let’s just all sit back and enjoy the potential classic in Paris shall we? im a fan of Zidane’s myself but i admit his action was wrong and strongly condemn it. For those here who love to drag up the past while preaching ’sour grapes’ and all, what an irony. You accuse people of living in the past and being sore losers and yet you keep raising this issue which you, if you were a TRUE football fan, should have put to bed long ago. And if there’s something worse than a sore ungraceful loser, it’s a SORE UNGRACEFUL WINNER. French fans whining about it won’t change the record books that the 2006 World Cup went to Italy, but neither will Italian fans. And i seem to remember many of you screaming ‘conspiracy’ when the South Koreans put you out not too long ago. EVERYONE finds it hard to swallow defeats, especially in the biggest tournament of them all, the French, the Italians, the Brazilians and yes, even Mr Gattuso. Let’s get back to the football people.

hm. For all the intrigue and hype and whatnot, im predicting a bore lifeless 0-0 draw here.

Does anyone know of a website that will stream the audio for this game in English? I thought maybe the BBC but have no other ideas.

Why everybody continue to speak in english??? We are the champion and now is time that everybody speak in Italian..

GRAZIE AZZURRI!!!

Thank you Marco and TheItalianStallion for some down-to-earth, honest commentary. And you Lazaro, don’t you have anything better to do than spend your days writing unintelligible anti-Italian diatribes the length of a Master’s Degree dissertation? In any case, no one who reads this blog regularly pays attention to your dishonest and pathetic ranting.

Ed the only reason you liked Marco and TheItalienStallion’s comments is because they were 100% pro-Italy. Stallion thinks that Materazzi should have smacked Zidane and you think that’s brilliant thinking? The only problem you have with Lazaro is that he doesn’t like Italy. I thought his citing of the FIFA rules was a great post. We all remember the Korean player who got fired because he beat Italy in 2002. I don’t recall any Italien player getting canned after this World Cup. I guess most teams can lose gracefully and others like Italy and Argentina can’t. Lot of soccer fans don’t like the Italien style of play – fall down and roll in pain when barely touched and roll back into a defensive shell after taking a 1 goal lead. In that Germany-Italy game there were so many Italiens lying around the field it reminded me of a Clint Eastwood Spaghetti Western. I hope for 2010 assuming they qualify that the Italien team takes acting lessons from Sophia Loren and stop behaving like a bunch of “girlie-men” on the field.

Hey Claude.. “I hope for 2010 assuming they qualify that the Italien team takes acting lessons from Sophia Loren and stop behaving like a bunch of “girlie-men” on the field.”
Guess what, and this goes for all those criticizing italy, those people you call “girlie-men” beat everyone’s ass.. and yet.. have you heard anything about FIGC complaining about materazzi’s scandalous suspension.. and every single person who knows what soccer really is could tell you how unfair that suspension is.. with the exception of course of FIFA and Blatter and the French.. Just admit it to yourself.. ITALY IS THE WORLD CHAMP.. theres nothin you can say or do thatd change that.. so GET OVER IT..
Thank You for your time

see what i mean about sore winners?

LAST NEWS FROM FRANCE:
DOMENECH IS GOING TO SELECT PLAYERS FOR THE BLUES TEAM WITH THE RATIONALE THAT NONE OF THEM SHOULD HAVE A SISTER

Here’s a video with pictures of Zidane’s sister, mom and wife. Tell me they don’t all look alike!

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=wMWbl1cyF7U&mode=related&search=

Materazzi’s wife is much much nicer and sexy

If there is any anti-Italian crap
out there it is because of this.

We Italians are the Descendents of the Romans who conquered and Civilized europe. Being of Superior Stock, The Descendents
of the barbarians are jealous of us. Add to the fact that Italy is the most beautiful country in the world and it’s just logical
that the world is jealous of us. 4 world cups, How sweet it is. Thus Spoke Cesear