Buffon: Materazzi didn’t deserve punishment

Bob, I am getting a little tired of reading about Italy and its teams in the Blog. Don’t other nations play soccer too like England, Spain, Netherlands, Germany etc.? Who cares about what that buffoon of a goal keeper thinks?

Thank you very much for your comment CT. It’s clear this blog has a very Italian bias, and allows very little criticism of the team.

Bob couldn’t be more wrong. FIFA’s punishment of Materazzi is an absurd and dangerous precedent. Trash talk is part of sports; it’s takes place everywhere, on every field and court. And players everywhere deal with it appropriately: with a shrug, not a vicious attach that has no place in sports. Zidane deserved the utmost chastisement for his actions, not pathetic, politically correct coddling because he’s a “victim.”

Dear CT: It’s very sad to see you demean the Italian goalkeeper by playing off his name, rather than make an intelligent comment. Oh, and by that way, in case you didn’t know Gianlugi Buffon just happens to be the best goalkeeper in the world – something he has demonstrated for years but proved without a doubt in this past World Cup.

I agree Ed. The punishment of Materazzi was a shameful decision that will haunt Fifa. I am curious to see how they handle the next act of violence that will inevitably occur. They have by their decision to suspend Materazzi given every player a precedent to use to excuse violent actions on the pitch.

The play between Materazzi and Zidane was common, a little shirt hold by Materazzi followed by words exchanged between the players started by Zidane. I have seen this countless times in football the only thing different was ZZ violent reaction.

Bob, In Euro 2004, Why was only Totti banned, while Poulsen whom totti spat on never made any headline. FiFa never asked a lip reader or investigated what might trigger Totti to spit on Pulsen. Andddd.. it is only spitting, not a fatal physical headbutting like someone did…

My other questions will be :
“Would Materazzi be sanctiooned if France had lifted the World Cup?”

Or people hate Italy lifting the world cup that they just want to add adversaries to them?

Oh stop whining. You won for heaven’s sake! I’ve never seen a world cup winner so damned angry, irritated, screeching and screaming about being victimized. Poor little italy, poor us, the whole world is so against us. The lowlife scumbag succeeded in getting France’s best penalty taker off the pitch, the filthy classless tactic worked, you won! Move on!

lazaro, PRACTICE WHAT YOU PREACH

oh and lazaro: If Matarazzi is a “lowlife scumbag” as you say. Where does that leave you?

lazaro be a good fan do not blame italians for every thing you the problem.

lazzarone

Buffon is a great keeper, maybe.

But how did he prove it in this world cup…?

Without Cannavaro in front of him i think he would have been more exposed than he was. Then we could have made a better assessment of his shortcomings.

lazaro your life must be so easy…..being as simple as you are. What tactic are you referring to….im in favour of free speech but even that has limitations. So keep your 2 bit uninformed comments to your other “special friends”.

“Buffon is a great keeper, maybe.

But how did he prove it in this world cup…?”

I dont care how great your defense is, shots and chances are gonna get through and they surely did in this world cup.

Buffon saved more shots than any other goalkeeper… and many of these were goal saving shots that other goalies might now have got (im sure there’s compilations on youtube or something)

As for CT’s comment I have two facts to enlighten you on.

#1: This is a World Cup blog

#2: Italy won the world cup

Adam let me enlighten you too. Italy was not the only team at the world cup.

Neither the NFL or the NBA allows taunting. I think that FIFA will now start cracking down on taunting. They certainly can’t nail Materazzi and now close their eyes to the next taunting incident. Is Materazzi a low life scumbag? That was a harsh statement but let’s just say he isn’t the cleanest player on the field.

Best goalie in the world? There are some others who could make a good case for that title. For instance Jens Lehman of Germany. How many goals did he allow in the Champions League 2005-06 tourney?

WC 2006 is over and nothing we think or do will change the fact that Italy is the champ. Let’s get on with it and concentrate on Euro 2008 and the new season. Let Italy have their glory and WC 2010 will get here eventually.

I’m sorry Bob… Can’t agree with you. To blame Materazzi is childish and hypocrit. It’s not a question of wether it’s right or wrong to verbally provoque somebody. It’s a question of stating that physical violence IS NOT comparable with verbal provocation, and that the latter cannot be used as an excuse for the first.

No matter how wrong he (Materazzi) was, no matter what he could have possibly said, Zidane has no excuse. He made a mistake and that’s that.

How hard is it, for a man of 30 plus, to ignore a verbal provocation (even with all the pressure of the final and etc)…? Let’s face it, it’s much worse if Materazzi had been squezzing his nipple the whole game, or giving that “little” push the TV cameras don’t see, or stuff like that…

This is something you learn in elementary school when you play ball or whatever. So, YES, FIFA opened a vicious precedent and Buffon is right, IMMO.

Anyway, I agree that it would be great fun to see Materazzi playing France, everytime both teams meet… :-)

simon is lazaro’s secret lover

“Oh stop whining. You won for heaven’s sake! I’ve never seen a world cup winner so damned angry, irritated, screeching and screaming about being victimized. Poor little italy, poor us, the whole world is so against us. The lowlife scumbag succeeded in getting France’s best penalty taker off the pitch, the filthy classless tactic worked, you won! Move on!”

Poor Italy? Poor you Lazaro, you can’t decide who you want to support Argentina or France. Here’s a hint: pick a team and go with it, bandwagon jumper. Why don’t you cry about poor rich Zidane on the French blog or how Argentina should have been World Champions even though they were outplayed by a better German team. Your team(s) didn’t win, their tactics didn’t work. You Lost, Move On!

PS I think it was Argentina and France’s last chance to win a cup. I think the tourney’s going to open up and allow some new world champions for a while SOOOO..Sucks to be you!!

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CT, I hope you aren’t actually American because your comments about the NBA and NFL are ludicrous. The two greatest basketball players the world has ever seen, MJ and Larry Bird, were notorious for there verbal skills as well as the hoops skills. And MJ didn’t just trash talk, he rode the officials as well.

And the NFL, seriously? Clearly you’ve never played football if you think there is no taunting at every level from pee-wee to the pros.

Everyone knows that FIFA blew this one badly and sadly, they set a horrible precedent.

“simon is lazaro’s secret lover”

Thanks for proving why I’m right about not even trying to have an intelligent discussion with italy fans.

“Here’s a hint: pick a team and go with it, bandwagon jumper.”

Oh I see, so you’re functionally incapable of supporting teams other than italy? Thought as much – you’re not really a fan of the GAME are you – you just love using the game to celebrate your italianness. Unlike you, I watch other teams – I watch Spain, Brazil, African and Asian teams. Hell I even got to like the German team during this tournament, which is pretty amazing.

And yes, matilowlife is a scumbag – and the italian press and much of the italian football public has always regarded him as such. Why do you think he’s known as “the animal” in italy? Of course now they’ve forgotten all about that and suddenly he’s the poor little victim. Anyone who’s cynical enuf to call a player his “hero” and then shouts personal obscenities at his supposed “hero” during a world cup final, anyone who’s cynical enuf to lie to the world about how he doesn’t know what a muslim terrorist is, anyone who behaves like this on a ROUTINE basis is a lowlife scumbag:

http://www.soccerblog.com/2006/07/video_who_is_marco_materazzi.htm

http://www.soccerblog.com/2006/07/video_more_materazzi_madness.htm

http://youtube.com/watch?v=WJPKM5aJGW8

See what he does to Schevchenko and Inzaghi. Oh and did you know that Schevchenko also headbutted Materazzi at one time, after getting fed up with his antics? And one of those videos is from italian TV. This is just an ordinary work day for him. But hey, kudos to Patrick Vieira (Mati’s new teammate at Inter) for having the graciousness to just put it all behind him and publicly come to amicable terms with the guy.

And by the way I HAVE moved on – I’m paying attention to the EPL, La Liga and trying to get copies of Inter Milan games. I’m also paying attention to various international games coming up – but this blog was posted here and brought it all back again with all you cry babies. I’m sick of italians whining about how how the whole of the footballing world is against them.

Bob: Why do you think that the World Cup will open up and new countries will win the world championship in 2010 and beyond? Nothing in the 2006 tournament indicated any change is coming – the same powerhouses were there at the end again, except for Brazil. Come the semi-finals in South Africa, Italy will be there again, as will Brazil and other traditional powers.

I can feel it Ed, I can feel it coming. I suppose Italy or Brazil or Germany may in the semis but something tells me the fix is in for an African nation to go far in 2010. I’ll bet you the SA government is lining FIFAs pockets now. Remember Korea.

Bob, you could be right! I didn’t think about a fix. I wonder how much it costs for a guanantee to reach the Semi-Finals? I wonder how much Korea shelled out in 2002?

There have been three questionable WC victories, not proven but reasonable doubt about the legitmacy (refer to the Alwan Report of 2001) You can read the details for yourself I will just list them.

1. Argentina 79
2. Argentina 86
3. Brazil 94

I don’t know Ed but I know Hyundai dished out a shitload of money. It was no coincidence Korea did so well. Every other world cup they were knocked out in the first round. 12th man my ass. Money talks and BS walks. Guusy is being investigated for tax fraud, I wonder why?

I’m almost 100% positive an African team will be in the semis in 2010. I would seriously think about putting some hard core money down boys.

I can’t wait to see how FIFAs going to pull this one off.
VIVA the almighty dollar!

Hey Muddia when did Larry Bird retire. How about MJ? I guess you haven’t watched much NBA. I guess you must be a Clippers fan. The rules in sports have changed and what was allowed in the 1980s and the 1990s is no longer allowed. I guess you haven’t heard either that NBA players have to wear suits and ties and can’t walk around like slobs unless the want David Stern to lighten their pocket book. Maybe you should watch more than 1 game a year and you’d know that things have changed in the NBA and NFL. I guess you missed to that things are different in the NHL? By the way I have lived in the US for 46 years and I was a legal immigrant and I learned English. Which is more than can be said for today’s immigrants. I watched and listened to the NBA when it had players like Wilt, West, Baylor, Cousy, Rick Barry, Kareem, Shaq etc. I also watched Namath play and Fran etc. I also remember Koufax, Palmer and the boys of summer. So give it a rest. You don’t know squat.

I also believe we’ll see a strong african performance, with or without helps from the ref, and etc…

Italy will take another 12 years to reach the final… ;-)

South americans (BRA & ARG) will be stronger. Brazil arguably stronger, as they’ll want to win after WC2006 went to arch-rivals in WC counting – Italy. Argentina will want to take revenge of WC06 PLUS they know the WC2014 is likelly to be held in Brazil…

Germany must be taken into account, as always.

England & Netherlands with strong performances, but faling close to the end. Unless something very strange hapens in England and the dutch improve the level of half their team + the other half gains enough experience in 2 years…

Portugal will be a question mark (will they qualify ;-)?, will they be able to maintain the same performance?), and so will France (will the team be able to recycle?).

Spain should go further than usual, but as said, usually doesn’t get very far.

Put together Croatia, + others that were kicked out due to bad calls or whose level is increasing, and if we don’t see ridiculous, obvious and almost criminal interventions from the ref, like in WC 2002, and we might just have a nice little african world cup :-), ready to break up some “traditions”…

But I don’t think an african team will win it…! I honestly believe we’ll see a very strong Brazil and a very strong Argentina…

The problem here with this punishment is:
1)it was not ruled that Materazzi did anything on the field,nor heard or complained to the ref by other players.
2)FIFA’s bi-laws never contained a rule/law concerning taunting until AFTER this incident, how is that just?
3)The punishment does not fit the crime, a fine maybe, but suspensions is going too far.
4) The Totti example proves the bias towards Italians and this just adds the icing to the cake. FIFA is a bias, disorganized, and very poorly run governing body. Sepp Blatter should step down, he is a complete idiot with his pretend threat to strip the Golden Ball award from Butthead. Oh, and why didn’t he present Italy with the Trophy as is the custom from previous WCs???
Well anyways, Italy deserved the WC title with some of the best team chemistry and defense that hasn’t been witnessed in a long time.

“Italy will take another 12 years to reach the final…”

Pedro you better hope this trend doesn’t continue because that would mean we won’t see Brazil in the final for another 24 years
1970 -> 1994 Long time to wait…
Argentina will not win, not well liked by FIFA. Otherwise, there will be a strong performance from the African nations, with help from the refs.

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 know it’s too much to expect people who think it’s perfectly acceptable and legitimate to brutalize, insult, taunt and bully opposing players for 90+ minutes (in other words, use any lowlife trick to win) to be impressed by any of the above. I know that moral hypocrites who think such behavior is something to applaud and encourage and laugh at (and who suddenly find their moral compass when a player reacts to these tactics) are unreachable with any objective arguments.

But I happen to agree with the NBA authorities who quite rightly banned player taunting in order to avoid situations that might escalate into violence. It’s simply common sense. But I guess the NBA are all wimps and pussies.

Personally, if Zidane were still playing, I think he should’ve been given a 5 or 6 match ban, his salary docked for weeks and his community service should’ve been something stronger (and for a longer period). But that’s because I agree with his teammate Lilian Thuram regarding violent reactions during a match: “not on the pitch.” Thuram made it clear that he understood the reaction itself, as do I. That was the essence of Zidane’s apology, directed to children and their parents and educators: “sorry you all had to see that.” (He apologized to his teammates privately, according to Diarra, Henry and Malouda – and he was too ashamed of his behavior to accept his 2nd place medal – his teammates quoted him as saying “I don’t deserve a medal” soon after the end of the match).

Thuram called Materazzi a player whose conduct ruins the game and who shouldn’t be anywhere near the sport. He’s entirely correct. Whenever Materazzi plays, he leaves anger and bitterness — and quite often bruised bodies — in his wake.

What happened in the final in Germany was that crude mediocrity won over magic; brute cynicism won over artistry; coarse, ugly (but very effective) football succeeded over inspiring play. For that alone, Materazzi deserves his punishment in spades, and much more.

“There have been three questionable WC victories, not proven but reasonable doubt about the legitmacy (refer to the Alwan Report of 2001) You can read the details for yourself I will just list them.
1. Argentina 79
2. Argentina 86
3. Brazil 94 ”

The #1 most questionable World Cup victory is Italy’s Mussolini-controlled tournament in 1934. It is a well documented fact that all the referees were pressured, threatened, bribed and blackmailed by Mussolini. All the referees of that tournament were fired when they returned to their home countries for deliberately skewing the tournament in italy’s favor. In fact, the result of this farce of a tournament is more than questionable: it’s outright illegitimate and should not be counted in any way, shape or form.

The other questionable victory is Italy’s win in 1938. Played in a more neutral venue (Paris), Mussolini famously sent a telegram to the Italian squad using his famous “win or die!” slogan. This was widely seen by some as a threat to the lives of the Italian squad. It may not have been, it may just have been the dictator’s bravado and his use of a popular fascist slogan. But many in the tournament saw it as a real threat since Mussolini was known for jailing and executing athletes, artists and musicians who didn’t perform according to his will. Certainly the Hungarian team that Italy beat in the final believed to their dying days that they had saved the Italian squad from execution by throwing the match. When he returned to Hungary, goalkeeper Antal Szabo quipped “I may have let in four goals, but at least I saved their lives”. Decades later in a Hungarian sport column in the 70s, a reporter asked the remaining squad members about that final and to a man they all said they had deliberately thrown the game in order to save the Italian squad’s lives.

So the result of the 1938 tournament is at least questionable, debatable. We’ll never really know.

Hi Bob!

Brazil is comming with everything in 4 years.. Trust me. And I wouldn’t be surprised to see Argentina going further. It’s always diferent for these 2 when they don’t play in Europe…

Actually, I wouldn’t be surprised to see max 1 european team in the semi’s… Or maybe 2, if one of them has never won it, like Bulgaria and Sweden in 1994… ;-)

Those 24 years were I imagine the longest period in BRA’s (dark) history… After that, you’ve seen them going one further than Italy (94) and one further than Germany (02), and had Ronaldo been in full strength back in 98, I have my doubts France would have made it in the most restricted club in football world… But after 1994, in 4 consecutive WC’s (in 3 diferent continents), 2 victories, one final and 1 last 8 presence (defeated by former champions), speaks for itself…

Italy has been, statiscally speaking, very reliable… A final every 12 years, a victory every 24… ;-) Of course, rules are made to be broken…

Who knows, Bob… ;-)

From “Europe’s biggest”, I expect a strong Germany. Don’t ask me why… With Platini in FIFA, if France recycles well (which I don’t believe Domenech has the strength or charisma, to be able to), they’ll be strong and also natural candidates.

From “Europe’s smalest” ENG, HOL & POR have the same chances, on paper. ENG and HOL have decreassed very slightly in the last decade, whereas POR has become stronger. The EC 08 can provide a good evaluation for these teams.

Imagine Spain starts getting results as good as they play, put Croatia and Turkey and another european outsider (Switzerland or Greece, for example and for obvious reasons) and who knows…

But I still think it won’t be a WC for europeans…

legal, can you provide a link to this report or tell me where I can find it. I would really like to read it. Thanks.

lazaro, all I hear from you is italy, italy, italy. You have too much time on your hands to go digging up ancient history. We all know you hate italy so please stop posting your crap. Your comment are getting quite tired, try focusing your energy on someone else for a change.

Alright Italy is the only team that fixes world cups…..are you happy, now go away you annoying bug.

lazaro = f***ing child

blah, blah, blah, blah..I hate italy..blah, blah, blah, blah…italy cheated in the 1930s…blah, blah, balh, blah…it’s onlybad if italy does it…blah, balh, blah…read this article bout how italy is so evil…blah, blah, blah…Zidane is a national hero…blah, blah, blah…Matarazzi should be burned at the stake…blah, blah, blah…how many bad things about italy can i cram into this post…blah, blah, blah…i’m so intelligent…blah, blah, blah…look at me, i’m going to make everybody hate italians…blah, blah, blah…I don’t think any other team has done what italy has done…blah, blah, balh…italy invented racism and crime, did you know that!…blah, blah, blah…check out some more articles on how evil italy is….blah, blah, blah…i should go it’s my bedtime, but i’ll try and dig up some more dirt on italy tomorrow. By 2010 everyone should hate italy…I will be soo happy..wherever there’s injustice, there’s lazaro.

CT, you said like a crazy old man. I sat courtside for several Bulls games last year and trash talking is very much alive. I like how you sight the NBA dress code as reasoning that there is no trash talk. Maybe your English isn’t good enough to understand. And you mention all the old time greats from Cousy to Koufax? Ever heard of Butkus, Nitschke or Bednarek? Butkus would threaten the sisters of everyone offensive lineman in the league. I have never been in a competive game, from football to golf, where there isn’t a little jawwing going on. Get over yourself CT.

I don’t know what Materazzi said, I don’t care. You all just need to admit it is ridiculous that he got fined and suspended.

Dear Lazaro: It’s quite amazing the ridiculous stuff you come up with – Mussolini executing athletes? The Italian players fearing for their lives if they lost? The Hungarians throwing the final to save the Italian players? All the World Cup referees being fired when they returned home for throwing the games for Italy? It is utterly scary to see what a hate-filled, delusionary world you live in. I respectfully suggest you get some psychiatric help; and some history lessons wouldn’t hurt either.

Dear Lazaro: I would hope to bring some clarity to your life. First of all, please note that not only was Materazzi a hero of the World Cup for Italy but indisputably one of the best players in the tournament. His unbelievably tenacious defense, combined with scoring several key goals (none more important than the equalizer against France after Zidane had been handed a completely undeserved penalty kick), made the difference for Italy. Secondly, please understand that Materazzi was a reflection of a beautifully balanced Italian team, as far as you can get from what you described as “crude mediocrity” and “brute cynicism.” The defense was as solid and unyielding as any that has ever played in the world tournament; and the offense consistently came up with brilliant plays to win the day. The combination was sublime. Unfortunately, the focus has been on the violent action by arrogant, self-important Zidane (who, if you look at film of the final, actually had lost his composure prior to wrangling with Materazzi when his brilliant header that would have given France the victory was skillfully lifted over the crossbar by Buffon). But in the end, all of the ugly, dishonest, hate-filled diatribes by people like you amount to absolutely nothing; and for the next four years Italy will most-justifiably be called World Champions.

i’m not an italy fan, i am a lazaro fan.

lazaro, once again pick a team and go with it. Why don’t you produce some literature about other teams as well so we can read them. You can’t pin everything on italy can you. That’s like blaming me because you’re a homo.

Italy winning promotes hate. I decree “If your team’s victory pisses this many people off than it only makes victory that much stronger” Viva Italia!

Before everyone jumps all over Lazaro’s back there apparently is a lot of truth to what he said about the 1938 world cup. I was curious to see if he was blowing smoke and this is what I found http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/1938_FIFA_World_Cup

The Hungarian goalie did say that he may have allowed 4 goals but saved lifes. Was he kidding? I guess only the goalie knows for sure. We also know that Mussolini was a few cards short of a full deck.

CT: You intentionally didn’t tell the entire story, distorting the truth. The article you referred to (and gave a web link to) concluded by saying that the claim by Hungarian goalkeeper Szabo that he let in the goals to save the Italians was “not the case.” The article explained that: ” ‘Win or die’ was a typical slogan of encouragement from the fascist era, meaning ‘Victory or bust!’ or ‘do your best to get victory.’ The fascist regime held sporting heroes and champions in high regard, greatly using them in their propaganda machine, so an act like the one suggested by Hungarian goalkeeper Antal Szabo was not realistic. Szabo’s words may have been just an excuse for the lost match, or an honest misunderstanding.” Most likely, it was just an excuse because they got beaten badly by Italy.

Ed let’s just paste the whole description of the game: The final itself took place in the Stade Colombes, Paris. Vittorio Pozzo’s Italian side took the lead early, but Hungary equalised within two minutes. The Italians took the lead again shortly after, and by the end of the first half were leading the Hungarians 3-1. Hungary never really got back into the game. With the final score favouring the Italians 4-2, Italy became the first team to successfully defend the title and were once more crowned World Cup Winners.

Some argued that Hungary – or at least its goalkeeper – allowed Italy to win, as a measure to save the lives of the Italian Team, which had received telegrams by Mussolini with “Vincere o morire!” (mistranslated as “Win or die”) written on them. Hungarian goalkeeper Antal Szabo expressed his relief following his side’s defeat against Italy despite letting in four goals in the loss. Referring to Mussolini’s pre-match threats, Szabo quipped “I may have let in four goals, but at least I saved their lives”.

Actually, this is not the case. “Win or die” was a typical slogan of encouragement from fascist era, meaning “Victory or bust!” or “do your best to get victory”. The fascist regime held sporting heroes and champions in high regard, greatly using them in their propaganda machine, so an act like the one suggested by Szabo was not realistic. Szabo’s words may have been just an excuse for the lost match, or an honest misunderstanding. [1

It’s all football folklore. There was also a story about Argentina paying off the Peruvian goalkeeper in WC 1978 to allow Argentina to win by 4 goals so they could advance to the final on home soil…Actually there was a story circulating just recently about France paying off Brazil to bow out in the WC 2006 quarter-finals. If you watch that game I can see how someone might believe this story. How does a team like Brazil leave Henry unmarked in the box??? It doesn’t quite make sence. It’s all open to interpretation.

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materazzi deserves the title of a hero

francesco materazzi has the title of hero already. he scores the tying goal in the final then steps up and buries the second pk for Italy.

and he’s been subbing for injured nesta all along!

forza Materazzi forza italy and forza italians around the world

FIFA shame !
i never saw a player to be punished for having a foul against.
baltter vai a fare in culo!
w materazzi!
W italia!

Youre an idiot.

-Zidane is a phenomenal player; & materazzi gouded him, and I believe more was said than he just reported. The Italians should have tried to win by playing the game, not baiting Zidane. The futbol game needs to be played fairly, with the skill & talent of the players; not the drama of a few hotheads.
USA/Greece
The Greeks will defend their title for EuroSoccer in ‘08!
The Greeks understand playing the game, & I wish them the best. I love futbol, & hope to go to EuroSoccer Games!

What do you expect from an italian footballer,to actually admit fault or wrong ? (P.S America it’s ok to spell it football..lol)

The French tried to cheat in the first minute of the final. The incident with Henry was a deliberate attempt to gain the favour of the referee. No player can be concussed and then recover in the manner of Henry. He woke and smiled and Canavarro as if to say what did you do that for? Canavarro had done nothing. The BBC analyst Mark Lawrenson said nothing because also, although anti-Italian like everyone else, he knew what Henry was up to.

Once the referee is confused, he will then give next big call to the “injured” player’s team. This is what happened with the penalty. Indeed Canavarro (and Materazzi) did not touch the attacker because both knew what was going on – just like Mark Lawrenson of the BBC. The attacked tripped himself and got the call – only morons or people who don’t understand football could fail to see the “sting”.

It is a measure of the cynicism and contempt these French immigrant players have for their own adopted country that their behaviour was disgusting throughout. Ironically, they were the better team against a tired Italian squad!

If Zidane had any respect for playing in French colours he would not have behaved the way he did. Materazzi hardly did anything against him.

There is a strong anti-Italian bias in the modern World primarily because they are Catholic even though Italy is now as secular as anywhere. The BBC team detested them through the tournament. This hatred is scary even satanic.

People say and believe the irrational. Credulity is now the biggest winner in our modern World. Italy have had one of the best teams in the World for the last 10 years and have only made 2 major finals in that time. To hear people complaining or resentful at their success is just another version of racism.

I wonder why Materazzi got punished? Did the same happen with Totti spitting on Poulsen? I remember only Totti getting 2 days off. And what about Voeller and Rijkaard? It is the first time i see that, but i presume that giving the golden award to Zizou instead of Cannavaro wasn’t enough for Fifa. They must protect the #3 player (after Maradona and Pele as the world and the sport needs a hero). About Italy winning and cheating in 1934 and 1938, why there is nothing written about the defeat of HUngary to the doped Germans in the 50s? What about the “victory” of Argentina to the semifinal of 1978? What about the big push to Korea in the 2002 cup. Thankfully there weren’t just us Italians whining but also the Spaniards. What about the final of 1990 with the fake penalty of Germany? For sure “vittoria o morte” was a motto in the fascist days so it is at least naive to call it an evidence. Everybody hated us for the penalty (or “penalty”) on Grosso, but nobody said anything about the “Maloudian dive” on final. They had nothing to say in 1982 and they had the “Grosso penalty” on 2006 and that “if Zidane wasn’t provoked they’d win the cup”. I wonder what was Zizou waiting for all that time before getting sent off? Maybe he was to score 4 goals in the last 8 minutes?