Running, all-purpose World Cup thread

I wouldn't think so either. Makes no sense.

 

Going from Juventus to Real Madrid is Serie B?

Great image of Zidane walking off the field with teh trophy in the foreground...

Also, wonder if Roberto Baggio had a sip of the red when it was decided.... or if a tear fell down his cheek... or both.

 

Nice shot of Zidane walking off the field and past the Cup in the U2 ending montage. Maybe he can team up with Umaga on Raw tomorrow night.

 

Wife says the same thing about the song.

It wasn't de Rossi that took the headbutt. It was Materossi. de Rossi is much shorter. de Rossi is the guy who was offside on Toni's header goal.

This doesn't tarnish Zidane. He's done this before, in the World Cup in 1998. He's still one of the alltime greats of the game: 1 World Cup title, 1 European championship, captain of the second team in history to hold the Cup and Euro at the same time, another World Cup final, any number of great moments with Juventus and Real Madrid.

As a fan, I am indeed ectstatic to see Italy break the PK curse. And also happy to see a well-officiated game, for th most part. It takes real balls to consult the linesman, then run over and red card Zidane in the final of a World Cup in Europe. Now he is the third(?) player to be red-carded in the final.

I'll miss the World Cup. It wasn't a great World Cup, marred by horrid officiating and flopping (just reminded my anti-soccer dad that basketball players do their share of flopping, of course). But for the first time in a long time, I'm perfectly happy with the final result.

And I hope Mr. Baggio, another of the alltime greats, is celebrating raucously in the company of friends. Ditto Mr. Maldini, who is as good a defender as I've ever seen.

Forza Italia.

 

He did play it for me, and it is exactly the same tune...still...Pet Shop Boys? I just dunno.

 

SCHILACCI!!!!

 

Fourth.

Two for Argentina in 1990, one before the decisive penalty, one after.

Also, Marcel Desailly for France in 1998, though his was for two yellow cards.

 

Everyone to the Olive Garden!

 

Damn, just damn.

Zidane went from being one of the greatest players ever (which he still is) to an adjective.

I've been racking my brain trying to think of an athlete on his plane of greatness that has EVER screwed up so massively on a such a prominent stage in any sport.

The only ones I can think of:
-- Babe Ruth stupidly taking the initiative to attempt a steal of 2nd in Game 7 of the 1926 World Series with two outs in the 9th. He's thrown out, game over, series over.
-- Chris Webber's time out. (Webber was great in college)

I think Zidane has them all beat.

What a shame. Can't say he didn't deserve what he got, though.

And the World Cup ended on the greatest anticlimax of all-time.

Forza Italia.

 

See you in 15 minutes.

 

Webber's timeout is the only comparable one I can think of. Ruth's team was losing and on their 26th out at the time. Odds were, they weren't coming back. Webber, at least, was trying to help his team out when he lost his head.

Zidane wasn't trying to help his team at all -- he was settling a score.

And I agree with the Vinz, Zidane's legacy is secure despite the headbutt. But this will always be mentioned in any fellatio piece written about him post-career. What a shame.

 

Interestingly enough, Webber is the only guy in this discussion who had received over $300,000 in cash payments from a professional gambler. That we know of, anyway. :

Even more interestingly, while Webber's time-out didn't lose the game -- UNC probably had it won anyway -- it did flip-flop the game in regards to both the point spread and the over-under.

Even more more interestingly, while Michigan was blown out in the final the previous year by Duke, its late-game collapse in THAT game also flip-flopped both the spread and the O/U. Verrrrry interesting indeed.