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Underground > Games & Gameplay >

World Cup 2006

  
  

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doctorbeck
11:41 / 10.07.06
oh thats very droll, like it

but i have to say france were the better side for the last half and extra time and pretty much deserved to win, also this to add pathos to an already tragic end to a career
from the bbc....

Zinedine Zidane won the Golden Ball award for the World Cup's best player, despite being dismissed for headbutting Marco Materazzi in the final.
France captain Zidane polled 2,012 points in the vote by journalists mostly carried out at half-time.
The midfielder, 34, beat Italians Fabio Cannavaro (1,977 points) and Andrea Pirlo (715 points) in the ballot.

and i think it was deserved as well for a great world cup (at least since the qualifiers) but what a terrible end to a magnifient career, the evening standard suggested today that it was a racist insult that sparked off the above special move, when it happened i just felt sad and wasn't even bothered about the penalities, it felt like france had lost already.
 
 
The Falcon
11:52 / 10.07.06
Ah, Suedey, was just coming to post that.

A Canal+ lipreader has suggested Materazzi inquired after the nationality of Zidane's kids, apparently.
 
 
The Falcon
12:54 / 10.07.06
Or, looking about, other suggestions are he called him a 'terrorist' or had something nasty to say about his mum. It does look as if race was involved, in any case - I suppose that's what you learn if you play beside Sinisa Mihajlovic.
 
 
ONLY NICE THINGS
16:02 / 10.07.06
Well, quite. Call me a contrarian, but I can't actually think of a better way to mark your final match then by putting Marco Materazzi down on the turf. It's obviously a shame if your team loses the World Cup (and I miss out on an £80 sweepstake win), but let's keep our priorities straight, people...
 
 
astrojax69
23:28 / 10.07.06
fucking astounding! fifa name zouzou player of the tournament, even with a red card. so much for 'fair play'...

wonder who ran second...


portugal got the gong for 'most attractive football' - i'm not surprised, unless it had gone to argentina. worth it for that team [cambiaso's strike] goal alone... and maxi's individual goal. ya want goals and open fair play? well there's two incidents make them poll highly in the attractive stakes... i also thought cote d'ivoire were entertaining and very unlucky to get the group they did.

also strikes me this morning cycling in, italy not only won a world cup..... they won a penalty shoot-out!!!
 
 
Supaglue
07:36 / 11.07.06
fucking astounding! fifa name zouzou player of the tournament, even with a red card. so much for 'fair play'...

The dark invisible hand of Adidas, et al....?

To be fair, he had been having a briliant tournament up until the final.
 
 
ONLY NICE THINGS
07:37 / 11.07.06
Also, apparently the voting was done at half-time in the final - presumably so it could be announced immediately afterwards.
 
 
The Falcon
09:02 / 11.07.06
Yup. Cannavaro - my player of the tournament, and that of a great many others, despite not being quite as immense in the final - was a close second, and I think Pirlo third, by some distance.
 
 
elene
14:14 / 11.07.06
According to der Spiegel (sorry, it's on German), Italy could loose the title if FIFA obtain sufficient proof that Materazzis's now admitted insults had racist or dehumanising content, through Article 55, Paragraph 4 along with Paragraphs 1 and 2 of FIFA's disciplinary regulations.
 
 
Elijah, Freelance Rabbi
16:26 / 11.07.06
Wow, really?

IS there a story in english that talks about that? I would be very interested to read it.

It would be fitting, since some reports say that this was the first red card in international play given after a review of the video.
 
 
elene
16:49 / 11.07.06
Not that I’ve seen (and that’s in German, sorry), but Spiegel is normally reliable. This paragraph 4 was apparently only added in March, but counts.

Here’s the amended Article 55,

Amendment to article 55 of the FIFA Disciplinary Code

Non discrimination

Par. 1: Anyone who publicly disparages, discriminates against or denigrates someone in a defamatory manner on account of race, colour, language, religion or ethnic origin, or perpetrates any other discriminatory and/or contemptuous act, will be subject to match suspension for at least five matches at every level. Furthermore, a stadium ban and a fine of at least CHF 20,000 will be imposed on the perpetrator. If the perpetrator is an official, the fine will be at least CHF 30,000.

Par. 2: If spectators display banners bearing discriminatory slogans, or are guilty of any other discriminatory and/or contemptuous behaviour at a match, the appropriate body will impose a sanction of at least CHF 30,000 on the association or club that the spectators concerned support and force it to play its next official match without spectators. If the spectators cannot be identified as supporters of one or the other association or club, the host association or club will be sanctioned accordingly.

Par. 3: Any spectator who is guilty of any of the offences specified under par. 1 and/or 2 of this article will be banned from entering any stadium for at least two years.

Par. 4: If any player, association or club official or spectator perpetrates any kind of discriminatory or contemptuous act as described by par. 1 and/or 2 of this article, three points will automatically be deducted from the team concerned, if identifiable, after the first offence. In the case of a second offence, six points will automatically be deducted, and for a further offence, the team will be relegated. In the case of matches without points, the team concerned, if identifiable, will be disqualified.

Par. 5: The confederations and associations are required to incorporate the provisions of this article in their statutes and to enforce the sanctions stipulated. If any association infringes this article, it will be excluded from international football for two years.
 
 
The Falcon
18:04 / 11.07.06
I'd say, with an unearthly amount of confidence, elene, that in fact not much will happen at all. FIFA always fudges things like this, most recently sectarian chanting by Rangers fans in Villareal. Furthermore, it'll be quite difficult I'd imagine to acquire any concrete proof what exactly it was Materazzi said.
 
 
elene
18:23 / 11.07.06
I agree Falconer, but it’s a nice dream. Not that Italy don’t deserve the title, but if Materazzi said any of the things I’ve heard suggested it would definitely be the right time to set an example.
 
 
The Falcon
18:32 / 11.07.06
Absolutely; however, BBC 10 o'clock news emergency-lipreaders think: Materazzi's first word to Zidane was "no" before he then told him to "calm down".

He then accused him of being a "liar" and wished "an ugly death to you and your family" on the day the Frenchman's mother had been taken to hospital ill. This was followed by "Go fuck yourself".

...which is, well, 'the best' is subjective here, but at least no mention of race.
 
 
elene
19:44 / 11.07.06
Yes, it’s not racist, but it certainly is contemptuous. However it’s not very clear whether the inspiration for the contemptuous action must be race, ethnicity or religion. I don’t think so. But no, nothing’s going to happen.

It’s also despicable, obscene and unworthy.
 
 
Jake, Colossus of Clout
20:53 / 11.07.06
Being from the U.S. I have only a casual interest in football, but I have followed the World Cup in general and the Zidane headbutt story in particular.

I'm fascinated by this story because I cannot think of a single parallel in American sports history. A top-tier athlete at the end of his career, in a game of utmost importance, who melts down and loses the game for himself and his team. It's mind-boggling to me. The closest comparison I can come up with is Mike Tyson chowing down on Evander Holyfield's ear, but even that doesn't fit. Tyson was clearly overmatched, and the ear-biting was an act of desperation. Zidane and the French team looked poised to win that game, and he basically shot himself and his teammates in the foot by headbutting that dude and getting himself ejected.

There seems to be a lot of sympathy on this board for the guy, because the Italian player was allegedly making racist comments or disparaging his family or something awful like that. I'm sure something of the kind did happen. It happens all the time in sports. Whether or not the opposing player actually thought Zidane was a terrorist, or wished his family a painful death, or whatever, the point of his comments was to get in Zidane's head and make him do something idiotic. Which he did.

That's why I have no sympathy for Zidane. As a veteran professional athlete, he should be used to that sort of trash talk, and should certainly be above headbutting the guy and fucking his team over. Jackie Robinson had to put up with bullshit racist comments from fans, the opposing team and some of his own teammates. For years. Hank Aaron got death threats from white supremacists and assorted morons as he closed in on Babe Ruth's home run record. Bill Russell dealt with racism and abuse from the city he brought 11 championships in 13 years. All of them handled their situations with class, showing themelves to be the better players and people. In my opinion, Zidane should be able to handle one guy being an asshole.

Revoke Italy's championship? What's in the water over there? Zidane could have been the bigger person, took the abuse and then kicked the Italian team's ass on the field. I really don't care what that guy said. Zidane fucked over his teammates by rising to the bait. Whatever horrible things were said, Zidane should have just said "Oh, yeah? Watch this next goal, shithead" and led France to a championship.
 
 
astrojax69
22:32 / 11.07.06
bravo!

and exactly why he should have been disqualified from the golden ball...


the fact that some voting occured at half time is irrelevant; in the aussie rules football here in oz there is the most coveted award, the brownlow, for the best and fairest player of the home and away series, voted by the umpires on the ground at each match. all votes are tallied in a big ceremony, all secret; but the fact is always that if you had been suspended at any time during the competition, this fact disqualified you from the award, irrespective of how many votes you received. and it has happenbed that the player with the most votes did not get the medal, several times. hard to take, i'm sure...

fair play, see? while the tournament was yet to be decided, the concept of fair play was still very much in play for the player of the tournament and fifa fucked up.

that said, fifa might be congratulated for the award as a sort of life acheivement thing..?

naaahh, they wouldn't do that, would they?
 
 
Jake, Colossus of Clout
00:29 / 12.07.06
Well, I don't know if there is a Football Hall of Fame like we have for sports in the U.S., but it seems like Zidane would be a lock for that. He shouldn't have won the MVP award (or whatever it's called over thataways), because no one who costs his team a championship should be considered the most valuable player, under any circumstances.
 
 
elene
04:11 / 12.07.06
... doesn't change a thing, Jake, Materazzi is going to hell,

    In nomine patrie,et fili et spiritu sancti
 
 
elene
04:13 / 12.07.06
Unless he repents, of course.
 
 
Jake, Colossus of Clout
05:17 / 12.07.06
I'm suddenly out of my depth.
 
 
elene
05:57 / 12.07.06
No, probably not - I'd just woken up.

Jake, I find it completely unacceptable that this kind of abuse would be seen as normal. It ought to be punished as severely as the retaliation. Perhaps I don't really get it, but isn't this a kid's game? It's a way of instructing them, while having some fun ourselves at the same time, isn't it? If you teach them either Materazzi or Zidane is right in what he did you're raising a generation of people like George Bush, in my opinion. And that's bad. Very bad.

Materazzi must be punished, and if Falconer's account proves correct he ought to be punished severely. I do agree Zidane does not deserve a most valuable player award.
 
 
elene
06:12 / 12.07.06
Actually, forget what I said about the kids game - it's too hot here - it's obviously not.
 
 
ONLY NICE THINGS
07:31 / 12.07.06
Jake - it was a 1-1 draw, with about quarter of an hour left to play. On the statistical evidence, France were more likely not to score a goal than they were to score a goal, and there was, of course, no way Barthez was going to save a penalty. So, he didn't necessarily cost France the game, although he would certainly have been more help on the field than off it.

Meanwhile, I stand by the claim that the best way to show a real commitment to the beautiful game is to put Materazzi on the canvas. Check out his highlights reel. Even for a former Toffeeman, he's an unusually unpleasant player.
 
 
astrojax69
03:14 / 13.07.06
this breakdown of brasil's failure seems maybe just a little harsh, dm?

what ya think? (i must admit, i never noticed the very last one, roberto carlos and his socks...)

and thanks, haus, for pointing out that zizou's dismissal had very little bearing on the result, as it happened. trezeuget was always going to be a penalty taker, so zidane's dismissal didn't affect that element in the result. and yeah, france never really looked like actually scoring against the azzuri defence. them nor anyone else for the whole tournament, really... (something indeed for a socceroo fan to say!)

is it really all over?
 
 
Jake, Colossus of Clout
05:49 / 13.07.06
Jake, I find it completely unacceptable that this kind of abuse would be seen as normal. It ought to be punished as severely as the retaliation.

Really? I think that headbutting someone square in the sternum is far worse than talking shit, no matter the type of shit that was talked. It's not like we know exactly what was said either, but the whole thing seems cut-and-dried to me. Zidane lost his cool because Materazzi got under his skin, which was probably Materazzi's goal in the first place.

Professional athletes will often say horrible things to each other in order to gain a psychological edge during play. In baseball, some catchers (like AJ Pierzynski, world class asshole) will harrass a hitter as he stands in the box waiting to hit, in order to distract him. In (American) football, offensive and defensive linemen say awful things to each other before a play starts. Same in basketball, or any other team sport. It's part of the culture of sports to trash talk someone into making a mistake.

Haus- Wouldn't France have wanted their best player on the field for the last fifteen minutes? It may be overstating the case that Zidane lost the game for his team, but he sure made life more difficult for them.
 
 
elene
06:28 / 13.07.06
It's part of the culture of sports to trash talk someone into making a mistake.

I've nothing against destroying sport's culture of abuse, Jake. It don't see any reason to protect it. All I see is a bunch of guys being evil and trying to hurt people. I don't think it's normal. I think it's school bully culture, prison culture. The culture you get with when you can't walk away.

I hope you never have to put up with a constant stream of physical and verbal abuse from someone and if so I hope you can get away, but if you can't it might at least help you down from that high horse you've got there.
 
 
Jake, Colossus of Clout
07:45 / 13.07.06
I've nothing against destroying sport's culture of abuse, Jake. It don't see any reason to protect it. All I see is a bunch of guys being evil and trying to hurt people.

You mean being evil and trying to hurt people by saying mean things, rather than by headbutting people in the chest? Good on you!

If all you see is ugliness, why don't you stop watching sports?

I don't think it's normal. I think it's school bully culture, prison culture. The culture you get with when you can't walk away.

Mmm. Because multimillionaire athletes have so much in common with people in prison. In what sense can't they "walk away?"

I hope you never have to put up with a constant stream of physical and verbal abuse from someone and if so I hope you can get away, but if you can't it might at least help you down from that high horse you've got there.

My high horse is quite comfortable, thank you very much.

As for putting up with a constant stream of physical and mental abuse, I assume you're referring to Materazzi's comment to Zidane in the World Cup finals (mental abuse), which Zidane responded to by headbutting the guy in the chest (physical abuse). As I mentioned a bit earlier, Jackie Robinson put up with hate and racism from all quarters for years and handled it with nothing but grace and class, and led by example on and off the diamond. He is now one of, if not the, most revered baseball players of all time and ushered in a new era of racial equality in the game. Zidane, on the other hand, rose to the bait of one moron and was ejected in one of the most important games of his career.

Is Materazzi a shithead? Undoubtedly, and there is a visceral satisfaction to seeing Zidane knock the hell out of him. I personally think that Alex Rodriguez should be headbutted in the chest every time he steps on a baseball diamond, just for being a fucking shitheel. Does that mean that anyone who headbutts him gets a free pass? Of course not. Just because Matterazzi did a bad thing does not absolve Zidane of responsibility for the worse thing that he did.

Seriously, why do you watch sports?
 
 
Jake, Colossus of Clout
07:47 / 13.07.06
I misquoted. When I said "mental abuse," I should have said "verbal abuse." Apologies.
 
 
elene
08:14 / 13.07.06
Jackie Robinson put up with hate and racism from all quarters for years and handled it with nothing but grace and class

... but Jackie Robinson shouldn't have had to put up with hate and racism from all quarters for years, Jake. He only had to because he lived in a sick, hateful, bigoted society, poor guy.

I enjoy watching football, Jake, I just can't stand cheats and abusers. They spoil the game for me. You also seem to be under the illusion that I feel Zidane was hard done by, I don't. It's not Zidane versus Materazzi in my mind. They both did wrong. They should both be punished.
 
 
elene
08:20 / 13.07.06
My turn to take something back, I don't know if one can accurately describe a society as being sick, so let's leave it at hateful and bigoted. Sorry.
 
 
*
15:30 / 13.07.06
So, um. Kiessling killed himself? What's up with that? I don't understand. Any info on the notes? Why two?

(Two people can be in the wrong without one of them being more right than the other. Physical violence is not an acceptable way to respond to a verbal insult. However, that was probably exactly the outcome Materazzi was looking for. Shame all around.)
 
 
The Falcon
15:32 / 13.07.06
I don't think it necessarily was; players needle one another all the time, and I've seen some utterly fall apart playing-wise as a result on occasion. Given ZZ was France's major threat, I'd think he'd been taking it all game.

Think the Kiessling thing is not football, but finance-related. Link's broken, btw.
 
 
The Falcon
15:33 / 13.07.06
No it isn't. But it was a sec ago.
 
 
elene
16:26 / 13.07.06
Debts apparently,

Laut dem "Tagesspiegel" hatte der Beamte aus der Senatssportverwaltung existentielle Sorgen um seine finanzielle Zukunft und die seiner 15-jährigen Tochter. Der Abteilungsleiter soll eine hohe finanzielle Verpflichtung im Familienkreis gehabt haben. Diese wäre mit seinem 65. Lebensjahr und dem Eintritt in den Ruhestand fällig geworden, schreibt das Blatt. Dagegen hatte die "Berliner Zeitung" von Problemen im "politischen Bereich" berichtet.

Debts that would have been due on retirement, at 65, according to the Tagesspiegel.
 
  

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