Curse

LordDeArnise · Jul 08, 2006, 02:08 AM // 02:08

WEEKEND PREDICTIONS

Third Place Match in Stuttgart on Saturday: Portugal 2, Germany 1 in extra time.
* Yeah, I know having to play in this kind of match a hard thing to swallow, but it's all about salvaging your country's pride. Both teams will be in a battle of atrition in this one with good attacks and decent defense on both sides of the ball. Portugal has the slight edge on both sides of the ball, so that's who I'm predicting will win. *

The Finale in Berlin on Sunday: Italy 3, France 1
* Zinedine Zidane's final soccer match, and emotions will run high, at least on the French side. Thierry Henry and others must step up to support Zidane, who's likely to be tightly marked by the Italian midfield and defense. The Italian side has shown some great defense, some good GK'ing, and plenty of attack firepower, which, on paper, outguns the French side. The stadium crowd should be fairly neutral, with plenty of blue shirts galore for both sides. In the end, it'll come down to the better strategy, tactics, and the luck of the ball. Italy has much better attacking and defense than the French do, so if the game ends up that way, Italy will win their fourth World Cup. *

Most likely Golden Ball winner: Zinedine Zidane

Fabius Cunctator · Jul 08, 2006, 02:19 PM // 14:19

I don't think that Germany will loose that match, probably be a 2 - 0 or more likely a 1 - 0 in germany's favor.

3 - 1 is a lot of goals, Italy's attack seems lacking to me, so they will probably have it a bit tough to break through the formidable french defense of Gallas and Thuram in the back and Vieira and Makelele.

France is also gonna have a tough time, Gattuso is one great defensive midfield as well, he'll probably be the one to mark Zizou, but there's other players on france which could make the play for Titi to score (like Riberry), and then there's the ever-present Cannavaro who always seems to know where the ball is going to go next to intercept it, or Zambrotta who runs all over the place, or even the tower Materazzi who is a good central defender.

My main worry is in Grosso's part, if he runs a bit too far ahead the french might cover go in through his side to try and cross the ball.

I'd say 1 - 0 in Italy's favor with a goal in the first 45 mins.

Oh Buffon only needs 65 mins scoreless to break Zenga's record of most minutes played in a World Cup without conceding a goal. This is Cannavaro's 100th cap(he's alredy the third most capped player for Italy, Maldini is first and Dino Zoff is second). If we win without France scoring any goals we'll be the only team to have won the World Cup with less than 2 goals against.

d3kst3r · Jul 08, 2006, 02:22 PM // 14:22

Well it's gonna be Zizou's final match ever so I'm expecting him to play his heart out. That alone will be worth the price of admission.

LordDeArnise · Jul 08, 2006, 04:56 PM // 16:56

Quote:

Originally Posted by Fabius Cunctator

I don't think that Germany will loose that match, probably be a 2 - 0 or more likely a 1 - 0 in germany's favor.

3 - 1 is a lot of goals, Italy's attack seems lacking to me, so they will probably have it a bit tough to break through the formidable french defense of Gallas and Thuram in the back and Vieira and Makelele.

France is also gonna have a tough time, Gattuso is one great defensive midfield as well, he'll probably be the one to mark Zizou, but there's other players on france which could make the play for Titi to score (like Riberry), and then there's the ever-present Cannavaro who always seems to know where the ball is going to go next to intercept it, or Zambrotta who runs all over the place, or even the tower Materazzi who is a good central defender.

My main worry is in Grosso's part, if he runs a bit too far ahead the french might cover go in through his side to try and cross the ball.

I'd say 1 - 0 in Italy's favor with a goal in the first 45 mins.

Oh Buffon only needs 65 mins scoreless to break Zenga's record of most minutes played in a World Cup without conceding a goal. This is Cannavaro's 100th cap(he's alredy the third most capped player for Italy, Maldini is first and Dino Zoff is second). If we win without France scoring any goals we'll be the only team to have won the World Cup with less than 2 goals against.

The only goal the Italian side has conceded was an OG in their match against the Americans. No opposing side, so far, has kicked or headed one past their GK'er into the net.

Fabius Cunctator · Jul 08, 2006, 06:34 PM // 18:34

Exactly, if Zaccardo hadn't scored that silly own goal then Buffon would alredy be past Zenga's 517 min record, at the moment Buffon has played 453 consecutive mins without conceding a goal.

Yes, it's bound to be an amazing performance by Zizou, but I have faith in my team's midfield defenders

Hope Zidane doesn't retire yet though... He could play a couple of years more (maybe not for Les Bleus but he could play a bit more in Real Madrid or some club).

Premium Unleaded · Jul 08, 2006, 09:15 PM // 21:15

Well, third place goes to Germany

3-1, Schweinsteiger got two and other one was an own goal by Petit.
Laughing all the way at Portugal. Don't get me wrong, I rate them as a good team. Ricardo is teh shiznits when it comes to penalties. However, with all the crap they've tried to do in the last few matches; the semi-final (oh noes he breathed on me give penalty nao plz) and of course Rooney incident, courtesty of Ronaldo, it's not as if they didn't deserve it a bit.

Malice Black · Jul 09, 2006, 12:40 AM // 00:40

ricardo is a poor keeper...if it wasnt for him being good/lucky with PK's he wouldnt be in the side

portugal had some good players but they lacked goals..paulete made the squad mainly on reputation..how he has scored 30+ internationals is beyond me

was a good game tho, they might even keep klingsman as manager

LordDeArnise · Jul 09, 2006, 05:50 AM // 05:50

The German fans want Klinsmann to stay as national team manager, but he is unsure yet. The third place match was good, as both teams played to a nil-nil draw at the half, then the scoring started. Schweinsteiger had to be the man of the match to score two goals and force the OG.

The final should be a doozy. I still think it'll go to Italy.

darkraider53 · Jul 09, 2006, 08:51 PM // 20:51

Id like to report that: ITALY WON!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

In the Shootout

Final is 2-1!!

GO ITALY!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

Nick The Nicker · Jul 09, 2006, 08:54 PM // 20:54

well im glad italy won, woot...but that headbutt why in the hell did he do it?!

darkraider53 · Jul 09, 2006, 08:56 PM // 20:56

He got pissed off?

Bad way to retire, off a red card

LordDeArnise · Jul 09, 2006, 09:10 PM // 21:10

Man, I really feel bad to see Zidane go off like that. Extra time, all 22 men tired, fatigued, etc. To do something foolish like that, by a legendary midfielder of his era, that is just sad. You're right, Darkraider, a bad way to leave the sport as a player getting sent off like that.

On the other hand, you gotta hand it to the French for giving it everything they got on both sides of the ball, creating scoring opportunities, tiring out the Italian defense, although the Italian captain was superb again. The missed shot in the PSO was costly for them, though, and they didn't have Viera, Henry, and Zidane to help out.

Despite all the scrutiny of the match-fixing scandal and Pesotto fighting for his life, you really gotta give an ovation for the Italian squad to come together, step up, and bring their fourth World Cup trophy home. Certainly, most of them will find new clubs should clubs like Juve is relegated down as a result of the scandal, but certainly, they'll set that aside for now and revel in this victory.

Relnor · Jul 09, 2006, 10:22 PM // 22:22

I lost all respect for Zidane, its pathetic that a pro athlete thinks that he can do something like that and get away with it -_-

Video of the headbutt for those of you that didn't see it:
http://rapidshare.de/files/25397119/...idane.avi.html

trecca · Jul 09, 2006, 10:45 PM // 22:45

WE ARE THE CHAMPIONS!!!

Zidane

And this is my car, I've run with it in my town for one hour to celebrate the victory w00t!!
It's a Fiat Panda model Italia '90, with the italian flag on it

Isn't it beautiful now?

LordDeArnise · Jul 09, 2006, 11:11 PM // 23:11

Cool. Hope it didn't get too much damage from anyone taking a ride on top of it, screaming and/or waving those Italian flags around. Nice work on the small MK'ish video of Zidane pushing Materazzi. The commentators here in America said that Zidane probably lost his cool. Such a shame for a legendary midfielder to go out like that.

thor hammerbane · Jul 10, 2006, 02:20 AM // 02:20

Shame for him to go out like that? A hell of a way to go out! That foul made me and my friend break out laughing..He's more of a hero to me than ever, but like you said, he lost his cool. Zidane is a high maintenance player, and he got tired of being on a mediocre team, many times during his games you could see him yelling at his team for missing a kick or something, but i think the italian set him off. The italians were playing dirty, and if you look at the video, you could see the italian whisper something to zidane before he cracked. I'm thinking he said some kind of insult and that set him off...He's still pwnage though

Klmpee · Jul 10, 2006, 04:30 AM // 04:30

Quote:

Originally Posted by thor hammerbane

The italians were playing dirty, and if you look at the video, you could see the italian whisper something to zidane before he cracked. I'm thinking he said some kind of insult and that set him off...He's still pwnage though

it looks like that but it also looks like he is looking upfeild maybe talking loudly to a teammate and zidane just unexpectedly turned around and head butted him.. cause i dont think the guy was expecting it at all.. he wasnt even looking at zidane. even if he did say something nasty to zidane.. thats no way to act.. he could have made that pk to make france win it but no.. ( im glad they didnt win

italy fan right here

) and also.. i didnt see him up there getting medalions either..

awesome sauce · Jul 10, 2006, 05:58 AM // 05:58

Meh, if your gonna go out with a red card... don't hit somebody in the chest with your head. Go out with a nice jab to the face. That was weak on his part.

yesitsrob · Jul 10, 2006, 07:30 AM // 07:30

he's still a legend

hypocrites_tale · Jul 10, 2006, 07:32 AM // 07:32

next cup: Argentina all the way.
We had the two voted best goals in the cup. I know, that doesn't mean too much, but it's a solid team with Tevez, Cambiasso, and Messi(who's only 19, youngest in this world cup)

in the game we lost, our goalies ribs got slammed by that german homie. he got replaced by a goalkeep who barely played the world cup. that made me sad.

and seriously, who head-butts people? what if the guy didn't fall down? he'd awkwardly stand in shock from the fact he was just headbutted in the chest.