world cup final
The World Cup final was something special. France-Italy - coincidentally enough, the same final that one of the other huge soccer fans in the house, Larkin, and I played in our Winning Eleven world cup - with two sides who played better than hoped and got farther than imagined, with the French led by retiring superstar playmaker Zinedine Zidane.
Zidane is, like Real Madrid club teammates Ronaldo (the brazilian one) and David Beckham, one of the undoubted superstars of the last generation of soccer players. He has played for two of the biggest clubs in the world (Real Madrid and Italian giants Juventus), won the 1998 World Cup for France with two brilliant headers, and, as a controlling playmaker, been one of the best players in the world. For him to retire after the world cup - at least for France, most likely for club play as well - is like Michael Jordan staying retired for the second time and not coming back for the Wizards.
In the second half of overtime, Zidane went out in a more embarrassing fashion than Michael Jordan playing baseball or coming back to play for the Wizards. He may have tarnished his reputation even greater than both of those combined. Nobody knows, and probably will never know, what was said between Zidane and Italian defender Marco Materazzi (scorer of Italy's 19th-minute header), but it lead to this:
in some Internet circles, you'd probably say "Boom! Headshot." Soccer fans would joke that at least that header was on target, as earlier in overtime Zidane had a beautiful header parried away by Italian goalkeeper Gianluigi Buffon. Whatever the case, Zidane disgraced himself and deflated the World Cup final in one turn, and with him, former Arsenal midfielder Patrick Vieira subbed for injury, and current Arsenal captain Thierry Henry subbed for cramps, the French never had a chance on penalties.
For me, it was sad to see Italy play so poorly and win. I'm sure the average American fan will think of this as a great triumph in the face of scandal back home (regarding the Italian soccer league) and great because, well, they won the penalty shootout. France dominated the play, especially in the second half...Zidane was a great part of that...it's sad to see both fail at the final moment.
Good for Italy, though. They played well enough to win the World Cup, nomatter how ugly the result; the World Cup, for all its cards and upsets and poor play by some teams who should've played better (Netherlands, Brazil, United States, Czech Republic), was great, and it was great to see Americans who usually don't care about or deride a sport I love following and watching get into the world cup. It's moments like this where you wonder, "will America finally get soccer?" Probably not, but it provides some hope. I guess that's what the World Cup and the beautiful game are all about.
Zidane is, like Real Madrid club teammates Ronaldo (the brazilian one) and David Beckham, one of the undoubted superstars of the last generation of soccer players. He has played for two of the biggest clubs in the world (Real Madrid and Italian giants Juventus), won the 1998 World Cup for France with two brilliant headers, and, as a controlling playmaker, been one of the best players in the world. For him to retire after the world cup - at least for France, most likely for club play as well - is like Michael Jordan staying retired for the second time and not coming back for the Wizards.
In the second half of overtime, Zidane went out in a more embarrassing fashion than Michael Jordan playing baseball or coming back to play for the Wizards. He may have tarnished his reputation even greater than both of those combined. Nobody knows, and probably will never know, what was said between Zidane and Italian defender Marco Materazzi (scorer of Italy's 19th-minute header), but it lead to this:
in some Internet circles, you'd probably say "Boom! Headshot." Soccer fans would joke that at least that header was on target, as earlier in overtime Zidane had a beautiful header parried away by Italian goalkeeper Gianluigi Buffon. Whatever the case, Zidane disgraced himself and deflated the World Cup final in one turn, and with him, former Arsenal midfielder Patrick Vieira subbed for injury, and current Arsenal captain Thierry Henry subbed for cramps, the French never had a chance on penalties.
For me, it was sad to see Italy play so poorly and win. I'm sure the average American fan will think of this as a great triumph in the face of scandal back home (regarding the Italian soccer league) and great because, well, they won the penalty shootout. France dominated the play, especially in the second half...Zidane was a great part of that...it's sad to see both fail at the final moment.
Good for Italy, though. They played well enough to win the World Cup, nomatter how ugly the result; the World Cup, for all its cards and upsets and poor play by some teams who should've played better (Netherlands, Brazil, United States, Czech Republic), was great, and it was great to see Americans who usually don't care about or deride a sport I love following and watching get into the world cup. It's moments like this where you wonder, "will America finally get soccer?" Probably not, but it provides some hope. I guess that's what the World Cup and the beautiful game are all about.