|
Zizou madness hands Italy glory
10/07/2006 09:29 - (SA)
George Dearnaley
WOW!
To be honest, it was one of the worst games I have ever seen. But what a game it was. It had everything. In fact, you could not have written a more absorbing script if you tried. Where do I start? Let's start at the beginning - seems like a reasonable thing to do.
Both teams were terrible on the night. The commentators tried to defend their performances by saying things like "they have cancelled each other out", or "these players know each other so well", but the truth is that whether it was tired legs, the enormous pressure or the combination of the two, neither side performed on the night.
France were very quickly out of the blocks and were awarded a fair penalty. I thought it was the best thing for the game as the Italians had to respond, and respond they did with Materazzi scoring with a towering header from a corner. But then apart from a few aerial threats at corners and free-kicks, Italy misfired. Totti was anonymous and Toni was a lonely figure up front.
France looked good in patches, and overall were probably the better team on the night - and then came the madness!
'Zizou' - the soccer God. The magician from Marseilles. The hero of 1998 and one of the best footballers ever, suddenly snapped and instead of using his head, he used his head!
His head-butt on Materazzi stunned everyone and I'm sure there are still a few French fans out there who are still stunned. I hope this is not the way the great man will be remembered.
I think Materazzi grabbed his sore arm at a corner, and when Zidane complained, Materazzi probably said something unkind. It still didn't seem enough for Zidane to lose his head and then use it on the Italian defender. But that was the moment it all went sour for 'Les Bleus'.
Italy had to cope with enormous external pressures and the bribery scandal back home was surely in the minds of every one of their players.
If anything, it seemed to act as a unifying force and the team closed ranks and did the business on the field. It is not for me to argue who would have been a more worthy winner of the 2006 World Cup. All I know is that at the end of a long month of football, the team with the trophy usually deserves it.
Buffon is arguably the best goalkeeper in the world, better than Petr Cech.
Cannavaro proved he is the best defender in the world, although his performance in extra-time in the final was way below par.
Gennaro Gattuso is energy and combat personified. He is a guy you would go to war with. And Luca Toni has scored 80 goals in the last three years in Serie A.
Throw in Nesta, Zambrotta, Pirlo, Del Piero, Totti (who didn't play too well) and the previously unknown Fabio Grosso and you have a good chance of winning the World Cup.
I was trying to imagine the size of the cajones on De Rossi, who was sent off against the USA, banned for four games, but came back for the final and had the brass bolts to step up and take one of the penalties. That takes some courage.
I'm not sure what Zidane will be up to this week, but I have a few thousand reasons to smile. Those of the over 28 563 readers of my column who recall my prediction, or rather my bet at the start of the tournament when I got Italy at 10-1 - if you put anything on them, I'll just take the 10% agent fee if you don't mind.
Well done Italy and Woza 2010. Now the hard work begins.
George is the publisher of Kick Off soccer magazine and represented South Africa during the 1994 World Cup qualifiers.
Send George your thoughts
Disclaimer: News24 encourages freedom of speech and the expression of diverse views. The views of columnists published on News24 are therefore their own and do not necessarily represent the views of News24.
- News24
|
