Fornits
General Interest => Open Free for All => Topic started by: starry-eyed pirate on June 10, 2006, 03:02:00 PM
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Hey, just been enjoyin' the football. Yesterday I watched Germany defeat Costa Rica by a score of 4-2. and then I watched Ecuador outplay and upset Poland 2-0. This mornin' I seen England, led by David Beckham beat Paraguay 1-0. Just now I watched Trinidad and Tobago(they have a combined team and are the smallest country to ever qualify for the tournament. This is their first appearance) play the heavily favored Sweeden to a scoreless draw.
I love to watch the competition when it reaches this level. These are the best footballers in the world playin the worlds most popular game, so there is some serious talent on the pitch!
I also enjoy the international aspect of the tournament. I mean when you win the world cup then you really are a world champion.
Anyway some of observations to this point:
*Germany's good
*Ecuador is fast and tenacious and plays their hearts to win. I like 'em.
*England played well enough to win but wasn't really impressive, as a team. This is the first time I've seen Beckham play and I could understand the power of his skill. He is in total control when he touches the ball. He scored the games only goal on a free kick that was so deceptively kicked that the defender misjudged it's arc and velocity and headed the ball into his own net. That's my take on how it happened anyway.
*Sweeden didn't play as well as expected and Trinidad and Tobago fought them off and held them to a scoreless tie thanx to some balls out goal-tendin' by their keeper, Hislop.
Anyhow, I had a few more remarks I wanted to make but I think the next game is on right now! I'll have to come back later.
Hey! anybody else follow the world cup ??
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Hell yeah I follow the World Cup!! I've been waiting for this tournament since all of us on our soccer team at BCA (an ex-CEDU school) watched the agonizing yet very impressive loss to Germany 4 years ago. Obviously I'm pulling for the States, but I gotta say, I'm all about these African teams like Togo, Ghana, Angola, and the Ivory Coast. Those guys are vicious, they play with so much heart, I love it.
That England vs. Paraguay game was a hell of a game, but damn it's always depressing to watch a team lose on an own goal, especially off of someone's head. Hopefully Paraguay pulls through to the next round so Carlos Gamarra doesn't become the next Escobar when he gets home.
Portugal vs. Angola today, that's gonna be a good one.
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All I gotta say is WOW what happened to our boys today?!?
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Yeah, rough day on the pitch. Couldn't seem to get it together .....ever. Czechs are good though. No doubt. They made no mistakes on defense. U.S. was laggin all day. We only had about 2 or 3 decent shots. More than enough blown opportunities to at least put the ball in the net once or twice but just could. not. get. it. to-geth-er. at. all. Reyna did have that one shot that hit the post.
'Sup dniceo7. Rough day...
So Brazil is ranked #1, followed by the Czech Republic(#2), Mexico #3, Germany #4, and the U.S. #5. Is that about right ??
Soccer has changed in the last few years. Back in my day ::bandit:: ::dove::
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I think there is a socio-cultural reason why Americans don't fare as well in international soccer. What is it, though? We don't seem to have the same gusto.
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That was back in the day, the US team is respectable now. Can't let a loss to the Czech's get you thinking we don't have gusto, Nedved and those guys are just a bunch of straight up ballers. Personally, the Czech's are my pick to win it all.
Yeah, Saturday I believe is our match with the Italians. We'll be heading down to Boston's North End to watch that one (Boston's Italian hotspot), should be absolutely insane. I'd have to say it's win or be eliminated for us. If we lose to Italy, then it's on Ghana to beat the Czech's, and I don't really see that happening. But I really think we can beat Italy!
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Well...we'll have to come out gunnin' hard today!! I don't really know how good of a team Italy has, but I guess it don't really matter since we've got to take down whoever comes our way. So let's kick some Italian ass! I'd really love to see Claudio Reyna rip the corner of the net from 35' out. When I played I always enjoyed rippin' the net from a long ways off. Enjoy the games everyone. Have fun down in the Italian quarter dniceo7. World Cup soccer...Let's get it!!! ::bandit:: :skull:
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YEAH!!! 2-0 Ghana!!!
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my friend and neighbor, whose been watchin the matches with me, says: USA 2 - Italy nil. :cool:
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I agree, when I'm playing soccer there's nothing better than puttin' one upper 90 from outside the box, such a satisfying feeling. The US looked damn good today, played real hard up until about the 75th minute when the Italians took over...thank God Keller is a baller in the net. But damn, what the hell is the deal with Beasley? He was the man 4 years ago, this year he plays like shit against the Czech's and then stands there offsides and costs us the win against the Italians. Killin' me! Should be a hell of a match against Ghana, though...shit's getting interesting!!
It was absolutely nuts in the North End, best place I've ever watched a World Cup game. Except in person of course, at the old Foxborough Stadium in '94, Round of 16 Nigeria vs. Italy.
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Where'd you see the game?I lived on Salem Street, parallel to Hanover. Miss it terribly.
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I honestly don't remember the name of the spot, it was on Prince Street about a block East from Hanover. Nice little place, the whole front wall was wide open to the street so there was a big crowd out front smoking and cheering for the Italians. All the US fans had gotten there early and locked up tables near the TV's, so we were pretty much surrounded by Italians. Fortunately soccer's a game of class...I was half expecting it to turn into something like a Sox vs. Yanks game at Cask n' Flaggon when the red cards started flying.
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U.S. better put it in the net tomorrow!! Ghana will be tougher than they think. I won't be able to watch the game 'cause I gotta work. Major drag. ::dove::
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...ugh!! ::stab::
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C'mon, ya'll haven't lost interest just 'cause the U.S. has been eliminated have you ??
I'm watchin' Ghana and Brasil. Right now it's halftime. Ghana is down 2-0 but they are playing aggressively and I hope they come back. I would love to see them knock Brasil out!
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Damn!
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Man, how could you be cheering for Ghana? I was so glad they finally started getting called for their pathetic dives and fake injuries, I was absolutely thrilled to see Gyan get thrown out for taking a dive in the box towards the end of the game. I've been really disappointed with the officiating, almost as much as I have been with all the faking injuries. I'm 3/4 Italian and even I was horrified to see them win that game on such a ridiculous call. And as much as Brazil outplayed Ghana, Adriano was clearly about a mile and a half offsides when he scored that goal. Of course, my vote for the worst call of the last 8 games has to be the one that led to France's second goal yesterday. Since I've had to watch every game in Spanish so far, I still have no idea what the ref was thinking there.
But hey, refs will be refs, and every game has been pretty gamn good, my personal favorite being that Portugal vs. Netherlands game, with all the fighting. You see dude lose his shoe and get it kicked away by the guy guarding him? Or how about dude getting kicked right in the collarbone?
I don't know which is going to be better, Argentina vs. Germany or Brazil vs. France, but I do know that Italy's winning it all baby.
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Wow what a game between Germany and Argentina, that late goal was absolutely beautiful. I had looked at my buddy right as Ballack was bringing it up the side and I was like "Ballack's gonna cross in a beauty right here and they're gonna tie it up". I can only hope no one scores a golden goal and this thing goes to a shootout baby.
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I guess I'm the only one around here still obsessed with the world cup, but that's all good. Anyone just watch that Portugal vs. England match? England got a raw deal, but whatever, Portugal's legit, and they'd both be fucked in the next round anyways.
However, I think this was the most memorable game in the world cup for one reason. Remember back when you played youth soccer, like U-12, U-10, U-8 leagues and shit like that? Remember how everyone was always getting called for illegal throw-ins because they'd throw the ball a different direction than their head/body were facing? On the pro level, I thought that was one of those things like traveling in the NBA...either no one's dumb enough to do it, or it's such a juvenile call that the refs just never call it.
Guess I was wrong. When the Portuguese winger threw an illegal throw-in and got called for it late in the 2nd half, that marked the first time EVER that I've seen someone at the college-level or above get called for an illegal throw-in. I personally thought it was hysterical.
But anyways, Portugal steals Ghana's crown for taking the most dives and faking the most injuries in a 2006 world cup game so far. I'm sure they'll outdo themselves in the semi's since that's the ONLY way they'll have a prayer of advancing to the finals. I mean seriously, doesn't matter if Brazil or France wins today, they'll both wipe the floor with those babies.
Ronaldinho and the boys in yellow are going to smoke the damn French anyways. Viva Brasil!
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Hey man... I'm still here too. Caught part of the England/Portugal game but had to go back to bed due to headache from hangover...Got back up in time to see France beat Brasil though....I'm glad Brasil's out...kinda opens things up a little more.
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Hey man... I'm still here too. Caught part of the England/Portugal game but had to go back to bed due to headache from hangover...Got back up in time to see France beat Brasil though....I'm glad Brasil's out...kinda opens things up a little more.
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Well...enjoy the games dniceo7. I'm not gonna miss another match.
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Shit gets real today
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Yeah man...the competition has really intensified. Thanx dniceo for all your commentary. You seem to be pretty knowledgable about the game and the teams. It's been difficult for me to stay up on whats been happening in the world of international football. Until recently most of the soccer was only televised on cable stations that I didn't get, but I upgraded my service specifically so I could watch the world cup tournament. I feel like I need to subscribe to a FIFA newsletter or something just so I can sorta keep up with what goes on twith the players and the rules an' such. I haven't been too thrilled with the officiatin' either dniceo. It seems inconsistent to me. I mean it's like theses guys are hand muggin' each other all the way down thew wing into the corner of the field and nothing is caklled, yet when there is no contact, and someone takes a dive then theres a foul called. I don't get it. When I played you couldn't use your hands like that, couldn't grab another player and try to hold him, well you couldn't be so blatantly obvious about it anyway, if you were subtle you might get away with it. The game has become alot more physical than I remember. I don't like all the dives and fake injuries either, it's degrading to the sport. I guess everybody's doin' it though.
I cheered for Ghana because they are underdogs and the U'S was already eliminated. I liked the way they played with heart...and let's face it Africa needs something to cheer about. If my home team isn't in the competition then I generally root for the underdogs...the most important thing to me though is just to see a well played game. I like France too. I like Zidane(sp?0). Man that guy has incredible ball control and he is cool headed too. :smile:
Oh sorry about some of my spelling an' such. My computer is suddenly actin' all whacky on me and if I hit the 'backspace ' key it will delete my entire post! :???:
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:rofl: :rofl:
http://go.reuters.com/newsArticle.jhtml ... EnoughNews (http://go.reuters.com/newsArticle.jhtml?type=oddlyEnoughNews&storyID=12735118&src=rss/oddlyEnoughNews)
BERLIN (Reuters) - World Cup pranksters in Berlin injured at least two soccer fans by inviting them to kick soccer balls that they had secretly filled with concrete, authorities said Tuesday
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Yeah the world cup is the one sporting event (besides the world series) that I really look forward to. Its funny because I'm always staying with the family over the summer when it's on, and we have nothing but the rabbit ears on our TV's, so I end up watching most of the games on the spanish channel with those hilarious commentators. It's kind of cool too, that way I can focus more on the game and not make up my mind about a call or a player's skill based on what the commentators say. Yeah I can see why you'd root for Ghana, it's like how I was going for Senegal 4 years ago. I just got upset with them for milking all those calls when they played us haha.
There's no stopping the azzurri now, and I think France will take care of Portugal and then we'll have a hell of an entertaining finale. But then again, I also bet money it would be Germany and Brazil in the end. Oh well. At least I still have my fantasy baseball pools.
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On 2006-07-04 13:11:00, Anonymous wrote:
" :rofl: :rofl:
http://go.reuters.com/newsArticle.jhtml ... EnoughNews (http://go.reuters.com/newsArticle.jhtml?type=oddlyEnoughNews&storyID=12735118&src=rss/oddlyEnoughNews)
BERLIN (Reuters) - World Cup pranksters in Berlin injured at least two soccer fans by inviting them to kick soccer balls that they had secretly filled with concrete, authorities said Tuesday
"
:lol: Oh man!!
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Well, today is the final match of the tournament. Seems like it all went by too fast. I'll be rootin' for France today but mostly I just hope to see a long hard fought battle. I would like it to go to double overtime, tied up 2-2 and then see Zidane rip the net in the last 3 minutes of the 2nd overtime period. I don't want it to be decided by penalty kicks. In fact I think they should get rid of the P.K. round as a way to decide the winner. I think that they should just keep lettin' 'em play, as many overtimes as it takes, or at least they should let it go to quadruple overtime before the p.k.s start. Eventually someone would score. I know that the players would all be exhausted by the time they had run for that long. 150 minutes, but maybe they could allow one or 2 additional substitutions. I think that'd be real cool. just let 'em play...
Anyway, what a great tournament and what a beautiful game. We'll get 'em next time!!! ::trophy:: ::armed:: ::dove::
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'Sup dniceo. Where you at ?? Gettin' ready to watch the final somewhere no doubt. I know you like Italy. They're good, real good actually. Maybe they'll win. Either one of these teams could beat the other on a given day. Heres to good times brother! ::hatter::
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End of regulation... :em:
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... :roll:... :lol: Congratulations to Italy!!!
I'm very dissapointed in Zidane for losing his cool near the end of the game. I understand though. That Italian cat must 'a' said something that really pissed Zidane off, still he should 'a' known better than to allow himself to get drawn into that shit.
I ended my soccer career with a red card too for flippin the ref the bird when I was frustrated because we were in a tight game for the championship and I got into it with the opposin' keeper, me bein a center forward 'n' all, and the ref called me for whatever, I can't remember now, in either case I was bein' too physical, but in reality that keeper was throwin elbows at me as I came in to try to get a head on the ball, so it was really goin' both ways but I'm the one he blew the whistle at. I walked right over to the ref an' stuck my middle finger right up in his face and got the instant red card for that. I deserved it. I was wrong. I regret endin' my career on that note to this day. Poor Zidane. Maybe you better not retire just yet.
Anyway congratulations to Italy and to everyone who played.
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dniceo7,
Would love to hear about your victory celebration with the Italians up in the North End and any final comments or reflections you have on the cup. Otherwise I want to thank you for your particpation in this thread. It would've been most inane without you. :smile: :wave:
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Hell yea man, thank you too, good to know there are a few of us diehards around in the states. But all I gotta say is...
FORZA AZZURRI BABY!!!
I've been waiting since Baggio lifted his PK about 6 feet over the crossbar back in '94 to see the Azzurri get back to the finals. What an awesome game. 3 of us went back down to the North End with our Italia jerseys and it was just a zoo down there. Italians everywhere, walking in the middle of the streets, waving massive flags and singing their chants, and it was still 30 minutes before the game. We managed to find ourselves some room at a bar right off Hanover again, and it was absolutely packed. No better way to watch that game.
Then Zidane knocked home that PK in the 7th minute...I thought some of those guys were gonna rip the flatscreen right off the wall. Not a single French fan around, though...probably a wise move by them. At one point I really needed to take a piss, I had been holding it since the Italian national anthem, so I decided to book it to the bathroom real quick, but my buddy goes "Italy corner kick!!!" So I stayed. And then Materazzi put one in off his head. I think I would've lost sleep for the rest of the week if I had missed that goal. It was beautiful. I think the decibels in that place were on par with a low flying jet right over your head at that point.
I was really surprised at the Italian fans' reactions to Henry getting all but knocked out in the first couple minutes. I figured they would've been jeering him, as drunk as most of them were, but they were pretty classy about it. As the trainers were dousing him with ice water I heard a lot of comments like "It won't be as sweet a victory if Henry's not playing against us." Gotta give it up for soccer fans.
Italy had me worried towards the end, especially in overtime. They looked a bit flat-footed, and France was really taking it to them. Thankfully they were all visibly exhausted, and no one could really manage to get any solid shots on net. Except for Zidane's late header, which had to be one of the most beautiful saves of the cup, by Buffon or anybody for that matter. But Zidane, come on Zidane. I was heartbroken when he headbutted Materazzi. Zidane has long been up there with Maradonna, Keane, Figo, Maldini, and Klinsmann as my favorite players of all time. But the second he took Materazzi out, I had nothing for disgust for him. And man, if he had walked by that bar after the game, he would've been lynched. I don't know about all that "dirty terrorist" shit, all I know is that Zidane fucked up. To me, it'd be like Albert Pujols testing positive for HGH. Just really sad for the game. I guess the French papers really lit into him, especially when it came to all the kids watching the cup.
Anyways, the rest is history, the North End looked a bit like City Plaza (which they kept showing on the Boston telecast), which looked a bit like Rome. People were celebrating for hours. We went down to the south shore to hit the beach after the game and play a little beach soccer, and it just so happened there was a big group of Italians there celebrating, so we got a big game going. The Sox lost 6-5 in 19 innings that night, and we could've cared less. Man, I'm still excited about that win.
So maybe in 4 years the rumors will play out and Klinsmann (who I just discovered is my neighbor out in Malibu) will take over for Arena and march us back to the Quarterfinals. Peace! ::cheers::
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Unreported was this account I read on South Africas Weekly Mail:
Under a haze of French flags and firecracker smoke, the crowd of several thousand people filling Place de la Concorde on Monday afternoon chanted "Zizou! Zizou!" in a hero's welcome for Zinédine Zidane, the French football captain sent off for headbutting an Italian player as France lost the World Cup final.
I was also told that while Italian TV has shown the incident over and over, it was only shown once in France.
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Wow. Must have been a rough tournament.
http://http://today.reuters.co.uk/news/newsArticle.aspx?type=worldFootballNews&storyID=2006-07-11T111348Z_01_L11683703_RTRIDST_0_SPORT-SOCCER-WORLD-SUICIDE.XML
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World Cup Mystery:
What Did 'Animal'
Say to Anger 'God'?
Even Lip Readers Don't Agree
On Spark for Head Butt;
Affront to Motherhood?
By ANDREW HIGGINS and MARIE VALLA
July 13, 2006 5:38 a.m.; Page A1
PARIS -- The World Cup is over and Italy won. But the most gripping global sporting drama of the moment rumbled on in Paris last night:
A Frenchman known to his fans as "God" went on television to explain why he rammed his shaved head into the chest of an Italian nicknamed "the animal."
Watched by spellbound fans across France and then flashed around the world, the television appearance of Zinédine Zidane was the latest episode in a fiercely fought international competition: trying to figure out why France's star soccer player blew his top during Sunday's World Cup final.
[ZIDANE]
Zinedine Zidane head-butts Marco Materazzi during Sunday's World Cup final.
The contest has featured lip readers, sociologists, philosophers and novelists -- and millions of anguished soccer fans eager to know why one of the game's greatest and most graceful players went wild and, in the process, hurt France's chance of winning its second World Cup in eight years.
Mr. Zidane, appearing on France's Canal Plus pay-TV, said his quarrel with Italian defender Marco Materazzi began when the Italian tugged his shirt 10 minutes from the end of the 30-minute overtime. Mr. Materazzi, according to Mr. Zidane, then insulted his mother and sister.
"These were words that touched the deepest part of me," said the 34-year-old Frenchman, seeking to explain why he had head-butted the Italian and got himself thrown out of the game, the last of his long and brilliant career. "I would rather have taken a punch in the jaw than have heard that."
France ended up finishing the overtime with only 10 players, and then lost in the subsequent penalty shootout. Mr. Zidane is France's star penalty kicker and had scored from the penalty spot early in the match.
"I reacted badly, and I would like to apologize for it," added Mr. Zidane, who has occasionally erupted in the past. But he said he didn't regret the head butt. "The guilty one is the one who provokes," he said.
Mr. Zidane's explanation is unlikely to quiet a frenzy of speculation that France's l'Equipe newspaper yesterday called "L'Enquête Planétaire," or "The Planetary Inquest." Parisian café goers watching the interview on TV last night groaned at Mr. Zidane's lack of specifics. He later also spoke to French channel TF1.
What exactly happened on the field of Berlin's Olympic Stadium Sunday has become a global obsession. Outside Italy, where fans have savored their triumph, Mr. Zidane's now world-famous head butt has attracted more media attention than Italy's success. Even Italian papers have put it on the front page.
Lip Readers Get the Call
Eager to work out what prompted Mr. Zidane's fury, media from Britain to Brazil have turned to lip readers to scrutinize video footage of the game and decipher what was said by Mr. Materazzi, a notoriously aggressive defender. The lip readers all agreed that insults were traded but have given very different versions of what was said.
[slideshow promo Italy]1
The Times of London's lip reader said the Italian called Mr. Zidane, whose parents came to France from North Africa, a "son of a terrorist whore." According to the BBC's expert, Mr. Materazzi said, "I hope your family all die ugly deaths." Experts enlisted by a Brazilian TV show said the Italian called Mr. Zidane's sister a prostitute. The men are believed to have spoken in Italian, which Mr. Zidane speaks because he played in Italy for many years.
Mr. Materazzi, in various media interviews, has denied calling the Frenchman a "terrorist" or insulting his mother, saying "the mother is sacred."
"I didn't say anything to him about racism, religion or politics," Mr. Materazzi told Italian sports newspaper Gazzetta dello Sport in an interview, excerpts of which were released last night shortly before Mr. Zidane's TV appearance. "I didn't talk about his mother, either. I lost my mother when I was 15 and even now I still get emotional talking about her."
Mr. Materazzi added that the French soccer star "has always been my hero. I admire him a lot."
It isn't the first time Mr. Zidane has lost his cool. In 1998, he stamped on a Saudi player during a World Cup game and was ordered off the field by the referee. France eventually won the tournament. Two years later, he head-butted a German player and was again expelled.
Though widely condemned for unsportsmanlike conduct after Sunday's head butt, Mr. Zidane has, if anything, become an even bigger star than before. Instead of slipping into retirement, the intensely private player has remained in the spotlight. Mr. Zidane was awarded the Golden Ball for best player at the World Cup -- an award given by journalists covering the event.
An announcement yesterday by Canal Plus that Mr. Zidane would be speaking in the evening was treated as a major piece of breaking news. His comments were the top item on France's evening news broadcasts.
To try to capitalize on this, a French record label has released a reggae-style song titled "Coup de Boule," French slang for head butt. Its chorus: "Zidane has hit [him]." The song plays on the words of a pre-World Cup song with the chorus "Zidane has scored."
On YouTube, the Web site used by people to share videos, the two most watched offerings in past days feature Mr. Zidane's head butt. They've been seen nearly half a million times. Another popular video is a compilation of fouls by the head-butted Italian, Mr. Materazzi.
While most French fans say Mr. Zidane's action probably lost France the game, nearly two-thirds say they've forgiven him, according to an opinion poll in Le Parisien newspaper. President Jacques Chirac, at a meeting with the team Monday at the Elysée Palace, embraced Mr. Zidane and told him: "You are a virtuoso....You are also a man of heart, commitment and conviction. That's why France admires and loves you."
Court Action
A member of parliament for France's ruling party has demanded that Mr. Zidane be given a Legion d'honneur, France's highest decoration. A French lawyer announced yesterday that he will go to court to try to get the World Cup final invalidated on the grounds that Mr. Zidane's expulsion was illegal. He wants the match with Italy replayed.
Corporate sponsors have reveled in the frenzy of interest in a man who graces advertisements for telephones, insurance policies, dairy goods and other products.
French telecom brand Orange, which renewed its contract with Mr. Zidane before the World Cup, said yesterday that the company regretted the head butt, "but it's not up to us to judge or condemn it. He's proven many times before that he was a straight and moral human being." Since Sunday's final, the company has run full-page newspaper ads featuring a close-up of Mr. Zidane, smiling on a soccer field.
Adidas AG, a sponsor of the World Cup and of Mr. Zidane, is launching a new website to allow fans to leave written or video messages for the "one who made us dream so much." The site, mercizidane.fr, starts up on Saturday. A temporary site has a picture of Mr. Zidane with the message: "Thank You for all the happiness you have given us."
Writers and philosophers have read great moral drama into Mr. Zidane's tantrum. "The God of football has become a literary hero," declared Zoé Valdes, an exiled Cuban writer in an article published in Spain. Bernard Henri-Lévy, a French philosopher writing in this newspaper, termed it the suicide of a "planetary icon."
Others see simpler lessons. "What a fabulous head butt," said Al Breach, head of research at UBS in Moscow and devoted fan of the French national team. "The Italian deserved something -- a bad dude -- and so, a good oak loses his cool and socks him one. Wonderful!"
-- Gabriel Kahn in Rome, Leila Abboud in Paris and Amir Efrati in New York contributed to this article.
Write to Andrew Higgins at marie.valla@wsj.com (http://mailto:marie.valla@wsj.com)
URL for this article:
http://online.wsj.com/article/SB115273647730904893.html (http://online.wsj.com/article/SB115273647730904893.html)
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http://wwf.avigation.net/viewtopic.php?p=207338#207338 (http://wwf.avigation.net/viewtopic.php?p=207338#207338)