I H-8 World Cup

[fabsroman]

The first half of the game was exciting, but the second half and OT was rather boring. There were a couple of good moments in the second half, like when Italy scored its second goal which was overruled because of an offsides call that was pretty questionable. Another good moment was when Zidane headed the ball into what would be a goal, but Buffon, Italy's goalie, came up with a great save. Italy also had two more very near goals, one off the right post and another off the crossbar, but I think they were in the first half.

The head butt by Zidane was horrible. The main reason I liked France was because of him. In the games I have watched him play in he has been incredible and he is not a diver. I have no idea what was said by Materrazi, but whatever it was doesn't condone violence. Then again, I do hate people with big mouths who brag a lot or try to talk crap while playing.

While I thought I really didn't care who won, I found myself routing for Italy after the cheap 7th minute dive by a French player that lead to a penalty kick for Zidane which he barely made. I found myself jumping out of my seat with my arms in the air when Italy scored.

In OT, Italy was spent and playing just to make it to penalty kicks. They had dropped everybody back into defense and were just trying to prevent a goal. I truly thought the French were going to score a goal before OT was over, but that all changed when Zidane did what he did and they went down a man. Then, Italy was able to chew up a little bit of the clock by passing the ball around and Italy got lucky during the penalty kicks.

Zidane said he is sorry for what he did and he apologized to all the children watching. However, he does not regret what happened because it was meant to be from above. I don't necessarily agree with the "it was meant to be from above" comment. Does that mean that if I stroll out into the street and shoot somebody, I shouldn't regret my actions because it was meant to be from above. That is a crock.

Okay, I could go on about this forever. Let's just say that I am disappointed with the stats on diving in this World Cup alond with Zidane's actions, but I am happy that Italy won its 4th World Cup. Now, if Baggio hadn't missed a penalty kick against Brazil in 1994, Italy might have 5 World Cups and Brazil only 4.