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July 10, 2006

FIFA World Cup 2006 : And so the winner is... 
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This is the trophy that every footballer dreams of..well maybe except Eric Cantona...



This is FIFA World Cup 2006's winner ...



Yeah, Italy won by penalties and a 5 out of 5 too. It is a huge morale boost because in Italy right now and especially for the majority of the players you see in this picture, they may be job hunting soon because the clubs they're playing with, most notably Juventus, arguably one of Italy's biggest and most illustrous club is being charged and possibly convicted and then relegated for match fixing. A huge scandal and winning will definitely boost some morale.

This is the man that every paper will write about in a few hours from now ...



A day before probably the story would have been about his impending retirement from football, not just international level but from football totally and that this will be his very very last game. He started well, he played in top form and then disaster struck...



Why the red card? I posted once some time ago that I could hardly believe a mild mannered looking man like Zidane and even Figo could do something awful and guess what? Like Figo, he did something similar. Perhaps head butting your opponent is the preferred aggressive action. Figo head butted one of the Dutch player, but lightly and that Dutch player went flying to the ground. Tonight Zizou head butted an Italian player and he flew to the ground. Mind you it was a very powerful header so to speak. Why he did that? Don't know. I think maybe that Italian player said something awful and Zizou, for all his genius and glorious experience in such stuff, simply lost control. And as he left the pitch which will probably be for the very last time he passed by the trophy he didn't even look at it and it was poignantly sad ...



Did his head butting in the end contributed to the French demise? A little bit but not much. They in the end missed a penalty that if he had taken it, he would have netted it in. Seeing Lillian Thuram crying like he did and the coach standing there numbed in the face of defeat was hard. What was worst was Zizou was not allowed to come out to take his silver medal and had they win, he would not have been allowed to come onto the pitch to lift the trophy.

And so the career of the most talked about and possibly one of the most brilliant player who came back from poor form to lead his country to this big stage has effectively ended; except that it didn't end in the way most wanted it to. Many papers said he was a disgrace. I disagree. Every head butt has a readon but let's not go into that because this man has done much more for his country than that one head butt, or as I have read several. He does have a violent streak in him, and I guess every player has one, like Figo had one. I am sure tonight's antics will definitely mean Zizou will not get that Golden Ball award for best player whom I think will got to the Italian captain instead. Figo luckily went out of the tournament being applauded, his previous head butt long and forgotten but will the French and the world forget that head butt by Zizou and deny this brilliant playmaker a deserving farewell?

Of course! In the end it doesn't matter. France was not supposed to be in the final anyway. I kept predicting they'll die, they'll fail and look where they were tonight. There is always a loser in a game that demands for a winner. Italy won. It was a great game, fast paced, technically brilliant and and exciting end. I feel sad for Zizou that had to walk out of the pitch that way and whatever that Italian player said to him, although Zizou shouldn't have acted the way he did with that very powerful header into that guy's chest (must have hurt, the Italian I mean) I hope that Italian player should not behave in such a way in future. As for Zizou, the French will still love him although they may be baffled by his behaviour. They may reasoned it out like I did.

In the end it was still a brilliant end (if you ignore that send off and just focus on the way he played) to a brilliant player of this brilliant sport in this brilliantly organised tournament of brilliant everything. I still love him and since he is only 34, he shouldn't retire. He should continue to play for his club at least, like Figo.

So many retired. Oliver Kahn, brilliant goalkeeper. Luis Figo, a brilliant player. Roberto Carlos, also brilliant and very hard working. Some say Del Piero also. But all these are retiring from international football. As for Zizou, he is retiring too, but from football totally and that is a total waste.

Remember him not for that head butt but remember him for his brilliant passes, magical footwork and overall a great performance for a so called oldie.

As for Italy, congrats. I am too tired to watch the closing ceremony, I don't quite care for it since it is almost 6 in the morning. 4 years later the whole thing starts again in South Africa.

As for this tournament, the stadium that the final took place in was built by Hitler. It was impressive, very beautiful stadium. From what I read, the German organisers were great. The fact they didn't boo Figo and C.Ronaldo last night when they played, and even clapped when Figo went on to play, shows how courteous and friendly the Germans were. I am very impressed with the whole thing. Malaysia should learn from Germany on how to host an event.

What a hectic month it was for me. What a great month too. Although all my favourite teams went out, and although a few of my favourite players retired after this World Cup, it was still a great tournament. For one, although no young stars truly made their mark like Maradona or Pele once did, I was impressed with "the diver" C. Ronaldo. Dive all he wants, you can't deny his brilliant footwork and he is the future of Portugal, if he just stop diving and just play. I hope he stays in Man U because Malaysia does not have Spanish league games I think. And even if he has to leave go to Barcelona please. I saw mostly excellent goalkeepers, most impressive were the Italian Buffon, the Portugese Ricardo who was amazing, the Mexican and many others. In fact the quality of goalkeeping is so good, I am sure many would now regard goalkeeping as a job one must have instead of just being strikers and midfielders. But most of all, this tournament proves oldies are still goldies. 34? Nahhh, can still run like 24. Eyesight failing? Nahh...can still pass more accurately than most 20 year olds. Experience counts and this world cup shows it.

What an amazing tournament. Not the best of the best but definitely one of the saddest since so many favourites are retiring from international scene.

This will be my last post on FIFA World Cup 2006. I hope you have enjoyed my comments and I hope you have enjoyed the games. I would have wished it never end but all good things must come to an end.

I read some great quotes on football and one that totally summarise the general feeling of fans, especially during a big big tournament like this is the following which is perhaps the most famous quote on football...

"Some people believe football is a matter of life and death. I am very disappointed with that attitude. I can assure you it is much, much more important than that." - Bill Shankly

And so before I end this post of mine, and although I am tempted to post Luis Figo's handsome face in this post of mine, I will restrict myself to these 2 pictures that best represent tonight's end in a more glorious fashion rather than that one single second of total loss of control...

The genius at work...



And the winners ...



Update
Great news! Zizou won the Golden Ball award for best player in this tournemant despite the whole head butt thing. Is this the people's way of saying they do not care about the head butt and that Italian deserved it? I read he must have said some racist remark which is intolerable in Zizou's case, the only way to really tick him off. If people can be red carded for pushing, shoving, head butting, then racist remarks should earn a red card too, especially when before each game each team's captain has to read the anti racist campain stuff. Clearly one team isn't reading it properly. Well what a fitting end. Who cares what the English press thinks about this award who kept saying he was mediocre at best. Mediocre my foot! Who was mediocre? The entire English team. Zizou can take them all, alone! I am so disappointed with England's performance and the English media for ignoring the obvious and asking stupid questions like why Zizou won the award, why Figo was in the All Star list and so on and so forth. Clearly they were blind. Football isn't about goal scoring alone. Someone must pass the ball to the goalscorer and evidently England proves that someone can pass but almost the entire team could not score.

Great news for Zizou. I wonder will he ever give an interview about that incident? And the whole English media is still saying he will forever be remembered for that one head butt. Please the world has stopped talking about that head butt and has begun to say thanks for his presence in the World Cup. It is the English media who is still talking about it. I find it very hard to understand why he is made the villain when the real villain was the man who provoked him. Red card that other guy too, shame him into oblivion. Why just Zizou? Head butt or no head butt, I am just happy he got at least one recognition before he ended his career.

3 COMMENTS

 Anonymous writes ...

Funn,
Well-written commentary on the final world cup game! Yes, it was so sad and dissappointing that Zidane's great football career ended on a very note. Some of the game's commentators said that being one of the most experienced and captain of the team, Zidane shouldn't have lost his temper. Well, yes true...we can all say that he shouldn't...perhaps, he was tired, shoulder aching from that fall...but who knows what really went on there in that moment except for Zidane and that Italian.
I, for one, will not remember him with this sour exit but will remember him for his talent on the field...that beautiful, brilliant penalty kick in the beginning of this game!--tu

2:32 pm, July 10, 2006  

 Anonymous writes ...

[edit]ended on a very *bad* note
--tu

2:33 pm, July 10, 2006  

 Funn Lim writes ...

B.E.S

Now that's what I called loyalty! I mean Serie B or C is not bad. If Juve really has great players based on merit alone, I believe maybe in 2 years thay can claw back into Serie A? How can they not? Anyway Del Piero's career is near the end so I guess that's why he agrees to stay and fight togethe with the club.

Dirty Terrorist? Insult the mother? Insult the sister? I do not which is worst. Poor Zizou. At least he has the golden ball. I am very annoyed why the press kept harping on the fact that he tarnished his career with one move, blah blah. Worst is some French who blames him. I mean come one, he already retired, he didn't have to come back to face awful accusations of old age, sluggish play and all. He didn't have to suffer the knocks and now that stupid insult. As must as he may have caused French the cup, I mean hey! The other players are crippled or what? Why no one every question the Italian player himself?

Let him retire with pride. France was never supposed to be in the final anyway.

The italian I guess is very used to being very bad in the beginning and peaking at the right time.

8:09 pm, July 11, 2006