USA! USA!

[Sla]

They still would have won. The stars were aligned, Italy's tournament was near flawless.

We'll never know it for sure, France was playing better in the extra-time, there were still some minutes to play. And maybe Zidane would have shot instead of Trezeguet at the penalties.

I don't mean that Italy was not good, certainly deserved victory for those who have kept their self-control, only that changed all in the minds of players, and it ruined the game.

Yeah, if we think about the psychological consequences: it wasn't a good thing for France.
The impressive thing was - Materazzi had no problem to shoot the penalty. What a cold motherfucker.

[toxicbuffy]

why the fuck do Americans yell USA! USA! USA! at games? Yall do know that you have Canadian,Russian, Belarus, Slovakian, Findlind ect players on your sport teams.. Anyways in hockey.

Just Saying...

[Knock]

why the fuck do Americans yell USA! USA! USA! at games? Yall do know that you have Canadian,Russian, Belarus, Slovakian, Findlind ect players on your sport teams.. Anyways in hockey.

Just Saying...

Asl?

[AJS2050]

Keep upto date with the English Premier League. The most watched sports league & greatest football league in the world.

The blue & white of QPR i would recommend.

oh and...

Rugby > American Football.

[Ku53v]

As usual, the Australia game is brought up - do people forget that Italy got a needless red card in the first half for a DIVE the Australian player made? No of course not, cuz that would be an admittance to Italy's deservingness of the game.

Secondly, Australia managed to muster up TWO LACKLUSTER shots directly as Buffon in goal - they posed very little to no threat at all. AND despite being a man up for more than half of the match (they had a centerback kicked out, which is a hard blow to take considering HE was the back up) they were unable to break the Italian defence.

Which leads me to Italy's offensive. They had way more chances: Toni, Gilardino, Iaquinta, Del Piero and Totti all had chances. Fast forward to the penalty - ADMITTEDLY SAID, the penalty was very very very softly given, however, it WAS a distinct penalty. For one, there WAS contact - I don't give a fuck what you close minded blind assholes say, WATCH the replays, there was contact. Not a lot, but it was there. A second thing, O'Neill was the last defender who made one of the stupidest tackles you could ever possibly make that late in a game of that intensity

Yeah the red card against materazzi was exaggerated but, even so, it has more support from the rulebook than the penalty call.
Australia may have shot 2 times, i don't remember, but they dominated throughout the whole game, as Italy just waited and played on counterattack.

Now about the penalty, i think it's evident to any unbiased watcher of that game that it was a bullshit call, because, first of all it wasn't even a tackle, Neill tried to block the shot, WTF was he supposed to do to avoid committing a foul?
It was Grosso who tripped over him and provocked all the contact there was.

Italy was a deserving champion but by no means it was a flawless tournament , they couldn't even beat USA and their only clear victory was against Ukraine, the weakest team to ever reach quarters.

[mdemaz]

Australians suck at Soccer, it's fact..Just get over it..

[Ku53v]

Keep going man, don't worry about it

You're absolutely wrong to say Australia 'dominated' the match. You're ACTUALLY 100% wrong - what the fuck do you expect a team to do when they are a man down for 60 minutes? Of course they are gonna focus more defense, yet they STILL had many more goal worthy chances.

You're wrong.

if they focused more on the defense side that means australia had the ball for longer in offense, and therefore dominated the game, and no italia didn't have many more goal chances (for further proof, check the statistics you rely so much on)

It wasn't a tackle? Tried to block the shot?

Are you blind? Seeing as you seemingly are, I'll answer for you - Yes, you are blind.

What shot? Did Grosso's body language even slightly insinuate he was readying for a shot? No. Absolutely not. And YES, it WAS a tackle - he blocked Grosso's path, Grosso did the right thing and albeit being a weak call - admitted for the third motherfucking time - contact was STILL evident. Was it not? Of course it was, you can't deny it and if you do, you're lying to yourself.

Neill performed a tackle - that was the provocation.

Yes,he definitely made as if he was going to throw a centre, i just saw the play again and i can't really decide on whether it was a tackle or not so whatever you say. But if, as you say, he blocked Grosso's path, wouldn't that be an obstruction which would be punished at best, with an indirect free kick?

Yeah, contact was evident, mostly provoked by Grosso, cause like i said before, Neill was already sliding on the ground, what could he possibly do to avoid it?

I never said Italy had a flawless tournament, don't put words in my motherfucking mouth - I said they had a near flawless tournament. 11 goals by 10 players, conceded two shitty goals - yeah, seems pretty FUCKIN solid to me.

its the same fucking difference, but oh well let me rephrase my words: Italy's tournament was nowhere near flawless. Defensively? perhaps, all around? Hell no. The two wins in extra-time, one of which in a penalty shoot-out, and the dubious victory against Australia say otherwise

"They couldn't even beat USA" - as if USA is actually THAT bad of a team? Lol, don't be an ignorant fuck face. If you watched the game, again, you'd see Italy had a healthy amount of chances but it was obscured by the idiocy of both Italian and American players. NOT to mention USA only scored because of an own goal.................................................................................................

Ignorant as you saying paraguay and portugual "fuckin suck"?
Yes, US is THAT bad of a team, at least not good enough to get a draw in a WC against the eventual champion

Italy's ONLY clear victory was over Ukraine? What...the...fuck

They beat Ghana relatively easily, as well as the Czech Republic - who I believe were 2nd place in the world in 2006.

FIFA's ranking means nothing, Czech Republic were in 2nd place mainly because of 3rd place in the euro two years before the world cup, by 2006 it was no longer the same team

But you're right, I wasn't thinking of the group stage when i said that.

Kiddo, it's not about easily beating your opponents, a team that has to fight and make it to the end and still wins is a champion. If a team just flies by its opponents, it's not good. I'd rather see Italy lose after a 120 minutes of hard back and forth fighting than win 8-0 against fuckin San Marino.

Not when it comes to the discussion of a team's performance. The easier you win, the closest to perfection you are.

Now, if by "flawless tournament" you meant how much you enjoyed it then that's something I can't argue with

[xRas]

ugay ugay

[UofLCard]

For us Europeans that's really crazy/funny and difficult to understand. We make fun about Handball or Hockey or things like that, but Soccer? Soccer is one of those things a real man has to like, like beer. And it's better calling it Football.

I find it amusing that Europeans (expecially England residents) hate the word 'soccer', yet the English invented the word.

[xRas]

One man