world cup........

[ivo]

Final= Italy-France

Zidane scored the only goal( a penalty) to put them in the final against Italy. I thought this was a great game. There were some divers who shall
remain nameless, but nonetheless the game was one of the best this WC. France played a great game and congrats for winning. Looking forward to the
Italy-France final, and the 3rd place Germany-Portugal match.

[Dutch64]

Hmmm, compared to the yesterday game (germany-italy) this game today was very boring. Of course, if it's one of your fav teams, the whole situation is
different but i think in the whole game there where only 4 or 5 chances, that's it. The only funny thing was barthez in his clown act again
Now the final which Italy will win easily i think

[jetdude43]

ivo wrote:

jetdude43 wrote:

ivo wrote:

eazy wrote:

ivo wrote:
... if Portugal beat France.

They won't !!

hehe, they should

they shouldnt and wont

they should and they will

wanna bet?

if thats true, how come they just lost

[ivo]

I didn't really watch the whole game yesterday. I woke up at about halftime. Of course, this game could have had more chances. You get the feeling
that the game was moving slowly, Most players were switching the ball to the other wing and trying from there. I don't think that Figo played a good
game today. France kept him gaurded and he couldn't make any good shots/crosses. And then he missed the rebound from Ronaldo's free kick. I seriously
thought it was a goal.

what was funny though was the Ronaldo was booed the whole game

[jetdude43]

if you havent noticed, ronaldo is booed in every game whenever he has the ball, i was booing at him 2

[Air France]

ALLEZ LES BLEU!!!!!!!!!!!!!

[timcclayton]

Yeah, come on France - time to beat another team of divers!!!





FINAL SCORE

France 3 : 1 Italy

[ivo]

jetdude43 wrote:
if you havent noticed, ronaldo is booed in every game whenever he has the ball, i was booing at him 2

Ronaldo was only booed because of the Rooney incident. No one was booing before. I don't know why people are obsessing so much. Anyone remember
Maradona's hand of god? He wasn't booed now was he?

[pegase]

PFFFEEEWWWWW!!!!!!

If the tale saying that luck goes to good teams is true then we have got a GREAT team

even me could see that Portugueses played 20.000 feets higher tonight. But it looks like they did not notice it and squanderized their skill
advantage with useless faults, stopped their own actions with fake dives ???

The second half time I did not even look the game (Just guys in dark red sweats playing with a ball and some times others in white passing by
around...) I just watched the clock

Well Thanks, kudos and cheers to Barthez and Thuram those two did it GREAT

Indeed Martin

Now the final which Italy will win easily i think

Probably it will be like a race between a 2CV and a Ferrari

if the road is bumpy and curvy enough the 2CV can get it ..

[eazy]

I've never seen a 34 year old Ferrari still rolling - no problem for a 2CV

When looking into the eyes of Zidane after the penalty, I think I saw the golden cup there
And with Thuram, Gallas and Sagnol (and 'funny' Barthez of course) I don't think it won't be that easy for Italy.

btw: Thumbs up again for the referee. Another diving champ left the scene tonight (and will now be facing Germany,
but that's of minor importance).

[ivo]

did anyone else notice Ricardo's brilliant performance this world cup? And yet again, he guessed the right way on Zizou's penalty. If only he could
have saved it................

[timcclayton]

Ironic isn't it, that Ricardo actually dives less than all his team-mates...

[ivo]

[ivo]

PLAYER QUATES------------------------------------------

Lilian THURAM (FRA), Budweiser Man of the Match
We didn't play a great match because we kept losing too many balls, but every one of us fought hard for the team. Once again, we showed the immense
solidarity there is in our squad, and our experience made the difference in the end. It's always incredible to qualify for a World Cup Final, and even
though this will be my second, it's still a boyhood dream. I retired from the international game two years ago, so I shouldn't even be here. But
that's also part of what makes football so extraordinary.

Luis FIGO (POR)
I think that football is full of ups and downs. We did everything we could to get to the Final, but unfortunately we didn't achieve our aim. We have
to be very proud of what we have done up to now and we can leave here with our heads held high. That's how football is: sometimes your opponents
aren't better than you, but they win and France took advantage of the opportunity that they had. We had a few chances and we weren’t as clinical. It’s
a shame because we didn’t deserve this result, and the scoreline does not wipe out all of the good things that we have done in this World Cup. We gave
everything that was there to give. I’m proud to belong to this squad and to be able to play a part in making history with the national team. We’re all
sad about the result but the World Cup isn’t over and we have to pick ourselves up for Saturday’s game against Germany.

RICARDO (POR)
Looking at the tournament overall, we’re sad to be leaving, but I think we are quite proud of everything we’ve done. Even though we played against a
great team, I don’t think it was a fair result and the match probably deserved a different outcome. I even managed to get a hand to the penalty, but
credit must also go to (Zinedine) Zidane because he struck it well. Unfortunately I couldn’t keep it out.

DECO (POR)
The team are sad because we had a dream of reaching the Final. We knew that it was going to be a difficult game, because France put on a great display
against Brazil, but we tried. We played well and the only thing missing was the fact that we couldn’t get through their defence and score a goal.
France weren’t better than us, far from it. For the majority of the game we were the better team and after they scored, they just sat back, defended
and tried to play on the counterattack with (Thierry) Henry. Saturday’s game is going to be tough, but we’ve got our pride intact and we’re sure that
the whole of Portugal is sad and that they are suffering just as we are. We have to do our best for the fans. We’ve had a great World Cup, but our
dream was to get to the Final.

Cristiano RONALDO (POR)
It was the end of the dream. We deserve great credit, but unfortunately we didn’t achieve our aim, which was to get to the Final. We were all in it
together, but we didn’t really take our chances.

PAULETA (POR)
Obviously we’re going to be sad because we didn’t get the result that we deserved, based on our performance. We did everything to win the game but
unfortunately France scored from their only chance. We’re going to carry on and try to get third place. We have to be up for the game.

Fernando MEIRA (POR)
Portugal deserve to be in the Final more than France, and obviously I’m sad because our opponents took their only chance in the whole game. But now we
want to get third place.

Helder POSTIGA (POR)
It was a frustrating match because we played very well. I have to thank our fans because their support throughout the tournament has been unbelievable.

Patrick VIEIRA (FRA)
Tonight our tiredness showed. We used up a lot of energy in our battle with Brazil, so we can't really say we performed well. Portugal caused us a lot
of problems. Without doubt, it was our hardest game since the start of the tournament, but we fought well. We communicate a lot with each other and
everyone puts themselves at the service of the team. We've improved throughout the competition and we can still improve a bit more.

Frank RIBERY (FRA)
We deserved this win just as we deserved all our other wins. Portugal are an excellent team and they posed us a lot of problems. It was a very tough
match since the Portuguese never stopped putting us under pressure, but luckily we were able to contain them. It still hasn't sunk in yet that we're
in the Final.

Thierry HENRY (FRA)
It might have looked like a straightforward victory, but I can assure you it was anything but. Yet again, it was our ability to play for each other
that made the difference. Now we have to get over the fact we're through. We need to concentrate and start preparing for the Final.

Eric ABIDAL (FRA)
What happened tonight is just marvellous. We fought really hard to get here, but the further we go the tougher the matches get. Actually, I don't
think we could have had a more difficult draw. Now we're only thinking about one thing: lifting the Cup.

Florent MALOUDA (FRA)
We were able to make the difference at a crucial moment, but it was a hard and tiring game. We live together, we fight together and we win together.
The atmosphere in the squad is excellent. Right now we're all still euphoric, but we'll have to get our feet back on the ground very quickly. If we
don't, that's a sure-fire way of ending up disappointed come the Final on Sunday evening.

Sidney GOVOU (FRA)
Tonight we definitely suffered mentally. We started to have doubts, but you need to know how to win the difficult games. We're all feeling absolutely
delighted at the moment, but it would be a shame to get carried away. We want to lift the Trophy

COACH QUOTES-------------------------------------------

Luiz Felipe SCOLARI (POR)
I've nothing to say about the referee; he makes whatever decisions he has to. I don't think France were better than us – it was an even game – but I
reckon a draw ending in a penalty shoot-out would have been fairer. We're a small country and it's hard for us to get this far. The players now have
to accept what happened. We dreamt of going all the way, we worked very hard but now we have another target. We want to finish third, even though we
have a day less to recover than the Germans.
If Italy aren't careful, France will get the better of them. The two sides are evenly balanced but it's true the French have fantastic talent. Look at
(Cristiano) Ronaldo: he played excellently but France let him have so few chances. Having said that, if France got a penalty, then Ronaldo should have
got one as well.

My own frustration will only last a few hours; as long as it takes me to catch up with my friends and family and the Portuguese federation. I need to
change my attitude and adapt the way I communicate. I need to swallow this defeat so I can get back to work again tomorrow morning.

Concerning Miguel, we don't know how bad his injury is or how long he will be out for. Ricardo (Carvalho) picked up a yellow card and will be
suspended for the next match, but we'll just have to cope without him. This isn't a disappointment as our team were up to the challenge. Before the
game, the players were shouting from the rooftops that they'd go through, simply because they believed they would. I'll say it again: this team is
fantastic and they played well right from the start of the competition.

Raymond DOMENECH (FRA)
We're proud to be in the Final but I said before that our goal was to be there on 9 July. Until now, we only had to get the day right. Now we have to
make sure we get the time right. As for Italy, two great performances stand out for me: France's against Brazil and Italy's very good win over
Germany. We'll see them on 9 July at 9pm.
I'm not going to comment on the Portugal coach's decisions since I don't like it when other coaches comment on mine. I salute Portugal for making us
suffer, but there had to be a winner. It was clearly our toughest match and they were the side who caused us the most problems – more than Brazil, but
in a different context. This France team showed their ability to endure pressure, buckle down, stick together and hold out. You just have to look at
the efforts our forwards made. They stayed alert when they came back to defend, never forgetting they might get a chance to express themselves going
forward.
Obviously, this is going to be Zinedine Zidane's last match, but in our heads it's not his last game – it's the Final, and what's more, it's against
Italy. Contrary to what some have said, it's not his testimonial, it's the World Cup. And he's given us so much joy over the last ten years. As for my
tactical choices, we have David Trezeguet and 11 others in reserve, and that's what makes this team so strong. The 12 who didn't start give the others
support and keep the pressure on. They should be applauded for that. We've been playing every match knowing we could be eliminated, but that's the
true essence of football. I feel calm.

[ivo]

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=jI3uOFu8-...20football

watch it. Looks like Henry dives to win the penalty. You can see Carvalho's foot catch Henry's but then Henry stepped over it, and then fell. Look
closely.

EDIT: just go to youtube.com and search for 'diving football' or 'diving xxxx(players name)' without the '' and you will get a lot of results. Watch them they are so worth it. I'm still laughing from things I saw earlier.

I saw almost every player dive-

Drogba
Gerrard
Shevchenko
Ronaldo
Rooney
Half of the Chealse squad
Half of the Italian/Portugease squad too
Deco
Henry
and lots of others....



Post Edited ( 07-07-06 15:12 )