Flying Sparks

I don't defend Zidane at all, I think it was totally wrong what he did, no matter what he was told by the Italian!! Like I said, nothing is an excuse for headbutting someone.. The only thing I'm saying is that I feel sorry for the way he ends his career, that's all. No-one here is trying to defend him, it's just a pity that it all had to end like this.. The final, his career, everything!

I'm surprised about him winning, too.. But his whole career and the whole game in general shouldn't be destroyed just because of this one incident..

Well of course, his family should be his priority, but he could have done that AFTER the game.. There was no reason for messing up the whole game and risking his team's success!

Yeah, it's his mentality - he's usually such a calm, shy guy, but when you attack his family, he can lose control..

I think we won't hear anything from Zidane for a while.. I guess Materazzi won't tell us, and Zidane might not want to say it because it would seem like he's searching for an excuse for what he did.. Maybe we'll never find out! I think though that it had something to do with his family.. Maybe his wife that wanted him to quit..

I expected Italy to win it, but wanted France to win it.. It's such a shame, France played a brilliant game, they would have deserved it.. I'm devastated because of Zidane's situation.. I wish he could have ended his career with glory, honor and THE CAMPIONSHIP!

Well.. I agree that it's a horrible way to end your career, but he's still one of the best football players this world has ever seen! Diego Maradona did lots of stupid things during his career as well, cheating and diving and all that shit.. But he's still remembered as a legend! And I hope that the same will happen to Zidane.. I wonder what the Italian told him.. I really wanna know! I heard that it had something to do with his family - I know that French are EXTREMELY sensitive, so I can kinda understand why he lost control.. It's not an excuse though, of course.

I didn't see too much cheating in the final, but in many other games.. I recently heard on the radio that statistics of this WC proved that Italy did the most diving, I think it was 32 dives.. I'm not sure though!

Haha many people will criticise you for this comment ;) I guess he was a bit too "hard" in this particular situation! :P

Haha I see a big Ronaldo enemy here :P

^ Exactly :P Rooney might have a bad temper, but he's also a tough guy and wouldn't cry over injuries or faults.. You could see that yesterday with Zidane as well! He was falling all the time, even had a bad injury on his shoulder - but he didn't stay on the floor or complained ONE SINGLE TIME!

I agree with you when it comes to Ronaldo.. But you shouldn't put it on Rooney now just because of one fall.. Every player does that from time to time, but Ronaldo is doing it CONSTANTLY!

Oh come on, he just fell on the floor, totally natural after falling over the player.. And just because he looked at the referee once? At least he doesn't keep lying on the floor like Ronaldo does.. And a player like C. Ronaldo isn't COMMON in football.. God I really disrespect this man, I can't believe his attitude.. And the fact that us fans rage against Ronaldo and not against Eriksson is the fact that this thing with Eriksson is done.. He leaves the team, he already got lots of critics before the World Cup and also in the beginning ("You're history, Sven, now make some!")..

Hope so :P

The World Cup is over, we have to leave it behind and look towards the future: What do you expect from the Euro 2008 in Austria and Switzerland - what do you want to be different to this year's World Cup? Do you think that Austria and Switzerland will be good hosts? Will you travel there to see some of the games? Tell me, tell me, tell me :P

^ Well, do you think they learn their lesson with cheating when they obviously won the World Cup anyway? :P

Definitely. I hope he learns from this World Cup. He turned from a brilliant player to someone who gets booed by the audience whenever he touches the ball..

I watched the team at the Brandenburger Tor yesterday and I was totally blown away. I'm not German, and therefore it's amazing that I was that emotional! The atmosphere was just fantastic and I loved Podolski and Odonkor singing, these both are definitely best friends :D I gotta say though that I don't think that Klinsmann will continue.. Seems like his family doesn't want him to, which I can totally relate to, it's a stressful job that needs a lot of time effort!

Yeah, I agree, I was shocked when I heard that Ribery is that young.. He looks much older and.. sorry to say that, but he's definitely the ugliest player in this World Cup :P

Haha hilarious! I love the fact that he's ALWAYS looking directly into the referee's eyes when he falls down :P

Well.. to me, France played better in the final, especially in the second half, but I guess Italy deserve it as well.. It's just a pity that they were diving and cheating all the way through the tournament, but didn't do it that much in the final.. However, let's forget all the negative stuff, congratulations to the World Champions :D

Oh lord.. Thank god the message board finally works for me again, one day without the World Cup section, I went mad!! Well.. I was pretty sad about France losing, and I'm really disappointed about Zidane.. I wish he would have ended his career with the glory and honor that was given to him by his country till this incident.. Although it was very stupid, I feel sorry for him because leaving like this is horrible! France definitely played better, especially in the second half, but I knew that they wouldn't win the penalty shoot-out, Buffon is just TOO good and France was missing Zidane..

^ Yeah, I guess as there wasn't too much pressure and fear in it, it turned out a lot better than other games..

^ Very fair of you to say that! I agree with you in a certain point, of a small country like Portugal being this far, but I don't think that football has anything to do with a country's size or situation or whatever..