Wednesday, July 12, 2006

Italy bury the shoot-out ghost - Finally

What a great leveller sport is? Ask David Trezeguet. It seems just yesterday when it was another Italy Vs France Finale in Euro 2000 and Trezeguet fired in a 'golden goal' to sink many an Italian heart by stealing the European Championship from right under their nose in a classic final. Six years gone by and Trezeguet again turned out to be the decisive factor in another cup final contested between these two nations - this time even bigger, the world cup final. As a commentator remarked when Trezeguet's penalty kick hit the cross-bar and just fell an inch ahead of the goal line "That will be the longest inch in French football". That was the inch that stood between France and a second world title. Yet in sport there can be only one winner who takes it all - and this time it was Italy who after 24 years and countless penalty shoot-out heartbreaks finally conquered the top step of the podium.
With the Zidane incident making all the headlines, there is hardly anyone talking about Trezeguet's heart-breaking miss. To the French and their countless supporters, the cup was over and lost a good 20 mins before that fatal Trezeguet shot when the greatest of them all decided to use his head on the wrong object - an opponents chest. The head which, 5 minutes back had almost given France the winning goal only to be denied by a stunning save (should I say a world cup winning save) from Buffon.
There is no use talking about it again and again. Every news channel, every website and every mail that I receive talks about the same thing. But let us not hold Zizou responsible for France losing the cup. Maybe he would have been instrumental in getting that winning goal - 12 minutes is a long time in football. But for 109 minutes it did not happen. Trezeguet would have anyways taken one of the kicks. That was destiny.
Whatever said and done what Zizou did was out of instinct. Most geniuses are hot headed - McEnroe, Maradona, Senna were some of them. The sport needs people like this. If the sport is filled with only perfectionists like Federer and Alonso then where will the fun element come from? It is this flow of adrenaline which makes a sport like football the egde-of-the-seat-stuff that it is. France has forgiven Zizou and so have I as a fan of the last great creative play-maker. I am sure this incident will just appear as a footnote when we remember this great player who has given so much to the sport.

I would not like to say anything else on Zizou as enough has been spoken already but I would like to share the thoughts of my friend Santanu Sen Gupta who had to say this:
"All news channels are saying the same thing. Whatever Zidane has done in the last match of his career is a red card offense. And there is no doubt the referee has done a proper job after taking expected care in handling the situation. Doesn't matter whether being informed by the 4th referee or video footage. It is also a sad incidence that Football's last emperor (read magician) has had to conclude his last international match with such a sad note. Being his ardent supporters half of the world is also feeling sad.

But we should be proud of Zidane for his act. At least I am feeling proud for my hero that he kept his head high despite of a known punishment for this act. Zidane can not be blamed for France loosing out in the Final. He made his side World Champion in 1998 (comparable only with Diego Maradona). He made his country European Champions in 2000. He was selected World's Footballer of the year for three times. He bought back the golden era of Real Madrid. He pulled France from garbage bin during the pre world cup qualifiers this time and it is for Zidane the French had come to play the finals as group champions. He inspired France to reach the Final. And of course it is a fact that the most talked about (read hyped) "World Footballers of the Years" have been seriously fallen short of his caliber twice in the "World's most coveted venue", the World cup (1998 and 2006). France would have any way lost in this final. A team which could not score from 5 clear chances in the World Cup final just because of positioning of the players should not win. This shows lack of motivation and judgment in the team. And David Trezeguet would have any way missed the penalty even if Zidane went on taking the second shot. This was destiny.

It has also been reported by a lot of news channels that along with Materazzi, Buffon also was abusing Zidane whenever possible. This was very loud and clear especially after he saved Zidane's header. Tactics of sledging has been predominant in Cricket because it is a game of politeness in disguise. Such act of sledging was never heard in Football since verbal abuse is not required when there are enough opportunities of physical abuse (like De Rossi's great elbow) since being a body contact game. Few Italians did adapted a very nasty technique to block Zidane which is a hateful act. And the more I am reading about the incidence on Sunday evening I am loosing my respect for those who were involved in such mean act and their coach who, instead of showing them the right direction, rather encouraged it. This behaviour of Italians and their roughness were demonstrated during US and Australian matches. Italians saved these two matches only by hitting the players without ball and by act of sledging. Luca Tony is another champion of this act while he does this with the opponent's goal keeper and backs.

The entire Cricket world feels proud of our Sunny Gavaskar who raised an active protest against Australian sledging by calling of his team from the field. In Cricket sledging is a highly punishable act if proven and this may cause the players involved a long term ban from the game. But Football does not have such rules since being principally the game of poors and lower class people, whereas cricket is considered as a game of rich and elite class people (while this is not the fact).

If we feel proud for Sunny Gavaskar for his protest, we should be proud of Zidane also who protested such nasty act appropriately".
That was a passionate write-up by Santa and as I sign-off, I would like to congratulate the Italian team for winning the world cup and bringing so much happiness to a soccer-crazy nation. They thoroughly deserved this cup inspired by brilliant performances by Cannavaro and Buffon.

8 comments:

Anonymous said...

Yes. Seeing Zidane's back ground (this is a fact for Pele, Maradona, Cruyff, Ronaldo, Ronaldinho and all other greats) it is once again proven that Football is the game of principally poors and lower class people in the world which is contrary to the elite class game of cricket.

But this attempt of saving the filthy Italian has a few serious flaws.

Materazzi's ugly comments have been raised by almost all news channels and the principal ones are Brazilian, English etc. and definitely not French. Neither Zidane has revealed anything so far.

Materazzi's mean action has been denied by an ITALIAN news paper while his team mates have not yet commented so far. And this strengthen the suspicion.

Materazzi claimed himself to be "ignorant" and this is the absolute fit for his current status. He can earn hatred only for his act. But he does not have any other option than being "ignorant" about it. He did not claim himself to be "innocent". And it is impossible to believe that a fully grown young man who knows the meaning of "ignorant" does not know the meaning of the word "terrorist" while his own country is a partner of US in combating terrorism.

And Zidane's previous act of "terrorizing" clearly prove that he reacts to causes. So unless being provoked, he would not have done this.

Please send an SMS to Materazzi and Buffon to keep their mouth shut since this is the wisest thing to do when they are in deep shit (which Buffon, being a more matured person, is practicing so far) !!!

And it will not be a good method in trying to decode Henry's comments in favour of Materazzi. This comment applies for Materazzi as well.

Finally, who among the greats was not sent off at least once in his career? I do not know records prior to Maradona's regime. Even Maradona was sent off first time in 1982 WC. People do not care about others' records. You have a record for Zidane since he himself is history.

Anonymous said...

I was reading a good article in one of the news channels on this Zidane vs Materazzi conflict. This channel says that Materazzi also has a habit of taunting and poking opponents. He slapped one of the junior members of his opponent team in club football. However, tried to change his habit on appeal from his children when they in turn used to be taunted back in their schools for their dad's habit in the field.

However, leave apart the conflict and fact finding exercise. I hope the fact will never be revealed unless Zidane himself speaks out on the incident and by characteristics and virtues there is no hope that Zizou is going to talk about it in near future. He always likes to be within himself - the cleanest star of the stars in Football history.

However, the fact that this news channel reveals is that Materazzi was not an Italian choice and would not have played in this WC unless Nesta was ruled out for injuries. Materazzi did have done a very good job in supporting Fabio Cannavaro in keeping Italian defense intact even in the absence of World's best defender of recent times. His fouled earned France the Penalty. He repayed it by heading a settler. He scored for the second time in the penalty shoot out also. This is also the last WC he has played since he is already 33 yrs old.

But all these acts could not have make him a player to be remembered in the football history. BUT-

Marco Materazzi has entered in to the history of Football along with Zinedine Zidane just for the conflict. As long as Football will be played in the world and there will be the Foot Ball World cup to be played, the all time greatests like Pele, Maradona and Zidane will be remembered. Marco Materazzi will also be remembered for his association with the Historical moment in the last international match of one of the Greatests - Zinedine Zidane.

This is the funniest aspect of History. You really need to be a hero or a villain to make a permanent place there. Or you need to be deeply associate with a hero or a villain in their lives' historical moments.

Lee Harvey Oswald will always be remembered as controversial assassin of John F. Kennedy.

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