(Begrudging) Congratulations to Italy.
Hats off to Italy. World Champions.
I was bitterly disappointed in the world cup final in 1998. I didn't want France to win. I didn't like Zidane. I didn't like Barthez, I didn't like Desailly or LeBouf or Petit.
I didn't like the idea of the host nation which I didn't feel was the best in the world riding a wave of home support to an undeserved championship. (They of course proved me wrong in Euro 2000.)
How things changed in eight years time. I'm marrying a German girl in just about 115 days, four hours and twenty minutes from the time of writing this (but who's counting?) so I was pulling for the Germans and California Klinsi up until they were knocked out by Italy (who definitely deserved that game, truth be told.)
However come the final, and I was rooting for France. I still didn't like Zidane, although I finally had to admit how great a player he was. I still, in all honesty didn't much like France (though I rooted for them over Portugal too.) But I liked Italy less. Why? I just don't like the way in which they play. The diving, the historionics, the whining to the ref, the constant defensive play.
It's not that I dislike Italy. There are some wonderful Italian players that I've loved to watch. Baggio, Vialli, Gianini, Zola, Maldini, Baresi, Ravanelli, even Del Piero in his day. The Italy of those men was a joy to watch. But the current Italy--I hated it.
I hated that they pressured until they got the equalizer and then didn't play for the rest of the 100 minutes of time.
And I hate that it was Marco Materazzi who was the hero of the day. I have disliked this player since when he was a hack for Everton, and a hack for Inter Milan. But that's the way it goes sometimes.
I can make arguments all I like about defensive play and not really being the best team in the world, but they won. I could say that after a (very) tough group stage, they had among the easiest routes to the final imaginable. But you can only beat what takes the field in front of you. I could say that they're match-fixers, but it's kind of hard to fix a World Cup win. They won, and congratulations to them.
But I stand by my feelings on watching the Italians play. It's dull, it's uninspiring and it's ugly. But it's effective. If the US played like that I'd probably love it (if it brought a World Cup Trophy.) So as I said, hats off to Italy.
One final thought: Fabio Cannavaro was the Man of the Tournament. Zidane had a great game against Brazil, and won because of his name and his retirement. He was nothing special in most of the games.
Cannavaro was magnificent and took his team all the way though to the championship and deserved the Golden Ball without a doubt.
I was bitterly disappointed in the world cup final in 1998. I didn't want France to win. I didn't like Zidane. I didn't like Barthez, I didn't like Desailly or LeBouf or Petit.
I didn't like the idea of the host nation which I didn't feel was the best in the world riding a wave of home support to an undeserved championship. (They of course proved me wrong in Euro 2000.)
How things changed in eight years time. I'm marrying a German girl in just about 115 days, four hours and twenty minutes from the time of writing this (but who's counting?) so I was pulling for the Germans and California Klinsi up until they were knocked out by Italy (who definitely deserved that game, truth be told.)
However come the final, and I was rooting for France. I still didn't like Zidane, although I finally had to admit how great a player he was. I still, in all honesty didn't much like France (though I rooted for them over Portugal too.) But I liked Italy less. Why? I just don't like the way in which they play. The diving, the historionics, the whining to the ref, the constant defensive play.
It's not that I dislike Italy. There are some wonderful Italian players that I've loved to watch. Baggio, Vialli, Gianini, Zola, Maldini, Baresi, Ravanelli, even Del Piero in his day. The Italy of those men was a joy to watch. But the current Italy--I hated it.
I hated that they pressured until they got the equalizer and then didn't play for the rest of the 100 minutes of time.
And I hate that it was Marco Materazzi who was the hero of the day. I have disliked this player since when he was a hack for Everton, and a hack for Inter Milan. But that's the way it goes sometimes.
I can make arguments all I like about defensive play and not really being the best team in the world, but they won. I could say that after a (very) tough group stage, they had among the easiest routes to the final imaginable. But you can only beat what takes the field in front of you. I could say that they're match-fixers, but it's kind of hard to fix a World Cup win. They won, and congratulations to them.
But I stand by my feelings on watching the Italians play. It's dull, it's uninspiring and it's ugly. But it's effective. If the US played like that I'd probably love it (if it brought a World Cup Trophy.) So as I said, hats off to Italy.
One final thought: Fabio Cannavaro was the Man of the Tournament. Zidane had a great game against Brazil, and won because of his name and his retirement. He was nothing special in most of the games.
Cannavaro was magnificent and took his team all the way though to the championship and deserved the Golden Ball without a doubt.
posted by Zathras at 8:41 AM
0 Comments:
Post a Comment
<< Home