Globe and Mail Update Published on Monday, Jul. 10, 2006 3:08PM EDT Last updated on Sunday, Apr. 05, 2009 10:32AM EDT
Paul Attfield: Well, that's it I guess. The World Cup is over and the tears are flowing, England style, as another four-year wait begins. From sublime performances from the likes of ZZ and Cannavaro to the disappointment of Ronaldinho and Lampard, this World Cup did what they always do - provide debate fodder, from the bar room to the board room.
Now it's back to baseball . . .
Zzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzz! It's been a slice folks. Cheers. And in true delusional style, here's to England, Euro2008 winners. Still, more chance of that than Duff being World Footballer of the Year . . . Or even getting a game at Stamford Bridge for that matter!
Posted Monday at 3:08 p.m.
Simon Beck: Goodbye, all.
My predictions for 2006-7:
1/ Queen's Park Rangers will gloriously and triumphantly avoid relegation from the Coca Cola Championship.
2/ Faroe Islands 1, Scotland 0.
Posted Monday at 2:47 p.m.
Paul Attfield: Just read a comment about how Zidane receiving the Golden Ball is a disgrace after his headbutt. That may or may not be the case, but it is a real case of double standards when you consider that Cristiano Ronaldo was shut out of the Best Young Player award simply because of his role in the Rooney dismissal.
Also saw a slightly amusing, but very misguided and immature, story. Just goes to show it's not just the England fans who get out of control!
Posted Monday at 2:28 p.m.
John Doyle: In the spirit of World Cup tolerance I'll put my Irish Republican roots aside and wish Neil's Rangers the best. Scotland too. FIFA's seeding system will make it very hard for smaller countries to qualify for Euro2008, but I'll be following closely. I'll be in McVeigh's for Ireland games, other bars for other games and, if all works out, I hope to see Ireland play a game at Croke Park in Dublin in the next year.
Robinho for World Player of the Year? Perhaps. But there's Damien Duff too. And, at some point in the future, obviously, Aiden McGeady.
Goodbye, all.
Posted Monday at 2:16 p.m.
Scott Colbourne: My attempt to make it home from the airport without knowing the result of the final lasted all of 20 seconds yesterday. A monster truck painted in the Italian colours, with several enormous flags flowing behind it, was the first of many clues. Watched the game last night and was disappointed -- in Zidane, in Italy's lack of interest in scoring goals, and in the shootout to end it. I hope that final and the general negativity surrounding this tournament will not turn off the people who were tuning in for the first time. I'm going to focus on the good moments and get ready for Liverpool's campaign -- and for qualifying to start for the 2010 World Cup.
And we need Canada in that tournament. It has been too long, and we have so many good athletes playing the sport in their youth. My solution is to keep the Canadian Football League name, keep all the teams and their colours, but stop playing that silly game with the pads, the second-tier U.S. college players and that oddly shaped ball. Make the Grey Cup a national trophy for the best soccer team, using Canadian players with a few imports, and add a squad for the Atlantic provinces. If we're going to have a Canadian league in the summer, it might as well be a sport that Canadians -- and people around the world -- actually play.
But that may be another conversation. Congrats to Germany for being excellent hosts and giving it a good run, and to Italy and its fans for the win. The team wasn't all that fun to watch when it had the ball, but the record books don't care about aesthetics. And thanks to all the bloggers and the readers for their great comments.
Posted Monday at 2:03 p.m.
Paul Attfield: I see Juventus have appointed ex-player Didier Deschamps as their new coach. The Turin club must be accepting the inevitable then. Well, at least Deschamps has has experience with that kind of thing, having been captain of Marseille when they were relegated a division following match-fixing in the French championship.
Posted Monday at 2:00 p.m.
Simon Beck: I agree that changing any of the rules would be a silly knee-jerk reaction to a tournament that was far from being the worst. You can't legislate teams into playing less defensively. Why change a sport that is loved by 9/10th of the population, and that North Americans are alone in not caring about?
I do think the whole yellow card/red card system IS flawed however, particularly when FIFA won't give the refs any legroom. I think the 2 yellows equalling a red is a mistake; too many people were sent off after 2 undeserved yellows, screwing up the match in question. Let the ref decide whether a player deserves to be sent off on its merits and by his own judgment, not by a FIFA check-list.
As for diving, clearly the strict FIFA rules are not even a deterrent. I suggest the fourth official should be made to review video of dogdy incidents and send a report to FIFA after each game. Regardless of whether or not the ref saw the diving offence during the game, any player revealed by video to have dived even once would be suspended from the next 2 or 3 games. In such a case, for example, even though Malouda won a penalty with a dive yesterday, he would subsequently be handed a suspension. Hey, why not suspend divers from the rest of a tournament?. That would stop it in its tracks.
Posted Monday at 1:42 p.m.
John Doyle: I'm not sure I buy Neil's Round Robin suggestion. I see too many draws coming out of that, teams playing for the one point. But, like Neil, I have a healthy skepticism about many of the big ideas for changing the game and the tournament. Soccer is what it is. Talk of reducing the number of players, expanding the goal, and suchlike, is redundant. Although there were many problems with this World Cup, I was gratified to get reader mail over the weekend from non-fans, people telling me how much they enjoyed the drama and how they plan to watch league soccer from England, Germany and Italy this fall.
The award for Zidane is perverse but not entirely illogical - he did play remarkably up until that red card. In a way, the award follows the main theme of this World Cup. So many players and teams were rewarded for unsporting behaviour. My feeling is that the head butt was the result of an assault on Zidane's hurt shoulder rather than words spoken. Zidane is too old and experienced to be truly bothered by some Italian wisecrack about his mother.
Qualifying for Euro2008 begins in about 6 weeks. Who will have a World Cup hangover?
Posted Monday at 1:12 p.m.
Neil Campbell:: We'll be bringing the World Cup blog to a close at 3 p.m. EDT today. Being part of this certainly increased my enjoyment of the World Cup because the quality of the debate was very high both among the bloggers and those who made comments.
It won't be long till the season starts again, a fortnight on Saturday in Scotland, and I hope everyone's team does well unless your team is in the way of what will be Rangers's UEFA Cup-winning campaign and Scotland's successful qualificiation … nah, never mind, we're in the same Euro 2008 group as France, Italy and Ukraine.
I'll leave the blog with another prediction — mark down Robinho as World Player of the Year for 2007.
Posted Monday at 1:04 p.m.
Paul Attfield: I totally agree with you on the diving, Neil. Malouda took a fall to give France the early lead. However, on the flip side, the French were denied a clear penalty later on in the game, so in retrospect they cancel each other out, but that doesn't make it right. I would really have liked to have seen a team get caught out with a 'boy who cried wolf' scenario. So if a team dives around all day, and then actually does have a valid penalty claim later on in the game, the referee turns a blind eye to it and tells them to play on. But that's not a realistic way to address the situation. But I have to disagree with you on a second bout of round-robin matches. The last time FIFA tried this was in the 1982 World Cup, and a team like the Soviet Union was denied a place in the semi-finals on goal difference and without losing a game, and England also went out of the tournament without losing. And then there was the farce of four years previous, when the hosts Argentina had to win their last game against Peru by four clear goals to deny Brazil a place in the final, and went on to hammer six past an Argentinian-born Peru goalkeeper. I think Paddington Bear would have done better!
UEFA also pulled the experiment from the Champions League as they felt it detracted from attacking football, because you can end up only having to play for a draw in your last game or so to qualify. The one tweak I would like to see them make would be to play the final until someone scores. A shootout is a horrible way to decide a spectacle like the World Cup, especially when it only comes around once every four years. Just keep playing 15 minute periods of play until someone finds the back of the net. And it's not like FIFA can use the excuse of scheduling - it's the last game of the season for every player out there, so just get on with it and score.
Posted Monday at 12:29 p.m.
Neil Campbell:: Two things bothered me about this World Cup and I think both are relatively easy to fix.
One was the diving. You can't blame the referees. When Florent Malouda went down early in the game yesterday I yelled penalty and pointed to the point just as Elizondo the referee was doing the same thing. But many video angles proved to me it was a dive. I think FIFA should suspend players for quite a few games and make it take effect at club level as well. It needs to be stamped out of the game.
Bad offside calls also bothered me. FIFA addressed this a few years ago by tweaking the rules and urging officials to give attacking players the benefit of the doubt. Follow that advice and that problem will also be fixed.
I've said this before and I'll say it again. I think the straight knockout format should be saved for the semi-finals. I think a second-stage round-robin would give us more of the good teams and with only one team getting from each group to the semi-finals it would be important to score as many goals as possible.
Posted Monday at 11:54 a.m.
Cosimo Pantaleo: I don't know that it can be said that Italy was defensive minded in this tournament. They defend so well that it is definitely a prominent part of there game, but with the current set of players and coaching strategy, I would be inclined to say that they were more offensive than any Italian side I have seen in a while. This was evident in the games against the Czech Republic, Ukraine and Germany. Moreover, they have attacking defenders such as Zambrotta and Grosso that performed like strikers. It is also easy to make such comments against the Italian team when you have a defender like Cannavaro, whose highlight reel has been more impressive than the flashiest of goal scorers.
I am not so sure that the soccer world will melt down into a defensive holding pot, however, it will be interesting to see how FIFA reacts to the criticism.
Posted Monday at 10:55 a.m.
Simon Beck: Mark Yetman, who has made some excellent contributions to our readers' coments, has just posted this: "Sadly I expect that after Italy's win we will see a whole host of teams emulate their play in the upcoming years. Look out Euro 08 - when a a variety of small but solid footballing nations will look at this result and say hey we can do that too all we have to do is think defense defense defense."
I agree with Mark that defence clearly won this World Cup, but I don't think Italy is setting the trend. Euro 2004 was already transformed into tedium but a team that did all this and more, to much worse effect -- Greece. At least Italy had moments of offensive brillance. Sadly they didn't show them quite often enough. But to me Euro 2004 was the worst football tournament in living memory.
To me, the most pleasant surprise in this World Cup was Germany's contribution; a boring, defence-first team suddely morphed into the tournament's most offence-minded side. So it wasn't all bad news.
Posted Monday at 10:24 a.m.
Neil Campbell:: I think some of the dramatic stuff we've been hearing about how we have to change the rules of the game is nonsense. I've got a couple of minor tweaks I'll mention later but let's not go overboard. This is a sport, let's remember, that's enjoying peak popularity just about everywhere in the world. Even in North America there;s a level of interest that was unthinkable a generation ago, and not just for the World Cup. Who'd have dreamed that so many people not from other countries would become so enamoured with live Premiership and Champions League games.
Really, if you haven't enjoyed the World Cup then this probably isn't the game for you.
Posted Monday at 10:16 a.m.
Cosimo Pantaleo: Zidane -- Disgusting!! That was an appalling end to a glorious career. In fact, it was Zidane that lost the game for France. How could he lose control like that? An inexcusable act that should be dealt with by FIFA with some severe repercussions. If I am not mistaken, this wouldn't be the first time he has been sent off for a violent act.
I don't care what was said to him, nothing could justify such a reaction. I'm sure he has heard it all throughout his career. He is supposed to be an ambassador to this game and a role model to young soccer players everywhere -- this was unjustifiable!! And he wins the MVP?
A few other comments:
Camoranesi finally cut his pony tail! ... I think Zidane made Wayne Rooney look like a boy scout. ZZ has definitely spent too much time watching the bull fights in Spain! ... Cannavaro should be the MVP ... France showed its age in those late injuries to Vieira and Henry. I don't know why they changed Ribery, he was definitely effective throughout the game ... How ironic is it that Trezeguet missed that PK, after having scored the golden goal winner for France in Euro2000. Sweet Revenge!!
Posted Monday at 10:15 a.m.
Simon Beck: So it sounds like Materazzi did make the classic 'your mama' comment to Zidane.
Zizou's agent Alain Migliaccio is quoted on BBC website thus: "He [Zidane] told me Materazzi said something very serious to him but he wouldn't tell me what."
The story then quotes sources in France as saying Materazzi insulted Zizou's mom. Sacre bleu!
I guess being sent off for the old Marseille handshake didn't hurt Zidane in journalists's eyes, who strangely have still named him Golden Ball winner. Sounds like a bit of a 'lifetime achievement award' sentiment to me. He was good, but not as influential as Cannavaro.
Posted Monday at 9:42 a.m.
Neil Campbell: Bad decision on the Golden Ball, Zidane narrowly winning over Cannavaro.
I have half a theory on the Zidane thing. I watched the game again last night and replayed the minutes surrounding the Zidane incident over and over. France was attacking a minute or so before the head butt and Zidane, who had badly hurt his shoulder near the end of the 90 minutes, was making a diagonal run and was being tracked by Daniele De Rossi.
It appeared to me that De Rossi as he was running struck out at Zidane's bad shoulder. You can see that he certainly did something, enough that he lost his balance. A few seconds later a different camera angle shows Zidane looking over his shoulder to see who was behind him.
A few seconds after that it is Materazzi who is closely behind Zidane, tugging his shirt.
If there was a deliberate attempt to injure perhaps Zidane thought it was Materazzi who delivered the blow. Or perhaps Materazzi was threatening further injury.
No excuse, obviously, but like everyone else I'm desperate to know the real story.
Posted Monday at 8:26 a.m.
John Doyle: Went up to College St. briefly on Sunday night. Just to look. I've seen enough World Cup celebrations in Germany to know at it really feels like when it's authentic, madly passionate. The expected but rather muted Italian celebrations were going on. Crowded bars, filled with guys and gals who, I think probably know nothing about soccer except that Italy won and there's a party. Fair enough. The Final left a sour taste for me. I'm not sure why. Perhaps I don't think Italy deserved to win, is all. The French were tremendously plucky, industrious and unlucky.
Latest buzz is that Zidane was called a terrorist, which begat the headbutt. I doubt if it was that mild. I don't buy the sad end or tragedy spin on the Zidane incident. These are professional players, their working lives are full of histrionics and theatrics and gamesmanship. It just happens. Latest buzz on the Italian scandal is that some nob called for an amnesty because the players did so well in Germany. I don't think so. If there is proof of match-fixing, the clubs such as Juventus should be in Serie C, and the players can make their living wherever.
Posted Monday at 8:17 a.m.
Cosimo Pantaleo: What a game!! We certainly got our money's worth! I must say I am both happy and relieved this morning with the win. It was a nail-biter and I was a nervous wreck throughout the game yesterday. Although, it was not Italy's best game of the tournament, they did show some great composure to rebound from an early (and might I add questionable) penalty kick against them. I still believe that Italy was the best team team in the tournament, from the coach right on down to their last sub and therefore deserving of their 4th title. They were determined to win and exemplified a strong united team, especially during the PK's. Those were German-like PK's that even I was surprised to see (and two of them came from defencemen).
Posted Monday at 8:15 a.m.
Neil Campbell: I went on earlier at some length about the predictive quality of shots on goal and while France shaded it today 5-3 in that statistic a recap reminds us that while this was a captivating game it didn't produce a lot of action for either goalkeeper to worry about.
France's shots were the successful Zidane penalty, a weak shot from Malouda, a weak shot from Henry, a very a good shot from Henry that forced Buffon's second-best save, and the terrific Zidane header in extra time. Italy's shots were the Materazzi header for the goal, the Luca Toni header that pinged off the bar and a weak second-half shot from Iaquinta. That illustrates John's point about Italy's offence. Apart from set pieces today, and indeed in the tournament, they didn't create much..
Posted Sunday at 5:43 p.m.
John Doyle: Nobody can argue with the shoot-out. It was fairly won and nothing freakish happened. It was, at times, a truly great game, but I think in retrospect both France and Italy can be faulted and the faults sum up the problems with this World Cup. Not enough goals and failure to score from open play. Thierry Henry was at times lovely to watch but essentially a failure. Italy had an excellent defence and a hopeless strike force. Luca Toni was a bust. Totti was hopeless. No true fan of the game wants a World Cup to have such few goals and little creativity. Try to imagine non-fans looking in on the tournmament and being baffled by the reputations of players such as Henry. When we all calm down and think about this World Cup, I think the question has to be - what happened to Brazil?
And now I think I'll go up to College St. It turns out there are advantages to watching the World Cup on TV in Toronto, instead of being in Berlin, Munich, Nuremberg, Frankfurt, Leipzig, Hamburg, Hanover, Dortmund, Gelsenkirchen, Cologne........
Posted Sunday at 5:38 p.m.
Cosimo Pantaleo: Oh my God. ... Couldn't blog during the game, too nervous, heart was throbbing throughout. Couldn't believe what happened with Zidane. I don't like penalty kicks but a win's a win. I'm out on the streets of Vaughan and it's packed. Lots of flags, lots of honking. I'm off to a family picnic of which the family is from Palermo which is where Grosso plays so they'll be happy. Lots to blog about tomorrow.
Posted Sunday at 5:38 p.m.
Paul Attfield: And it's over. Italy wins. Congratulations to them, I guess. Seriously, they played the calculating game and although France won the 90 minutes, or 120 to be exact, penalty kicks decide the game, like it or not. But to be honest, it was definitely a tense final, and it's a shame FIFA couldn't get a better referee, but that's life apparently! In closing, I want to say thanks to Zizou for being the pre-eminent player of his generation. Truly a privilege to see him playing. He will be missed!
Posted Sunday at 5:26 p.m.
Simon Beck: I'll be fascinated to hear more about what caused the Zidane incident. Meanwhile, nice little story around De Rossi coming on after suspension from that awful elbow against the U.S., and putting away his penalty. In fact, I don't know what happened to the Italian penalty taking, but they were all unstoppable - almost Germanic. What a turnaround from previous shootout losses.
Posted Sunday at 5:14 p.m.Simon Beck: You can't argue with 5 penalties out of 5. That just about confirms Italy as deserving winners, although they all but disapeared during extra time. I'll say it again - if you go through an entire World Cup without conceding one offensive goal in open play, that is an almost superhuman feat. Cannavaro, Grosso, Zambrotta were all brilliant again today - not to mention Buffon and his amazing save to deny Zidane with 10 minutes to go.
As for Zidane's ridiculous head butt - what was he thinking? And will we ever know what Materazzi said to him to send all that blood to his head? Good job he's retiring otherwise's he'd be out of international football for at least five games.
Overall, a very good, but not great final. But definitely the most entertaining since 1986. Did the best team overall win the cup? Probably, yes.
Posted Sunday at 4:53 p.m.
Neil Campbell: Outstanding performances for Pirlo, Canavarro and Henry. I'd really like to know why Henry was taken out, I assume he picked up a knock. Decent performances for Gattuso, Materazzi, Sagnol, Malouda, Ribery. Very disappointed in Zambrotta, who had a poor match after a generally good World Cup.
We all know about Zidane but how about Francesco Totti, a legend in his own country but a complete bust in this match and, to be honest, the whole tournament.
For me you give the Golden Ball to Canavarro but Buffon is a close second. Without his saves against the Czech Republic, against Ukraine, against Germany, and today against Henry and especially Zidane, it would have been a different World Cup for Italy.
Posted Sunday at 4:53 p.m.
John Doyle: Extraordinary game. Can only assume something truly awful, insulting beyond belief, perhaps, was said to Zidane to cause him to do that. Triuly bizarre from a player of his caibre.
Neil may be right about Italy's record in penalty shoot-outs but again I cite the weirdness od Barthez here. He's hardly been tested so far, but can he handle the penalties?
Posted Sunday at 4:37 p.m.
Neil Campbell: I'm picking Italy in the shootout simply because in Gianluigi Buffon they have a vastly superior goalkeeper.
Posted Sunday at 4:31 p.m.
Neil Campbell: Italy has never won a penalty shootout at the World Cup. France won two on their to the World Cup victory in '98. Italy were awful during their penalty loss to Brazil after the 1994 final.
Posted Sunday at 4:26 p.m.
Neil Campbell: That's very sad that Zidane was sent off but what he did to Materazzi was a disgrace. Great players don't lose their composure like that. I don't know what Materazzi did or said but there's no excuse for what Zidane did. A sad and tarnishing end to a great career and a major blow to France when they were looking the better team.
Posted Sunday at 4:21 p.m.
Neil Campbell: That would have been a beuatiful moment, a hurt Zidane scoring the winning goal with a header. Great save by Buffon and a blown marking assignment by somebody. I picked Italy to win this but i would have been very happy to see Zidane win.
Posted Sunday at 4:12 p.m.
Simon Beck:No surprise that we're going into extra time. Without a doubt, the World Cup's two most organized and complete teams are contesting this final.
If Italy can hold on without conceding another goal, they will have gone through the entire tournament without conceding a goal scored by opponents in open play. But they're good up front too. No wonder they're in the final.
Posted Sunday at 3:57 p.m.
Neil Campbell: My next substitution would be Toni out, Gilardino in
Posted Sunday at 3:27 p.m.
Neil Campbell: I spole earlier about the predictive quality of shots on goal. France ahead 4-2 in that statistic.
Posted Sunday at 3:25 p.m.
Neil Campbell: I think Lippi needs to make some changes. I think Iaquinta needs to come in.
Posted Sunday at 3:19 p.m.
Neil Campbell: I feel better now. Florent Malouda was just upended by Zambrotta and should have had a penalty. He didn't get one so in that aspect the game has evened itself out.
France is playing really well at the start of the second half and it would be no injustice if they'd taken a lead.
Posted Sunday at 3:14 p.m.
John Doyle: Good game so far. I agree that the penalty was not merited. Where was the assistant referee on that call? He would have had a better perspective that the ref. As for Zidane's penalty style, it showed nerves, I think. A fine equalizer. I wonder about Barthez again. In crucial games he can go mental or be brilliant. I'm looking for Henry to finally deliver in the second-half. For a player of his skill, too often he looks half-interested in games played for France. And, I have to say, that for the first time in a few days of watching games on TV in Toronto, I'm hugely irritated by the prattling commentators on TV. Sometimes, just shut up.
Posted Sunday at 3:06 p.m.
Neil Campbell: Decent first half. Impressed with all the Italian players except Totti. Is he really out there? I haven't seen him at all. Andrea Pirlo is absolutely deadly with his set piece deliveries. Mauro Camoranesi is playing much, much better today. Canavarro and Materazzi have been solid as usual.
I think the French players, on the other hand, have been generally disappointing. I'm a bit surprised Zidane isn't having a more positive effect but that has a lot to do with Gattuso.
Posted Sunday at 3:04 p.m.
Simon Beck: Great first half in terms of incident, even though neither team has completely found its rhythm. Materazzi's superb headed goal was a fair answer to France's dubious penalty. I couldn't make out any contact on Malouda. He may have lost his balance rather than take a dive, but I'm sure the ref will want that one back when he sees it on replay. Italy are definitely looking the more fluid of the two teams, and France seems positively frozen at Italian corner kicks. But Henry is looking determined, and threatens to score if the Italian defence doesn't stay composed.
Posted Sunday at 2:54 p.m.
Neil Campbell: 1-1 and how we needed that goal to save the match. Beautiful header from Marco Materazzi from an Andrea Pirlo corner. He rose majestically to get above Patrick Vieria
Posted Sunday at 2:25 p.m.
Neil Campbell: Okay, that was a double joke. It's 1-0 France. But first of all Florent Malouda dived and was never touched. And Zidane should be ashamed of himself for that ridiculously cheeky penalty that he almost muffed. Now the diving debate will really ignite.
Posted Sunday at 2:07 p.m.
Neil Campbell: Thierry Henry in the second minute of the match crashes into Fabio Canavarro and is very groggy. At least now he'll have an excuse if he plays poorly.
Posted Sunday at 2:03 p.m.
Neil Campbell: Late check of the odds. Italy is a 2.76 favourite on Betfair with 2.78 a 90-minute draw and 3.5 France
Posted Sunday at 1:58 p.m.
Neil Campbell: Speaking of statistics here are a few comparisons of France and Italy from this World Cup.
Goals for and against: Italy 11-1; France 8-2.
Shots: Italy 78; France 64.
Shots on goal: Italy 45, France 30
Penalties: Italy 1, France 1
Number of scorers: Italy 10, France 4
Saves: Italy 23, France 13
Fouls: Italy 89, France 101
Yellow cards: Italy 10, France 13
Red cards: Italy 2, France 0
Posted Sunday at 1:51 p.m.
John Doyle: Stephen, I always read these rule-change suggestions with interest but this one, like so many, is unrealistic. FIFA changes very slowly and is loathe to disturb the dynamic of the game as it is. It's more pragmatic to look at the flaws in this World Cup and consider what might be done. The flaws were poor officiating, diving by certain players and lack of goals after the first round. The officiating can be handled if FIFA is more careful in choosing top referees for the World Cup. The diving can be dealt with by having harsher penalties for it. As for more goals, I think a realistic change might be to simply allow another two countries into the World Cup. Have more African teams. Also, revert to the sudden-death extra-time option in the knockout rounds. On the last one, that would make it harder for teams go for 0-0 draws and then penalty shoot-outs.
Posted Sunday at 1:41 p.m.
Neil Campbell: Statistics is not traditionally a strong area of interest in soccer but I've been following some of the stats with interest during the World Cup. There's an obvious reason for soccer not being a stats game: the game doesn't break down into a series of easy-to-define events the way many of the North American sports do so there's not as much to quantify.
Still, I've been impressed with the predictive quality of the shots-on-goal stat. Of the 63 games so far 14 have ended in 90-minute or 120-minute draws. In two of the remaining 49 games the teams had the same number of shots on goal. That leaves 47 games and in those the team with the greater number of shots on goal won 39 times That's 83 per cent, so it's a stat with a significant predictive quality
Keep an eye today on shots on goal, which are defined as a shot that would be a goal were it not saved or blocked in the goalmouth by a defender.
Posted Sunday at 1:17 p.m.
Stephen Brunt in Berlin: John, speaking of rule changes, here's a suggestion I received from reader Phil Ashcroft in beautiful Fredericton, N.B., who played the game semi-professionally in England:
"Firstly I would reduce the number of players on the field to 10. This would create more space particularly in the centre of the pitch. Have you noticed when even one team is reduced to 10 men how the game opens up? Secondly I would scrap the off-side rule. The officials get it wrong approximately 40%-50% of the time. It's almost impossible to judge on a long ball from inside the defensive half of the field up towards the offensive penalty area. The elimination of the rule would spread out the players as the centre backs would have to stay back to police the through ball. I realise the powers that be at FIFA and the FA would never go for any solution so radical but I am sure it would improve the game and we would see more goals."
Posted Sunday at 12:53 p.m.
John Doyle: I'm with Stephen on Zidane. His performance today could earn him my (purely theoretical) vote. While Cannavaro has been outstanding, it's a play-maker or striker who should win it - dare I say it - for the sake of the game in general.
I can picture Stephen at the media centre at the stadium in Berlin - that giant tent down a long, winding path from the media entrance. It's an odd experience to see remnants of the old 1933 Olympic stadium still there beside the new stadium, moss-covered but certainly distinctive. I saw many journalists and fans taking pictures of it and whispering about it being strange to see that reminder of Germany's past still there. One reason the media centre in Berlin is always so full is that, in the matter of media tickets, preference is given to German media, after the two competing countries have been allocated tickets. Thus, hordes of reporters from every Berlin media outlet go to the games there. You might have five people from one magazine and only one is actually covering the game. Naturally the host country gets preferential tournament, but this system caused some resentment from print reporters who had traveled tens of thousands of miles to get to Berlin.
Posted Sunday at 12:52 p.m.
Stephen Brunt in Berlin: Reporting now from the stadium media centre - or more accurately, from the floor of the stadium media centre. Not sure how every seat in the place could have been filled four hours before kick off, but so it is. I wish I could poke some holes in Neil's World Cup XI, but really I can't, though I'd love to be able to find a place for the old warrior Thuram. Thought you'd be interested to know how the Golden Ball award for the tournament's most valuable player is decided. This has been the most technically sophisticated sporting event I've ever covered. Everything is done on line, including media match tickets, hotels, and all communications. It's been almost a paper-free World Cup. Until now. On the desk at the entrance to the press centre, there are stacks of photocopied ballots. You pick one up, tick off three names for first, second and third, and you drop it into a box. Seems like there might be all kinds of possibilities for abusing the system, even without hanging chads. If Maniche wins, we ought to ask for a recount.
I'm holding my vote until after the match (the deadline is a very precise 23:59 this evening). If France wins, Zidane (even though he was a non-factor before the knockout stages) might well squeeze out Cannavaro on at least one ballot.
Posted Sunday at 11:46 a.m.
John Doyle: Well, we need goals in the Final today, if this tournament is not going to be remembered as a low-scoring one, a triumph for defensive teams. Frankly I don't think we'll get the goals. Unless one team scores early and opens it up, a single late goal will probably decide it at the end of an extremely tight, cagey game.
Stephen had an interesting piece in Saturday's paper about the tournament and its legacy. As has been pointed out often, the only World Cup with a lower number of goals was Italia 90. FIFA's decision, after that one, was to change the rule about the ball being played back to the goal keeper. The change meant that the keeper could no longer handle the ball if it was kicked back to him. This prevented the hoof-it-and-run style from completely taking over in World Cup games. I remember Jack Charlton, then the Republic of Ireland manager, being apoplectic at the rule change. A team of limited talents from a tiny country, Ireland had relied heavily on letting keeper Packy Bonner blast it up towards a couple of tall forwards. I don't see an obvious rule change that a very conservative FIFA might implement now. Possibly, a red card immediately given for diving, in order to prevent the stop-the-game theatrics that have been a singular feature in Germany.
Posted Sunday at 11:30 a.m.
Neil Campbell: Peter Mallett is playing soccer today so isn't on the blog but he passes along strong rumours that Canadian international Jim Brennan may be the next signing of Major League Soccer and could be headed to Los Angeles to hook up with former Canadian national coach Frank Yallop in the next few days.
Apparently this would be a precursor to Brennan joining Toronto FC next season.
Posted Sunday at 10:24 a.m.
Stephen Brunt in Berlin: Morning all. Finally, the final. This is the great marathon event in professional sports, the one time when as a reporter you really feel like you're living in another place, more resident than tourist. Since arriving here on June 6, I've seen an awful lot of the country. The highlight, though, has been these past few days in Berlin. Like New York or London or Paris, this is a city where a big sporting event can sometimes all but disappear, with so many other things happening, and so many people happily oblivious to the game. On Saturday night, went to a club inside what appeared to be a broken down old garage in an extremely grotty neighbourhood of the former East Berlin to hear the Hungry March Band a gang from Brooklyn (and one from Montreal) who blend New Orleans marching band music, klezmer, funk and a whole bunch of other stuff, and then turn it all inside out. So hip it hurt. And not exactly a footbal crowd dancing to the music in the steamy back room where they played. But today, even in cosmopolitan Berlin, it's all football, with a big rally to thank the German team at noon, then the final tonight. For the locals, this has been an occasion to ruminate on the whole idea of out-front patriotism - which given the country's history, is obviously a loaded subject. In fact, the Germans seem more relieved and grateful at their team's third place finished than they do chest thumping nationalists. Did hear a tune the other day, blaring out over the loudspeakers at the Fan Mile, that sent up the whole idea of German superiority. Played to the tune and reggae beat of Bob Marley's Jammin', the lyrics went something like this "We're Germans....Germans....F##k off, we're better than you....Germans....Germans....Hope you like Germans, too." I'll check in later from the stadium.
Posted Sunday at 9:59 a.m.
Neil Campbell: With just the one game left here's my team of the tournament, 4-3-3, 4-2-1-2-1 if you want to get really specific.
I'd love to hear anyone else's team.
I didn't think Phillip Lahm played very well for Germany yesterday but that was at right back. At left back he was the best in the World Cup, just ahead of England's Ashley Cole.
Ginaluca Zambrotta has had a great World Cup for Italy at right back but I'm going to give a nod to France's Willy Sagnol in the right-back slot.
One of the two central defensive slots is obvious: it's Fabio Canavarro, who's leaving Juventus to join, you guessed it, Chelsea.
Quite a few canadidates to join him: Thuram of France, Ayala of Argentina. I'm picking Fernando Meira of Portugal, who really impressed me.
This is a very attack-minded team I'm picking so I need some steel at the back of the midield. Torsten Frings of Germany and Claude Makelele of France has been splendid in that role but I'm taking Gennaro Gattuso of Italy. He's improved with every game of the World Cup and he used to play for my team, Rangers.
I'll take two French midfielders in Patrick Vieira and Zinedine Zidane. Vieira is superb in both and offensive and defensive sense, Zidane is Zidane, and they both have plenty of experience.
My two wide attackers are Arjen Robben of the Netherlands on the left and Robinho of Brazil on the right. It still annoys me that Brazil coach Carlos Alberto Parreira didn't start Robinho, a player who really could have lit up this tournament.
My goalkeeper is Italy's Gianluigi Buffon and my central striker is Germany's Miroslav Klose.
Posted Sunday at 9:57 a.m.
Neil Campbell: We'll be closing the blog down for Saturday and then we'll be back all day Sunday and on Monday for a little bit of a wrap up.
Posted Friday at 4:33 p.m.
Cosimo Pantaleo: Both England and Portugal have lost and are out (third place doesn't really matter...). Leave it alone! Why are we still talking about it. I'd like to hear more about the Italy and France game from both our blog panel and readers!
Neil, interesting player-for-player comparison you have made on the two finalists and I definitely like the edge you have given Italy. However, in an earlier comment I made and stand by, this tournament is about teams coming together during the tournament - really jelling (and I am not referring to the Azzurri's hair). The Italian team has been playing as just that - a team. Little reliance on any one player and staying focused on the task at hand despite having to deal with the sporting world's biggest match fixing scandal which threatens to shake up Italian soccer for a long time, as well as the attempted suicide of a close friend and former teammate (Pessotto). Most of the players don't even know where they will be playing come the fall. France, on the other hand, is probably just happy to be back at the dance and if Zizou is not at his best that day, will really need to fight hard for the win. Azzurri all the way !
Posted Friday at 3:31 p.m.
Neil Campbell: At the start of the World Cup I ranked Italy on top and assigned them a bit more than 13 per cent chance to win the World Cup. I gave a France a 9 per cent chance and had them fifth behind Brazil, England and Argentina.
I expect a close and low-scoring contest since both teams have excellent defensive personnel. I'll assign Italy a 40 per cent chance of winning in 90 minutes with a 35 per cent chance of a 90-minute draw and a 25 per cent chance of France winning in 90 minutes.
I'll have to watch the third-place match on tape but I expect a glorious German victory and assign a 50 per cent probability to it. I'll say a 30 per cent chance of a 90-minute draw and a 20 per cent chance of Portugal winning in 90 minutes.
Posted Friday at 2:14 p.m.
Simon Beck: I don't intend to talk about diving any more on this blog, unless of course the finalists indulge in some it on Sunday. It's fun reading the England, Italy and Portugal fans going at each other on this issue on the reader's comments. They all make valid points, although I think they might want to lighten up a bit in the spirit of this blog, much of which is intended light-heartedly. And let's face it: the fact that England's team stunk and Portugal's players are habitual divers are not mutually exclusive. England sealed their own fate by being useless, especially at taking penalties. Meanwhile quite a few of the Portuguese players have looked like poor sports throughout the tournament. There should be no excuses either way.
Posted Friday at 1:48 p.m.
Paul Attfield: Okay, it has been brought to my attention that England are themselves guilty of diving/cheating. Fair point. I was looking for footage of Owen's dive to win a penalty against Argentina last time around a few days back, but no luck, just of Beckham scoring it. However, I have always contended that Argentina wouldn't think twice about doing it if the shoe was on the other foot - heck, England were the victims of the greatest act of World Cup deception/divine intervention ever seen - and I'm fed up with England playing the 'gentlemen' card on their way to another early exit. But Robson/Venables/Eriksson never fell back on what seems to big Big Phil's gameplan:
1. Get other players sent off;
2. Win penalties;
3. Failing the first two, actually play football and try to win.
Notice I said it was Big Phil's plan and not Portugal's. Eusebio was one of the best players in history, and I've yet to see anyone hit the ball with the same amount of velocity, and I've long been an admirer of Figo, so Portugal are quite capable of producing world-class players. But back to Scolari. We all remember Rivaldo getting hit in the knee while taking a corner against Turkey in the last World Cup, 'coincidentally' enough while Big Phil was in charge, before falling down clutching his face and standing there as the 'offending' player was handed the red card. As Eric Cantona says: This is not Joga Bonito - which ironically enough, is Portuguese for play beautiful. I'm just not sure Scolari gets it. And as for Peter Crouch pulling hair, he's not good enough to get into Scott's media league team so how he got to the World Cup I'll never know. Yeah, I do. He had Sven as manager.
Posted Friday at 12:59 p.m.
Neil Campbell: Neither France nor Italy have that in-form striker who you can see lighting things up. Both essentially play with one striker given that Italy's Francesco Totti is as much an advanced midfielder as he is a withdrawn striker. So it's Henry for France against Toni for Italy up front. Neither has had a great World Cup nor a poor World Cup.
Henry gets the nod in any direct comparison between the two because he can do anything and is much more difficult to mark. Italy's best chance up front is for Totti or the midfielders to make diagonal supporting runs as Toni holds the ball up, which is something he's very good at. Henry has plenty of licence to roam, is fast and is ridiculously skilled. Cannavaro will be asked to mark-mark Henry and it will be his most difficult assignment yet.
Posted Friday at 12:59 p.m.
Neil Campbell: Interesting contrast going on.
Here on the blog we all love each other. We're all agreeing and, in solidarity with my friend Cosimo, I am wearing an Italia bracelet.
But in the comments section, the fans are throwing things mostly at each other but a little bit at Simon and Paul.
Posted Friday at 12:59 p.m.
Simon Beck: That's weird. I thought if you looked up "Johnny Foreigner" in the dictionary you got a picture of Roy Keane.
Posted Friday at 12:49 p.m.
Stephen Brunt in Berlin: Hello all. Dropping in for a moment after escaping a deluge in Berlin. For the last two days, massive thunderstorms have rolled through late in the day, which has at least cooled things off a bit. This one is a real doozy. It's been going on for the better part of an hour now. Unfortunately, this is also when the official concert of the World Cup is supposed to be begin out on the Fan Mile. I walked that stretch a couple of times today, risking heat stroke. Not a whole lot of folks around, and lots of official merchandise at deep discount prices. I think the home team's departure for the third place match (along with the exits of Brazil and England) has really had an impact on the marketplace here. Got an email today from a fellow who just picked up a plane ticket to come in from Toronto, and wondered if he'd be able to get a ticket for near cost. It's not a risk I'd take, but I wouldn't be surprised if he's in the stadium come Sunday night.
With all of the talk about the golden ball and defining players and all the rest, it's worth remembering that at the last World Cup, the big prize went to...a keeper. Oliver Kahn. So it's not always a striker who sets the tone.
Posted Friday at 12:47 p.m.
John Doyle: The fact that Podolski has won the Best Young Player Award only underlines the fact that this World Cup lacked a truly outstanding, tournament-defining player. There have been tournaments defined by Pele, Cruyff, Maradona, Ronaldo, but no equivalent this time. For all the anger aimed at Cristiano Ronaldo, I think he comes closer that Podolski to being a defining player. He's easy to hate, especially for the English and pro-English-style people. He's pretty, pouty, a showoff and if you looked up the phrase "Johnny Foreigner" in a dictionary of English slang you'd probably find his picture. For all his antics, he did what needed to be done for Portugal - he kept going, endlessly playing attacking football.
I still don't have high hopes for the Final on Sunday being a great game. They rarely are, for a start. I expect two cagey teams to concentrate on defence and hope for that lucky break, possibly on a penalty.
Oh yeah, I really can't see Lippi fitting in at Old Trafford. Whoever takes over from Sir Alex is only keeping the seat warm for Roy Keane. Mark my words. If Sir Alex was known as 'the hair dryer' for his in-your-face shouting at players, Keano will be the hair dryer on steroids.
Posted Friday at 12:34 p.m.
Paul Attfield: This just in: Even President Bush is being swept along by World Cup fever, although he Roos the day he invited 'colleagues' around for a game on the White House Lawn.
Posted Friday at 11:37 a.m.
Paul Attfield: Saw the article, Cosimo. Lippi to Manchester United has been on the cards for about 10 years now, ever since the Red Devils and Juve locked horns in the Champions League over a number of seasons. But I think he would be a worthy successor to Sir Alex, and after seeing what he's done with the Italian team, he could maybe persuade Ronaldo that diving gets you nowhere (if he's still around, of course). As for Rooney, maybe allow him to take up boxing again to work off some of that pent-up aggression he has.
Another interesting rumour is that former Rangers legend (just for you, Neil) and current Milan stalwart Gennaro Gattuso may also be heading to Old Trafford if the Rossoneri end up relegated. Again, I think he'd be a perfect fit, as United have lacked that sort of player since Roy Keane was in his pomp. Still, we'll see it all unravel soon enough.
Posted Friday at 11:08 a.m.
Neil Campbell: I compared Italy and France from a defensive point of view earlier and I've gone on to think about the midfields. I touched on the holding midfielder, Makelele and Gattuso when I discussed the defences and both are great.
They are the stoppers in the midfield. The starters, the creators, are Zidane of France and Pirlo of Italy. Both will struggle against Gattuso and Makelele, I think. Pirlo has to be especially careful. He has the ability to be as creative as Zidane but he has also been very careless with the ball in many of Italy's matches here. You just can't give possession away time after time and expect not to get hurt.
The biggest star among the wide midfielders is probably Franck Ribery on France's right. That's Italy's left and that's Italy's weaker side. Ribery had an awful start to the tournament but has improved a lot. Florent Malouda has been disappointing on the left for France. Mauro Camoranesi has bags of skill and potential but is having a Frank Lampard kind of World Cup: he's in the action but the final results have been poor. Simone Perrotta on the Italian left is a hard worker.
France also has Patrick Vieira in midfield, playing behind Zidane and very effective going both ways.
Posted Friday at 10:57 a.m.
Simon Beck: I don't usally pay much attention to the soccer analyst Bobby McMahon on Fox Sports World, largely because of his impenetrable Scottish accent (so thick it makes Neil Campbell sound like Sir Laurence Olivier). But last night he made a good point on the question of the lack of goals. Wee Bobby thinks even the talented teams have looked at how Greece won the 2004 Euros - basically boring everyone to tears for 90 minutes while constantly winning 1-0 - and noticed that it works. England definitely tried that approach, which failed, but McMahon said that even France this year are playing "like a more talented Greece". I think he's right - they are defence-first with one up front and with the emphasis on counter attack. Portugal and Italy also have played a similar scheme. In fact, one of the surprises has been Germany, which used to play like that, but came out this time round with all guns blazing.
Posted Friday at 10:57 a.m.
Cosimo Pantaleo: Buongiorno to everyone!! I want to warn you all that I am in full Italian gear today with my jersey and all. I can't wait for Sunday's game but I must say that I am also looking forward to tomorrow's third place match. Should be interesting !!
What is even more interesting this morning, especially for you England fans, is an article in the Gazzetta dello Sport in Italy. Apparently, Sir Alex Ferguson is supporting the appointment of Marcello Lippi as the new head coach of Manchester United. Lippi has refused to comment on whether he will remain with the Italian National team (or Italian soccer in general) until after the World Cup (unlike Sven). Great news for Man U fans but I wonder what a coach like Lippi will do with Rooney?
Great place to watch the game on Sunday (especially as an Italian fan) is Cafe Diplomatico on College St. They have a big screen inside and 10 TV's on the patio, 5 of which will be given away after the game.
Posted Friday at 10:17 a.m.
Neil Campbell: There is lots of talk bubbling around about not enough goals and I just wonder where will the goals come from on Sunday? There are two extremely well organized defensive teams with superb backs fours and top-class holding midfielders playing just in front of the back four.
Is there a weak link? We've already gone on at length about what a genius Fabio Cannavaro is in the Italian defence and I honestly think the Italians are better off with Marco Materazzi the left central spot than Alessandro Nesta. Gianluca Zambrotta is strong at right back and Fabio Grosso has done very well at left back. Gross might be a wee bit vulnerable in that he loves going forward and has been very effective at it. But he's not as a good as Zambrotta at getting back. Rino Gattuso is really peaking at the right time in his defensive midfield role.
I mentioned on the day of the Spain match that France's back four were all champions this past season — right back Willy Sagnol with Bayern Munich, Lillian Thuram with Juventus, William Gallas with Chelsea and Eric Abidal with France. You can add the defensive midfield, too, of course, because Claude Makelele plays for Chelsea.
Sagnol has been outstanding for France and so have Thuram, Makelele and Gallas. I think possibly Abidal could be exploited down the left back slot, though Italy's Mauro Camoranesi will have to play better than he has been so that he and Zambrotta could make some hay. France has Florent Malouda as their left winger and he hasn't been having a great time going forward or defending so I really think Italy could cause France some problem down that side.
Posted Friday at 10:07 a.m.
Paul Attfield: Nice to see the Portuguese are taking the third-place playoff seriously. They've been practising non-stop since their semi-final defeat apparently.
Posted Friday at 10:06 a.m.
Neil Campbell: One of the things I don't miss about writing sports is the endless wrangling over things like penalty kicks and diving. They're good for a day and then they get stale. Even Ricardo Carvalho has admitted he fouled Thierry Henry in the box and that it was a penalty. And one of the great pictures of the World Cup was the shot of Lucas Neill after he had made a hash of trying to tackle Fabio Grosso. He knew it was a penalty, you could tell from his reaction.
Posted Friday at 8:31 a.m.
Cosimo Pantaleo: John, I think that Italians are just passionate about food, wine and soccer and that it shouldn't be taken personal -- besides, its only soccer (did I just say that - it's only soccer??). I haven't read any of the mail you are referring to but I think that the same can be said of many other European nations, and other sports for that matter. There are always armchair critics who should stay in the armchairs.
As for commentary, someone said that the two teams in the final are "weak". What do you Gentlemen think of that? Personally, I think that France has earned there spot. As far as Italy goes, they are playing the best soccer we have seen from an Italian side in a long time. Besides, only 6 or 7 countries have ever won the world cup and here we have two powerhouses ready to go head to head. This tournament is not about 'on paper' stats, its about coming together as a team throughout the tournament and I think both teams in the final have certainly done so.
Posted Friday at 7:24 a.m.
Peter Mallett: Noel Butler of the soccer radio show "Oranges at Halftime" says one great spot to catch Sunday's World Cup final will be on a giant 200-inch television screen inside the SoccerPlexe Catalogna in Montreal. The Team 990 Sports radio is organizing a mock World Cup indoor tournament at the facility on Saturday and then on Sunday will encourage soccer fans and players to participate in their giant World Cup tailgate party. Any funds raised will go to the Canadian Kidney foundation in honour of Tony Licursi the longtime Montreal Impact statistician who died recently.
Posted Friday at 7:20 a.m.
Simon Beck: There's an awful lot of arguing going on in the readers' comments about Portugal's ethical values, most of it very entertaining. Keep it up guys. It's certainly more interesting than talking about the Toronto Lynx, a team that has now been watched by a grand total of 1,278 people. My grade school chess team drew more support than the Lynx.
But to get back to Portugal, I think it's about time they replaced Ben Johnson in that terrible "Do you Cheetah?" commercial. I can pass them Cristiano Ronaldo's agent's number if they like.
Posted Thursday at 5:18 p.m.
Paul Attfield: Okay, I notice a lot of the comments are revolving around 'did he, didn't he' dive, so for some comic relief here are some of the best I've seen, the true grandmasters of diving - all your favourites: Deco, Henry, Robben, and more than a few from Didier Drogba. Get your placards ready - it's straight 10s all around. Sorry about the music.
Posted Thursday at 2:41 p.m.
John Doyle: A few point from yours truly on things raised today. For Stephen, I do sympathize deeply on the mail from Italy fans. I've covered three big tournaments and can say that the Italian mail from Italian males (never women, it seems) is the most bizarre. Some is very smart, shrewd about the game. Some reflects knowledge about Italian soccer only. It's very insular and weirdly insulting about every non-Italian player or team. The third sector is from guys who, I think know nothing about soccer, don't follow it between World Cups but think that being Italian gives then an inherent expertise. Much of this mail is hilariously inaccurate about the game.
This time I've been called anti-Italian, anti-German, anti-English, anti-Ukranian and on and on. And a few hurt and angry things came from Teheran. I do actually appreciate every e-mail.
I do hope Stephen enjoys a few days in Berlin. A truly great city. The journey there will be worth it, as I found on numerous long-distance trips back to base there.
On the lists of best players in the tournament, I don't have a problem with Ballack being there. A playmaker a leader and very influential on the field — away from the camera, the stuff you don't see on TV. Few players do that sort of endless work to organize and influence the play.
Posted Thursday at 2:12 p.m.
Paul Attfield: And in a cosmic twist of your two grudges, Neil, Inter haven't won the scudetto (Serie A championship) since they had their German trio of Lothar Matthaus, Jurgen Klinsmann and Andy Brehme. Not quite as good as Milan's triplets of Marco van Basten, Ruud Gullit and Frank Rijkaard, but still, Inter must fancy their chances next year if Juve, Milan, Lazio and Fiorentina get demoted. I'll order you commemorative shirt if they do - half Celtic, half Inter, with England 66 on the back!
Posted Thursday at 1:35 p.m.
Stephen Brunt in Germany: Trust you'll all be interested in today's edition of The Independent. Sven-Goran Eriksson is said to be in line for the job coaching Jamaica - at a salary of three million pounds a year. They're even willing to let him do the job part time. On a positive note, it can only enhance Canada's chances of qualifying for 2010.
Posted Thursday at 12:37 p.m.
Peter Mallett: In the midst of World Cup fever, Montreal soccer fans received word this morning that they will finally receive their own field of dreams in the form of a $15-million soccer specific stadium at Olympic Park. The stadium was originally to be built at a downtown location and was to host next year's U20 FIFA World Cup, but Montreal Impact owner and Saputo Cheese, Inc. president Lino Saputo changed his plans this spring. His team currently is one of the United Soccer League attendance leaders and often fills it's current 11,000 seat Claude Robillard Stadium to capacity. Full details of the big announcement were just posted on the Montreal Impact website.
Posted Thursday at 12:28 p.m.
Neil Campbell: I held two major grudges for most of the my life but I'm getting over them as I begin to mature. I hated (West) Germany for losing to England in the 1966 World Cup final. And I blamed all of Italian soccer for Inter's loss to Celtic in the 1967 European Cup final. Those two events, coming in a period of 10 months, were a very traumatic time in my childhood and required much therapy!
But I have forgiven Italian soccer in general, if not yet Inter. I'm am very much on the Azzurri bandwagon.
On the matter of Pirlo, I'm not putting him in the Ballack category at all. Not only did he slide the perfect pass to Grosso on the decisive goal it was his tremendous shot that Lehmann saved to force the corner in the first place.
I just don't think he belongs in the elite class of this World Cup because a lot of his midfield play has been sloppy. Several German chances on Tuesday came directly from Pirlo carelessly giving the ball away.
Posted Thursday at 12:02 p.m.
Cosimo Pantaleo: Stephen, consider it done, although I think that hanging an Italian flag off your car will help your status among us 'faithful'. I have some extra flags for you and Neil. I'll hold it for you until you get back!!
As far as the MVP award goes, I think that the hands down winner should be Fabio-lous Cannavarro. His play has over-shadowed even the goal scorers in this tournament. Runners-up in my book would be Gigi Buffon and Zizou, ZZ will only win if he has a great game on Sunday and beats Italy.
With that said, Neil, I couldn't agree with you more on the Ballack point but I must comment on your statement of Pirlo. In my opinion, he has been instrumental in Italy's mid-field and is the teams playmaker. Every organized attack starts with him. In Tuesday's match against Germany, it was Pirlo who was able to find a wide open Grosso while being surrounded by 4 German players. The man has some great peripheral vision when it comes to distributing the ball - he is "il Regista'. Now this doesn't make him the MVP but I do think he has had a solid tournament.
Posted Thursday at 11:45 a.m.
Neil Campbell: It's good to remind ourselves that the game lasts beyond the World Cup. In fact, if the final is settled in 90 minutes I just might head out for that Lynx match on Sunday. I usually see a Lynx game every season and haven't been to one yet in 2006, though I did see the Columbus Crew and Chicago Fire play to a 1-1 draw at Crew Stadium earlier in the year.
Posted Thursday at 11:36 a.m.
Peter Mallett: The Lynx and the United Soccer Leagues First Division are often forgotten and ignored But why? The Miami FC franchise even features former Brazilian legends Romario and Zinho and German coach Juergen Klinsmann once played in the USL only a few years ago.
The Lynx are again in action on Sunday at Centennial Stadium against Charleston and Canadian defender Mark Watson, 6 p.m kickoff. (also televised live on Rogers Community Cable) while the Whitecaps travel on to Montreal for a clash with the Montreal Impact on Friday night at Claude Robillard Stadium.
If that isn't enough of a fix on Friday night at Rogers Centre our men's U20 team faces the United States on Friday at 7 p.m. The two teams again lock horns on the campus of Queen's University in Kingston on Sunday (7 p.m. kickoff).
Posted Thursday at 11:34 a.m.
Peter Mallett: Away from the World Cup, I found myself yesterday in the company of 2,235 Toronto summer camp kids at Centennial Stadium in Etobicoke, Ont. for the Toronto Lynx v. Vancouver Whitecaps United Soccer League match. As the players were introduced and prepared for kick-off I stood on the stadium track and listened in on an exchange between two ball boys wearing basketball shoes and shorts and volunteering for the game.
Tim: "Hey Keon do you see the number seven for Vancouver?"
Keon: "Yeah"
Tim: "That's Steve Nash's brother!"
Keon: "What, really?"
Tim: "Yeah, that's the Phoenix point guard's brother - the NBA MVP! He plays for the Whitecaps and our World Cup team cool eh?"
Keon: "Wow, man props to the Caps, I didn't even know that, what's he doing here?."
You could hear a buzz go up among the ball boys and then eventually into the crowd as word got out that Whitecaps midfielder Martin Nash was the brother of an NBA legend.
The score line was a surprise as Nash and the Whitecaps suffered their second loss in a row and the Lynx picked up their first win of the season - a gritty 2-1 victory which in all honesty seemed a much more entertaining game than yesterday's dull chess match between Portugal and Italy. There was a beautiful goal by Lynx midfielder Jamie Dodds, a curling shot which found the top corner of the net and some great saves by goalkeeper Theo Zagar.
Posted Thursday at 11:21 a.m.
Simon Beck: This just in: I hear FIFA has decided also to award a Golden Balls award and give it Cristiano Ronaldo for his cojones in trying to break into Hollywood with some fine acting performances when he should have been playing football.
Posted Thursday at 11:13 a.m.
Stephen Brunt in Germany: Greetings from a train somewhere in the bleak former DDR, en route to Berlin. And welcome Cosimo to our humble blog. Some diversity at last! Maybe you could put in a good word for me with the Azzurri faithful. I'd also cast my vote for Cannavaro - though if Zizou leads France to victory I reserve the right to change my mind. Can't believe Ballack is on the list after his disappearing act in the final game.
Posted Thursday at 11:03 a.m.
Simon Beck: If Ballack is nominated as best player of the tournament, then what about Peter Crouch?
Back on planet Earth, I would opt for Cannavaro or Zambrotta. They are the only ones from that list have been brilliant from the first game on. Zidane has come on strong, but was invisible against Switzerland and then missed the game against Togo through suspesion. As for Henry, I think he's been quite poor to be honest, apart from a couple of routine goals.
Posted Thursday at 10:51 a.m.
Paul Attfield: I can appreciate why Italy should be favourites, but I think the bookmakers are just looking after their own interests by making it closer. Let's face it, it's just one game, and France have already shown their ability to upset the odds, firstly against an in-form Spanish squad who were flying in the group stages, and then against the defending champions. And you can argue quite fairly that, just like Italy, France have had both their numbers - Spain have never beaten France in a major tournament match, and Les Bleus have beaten Brazil the past three times they've played them now, so a precedent for French success is certainly there.
And to coin a term I hear every year around Stanley Cup playoff time, experience always wins out and you have to have been there before - which is absolute rubbish - but yet the pundits wheel that out every season. Let's face it, the Tampa Lightning's winning squad won on their second year in the playoffs, as did Mario Lemieux and his Penguins. But let's give lip service to the comment, which would translate into the bulk of France's team having been there before - Henry, Zidane, Makelele, Trezeguet, Wiltord, Thuram, Barthez, etc. - while Italy's team have yet to taste international success. With regards to the Golden Ball, I would have to pick Cannavaro, Klose and Zidane (exclusively for what he's done since he came back from suspension - and I dare anyone to pick against him if he leads France to another win on Sunday).
Posted Thursday at 10:50 a.m.
Neil Campbell: The nominations are out for the World Cup Golden Ball (MVP). They are: Fabio Cannavaro (Italy), Maniche (Portugal), Michael Ballack (Germany), Andrea Pirlo (Italy), Gianluca Zambrotta (Italy), Thierry Henry (France), Gianluigi Buffon (Italy), Patrick Vieira (France), Miroslav Klose (Germany), Zinedine Zidane (France).
My short list would ne pretty short, as in three: Cannavaro, Klose and Buffon. I don't know what Ballack's doing there. Or Pirlo.
If I had the trophy right now and I had to give it to one player I'd hand it to Cannavaro.
What do the rest of you think?
Posted Thursday at 10:23 a.m.
Neil Campbell: Nice to see Cosimo, with those fresh typing fingers, leading the way in posts today.
I am surprised oddsmakers have Italy and France so close. I think France are the sentimental pick because of the charismatic Zidane.
And don't forget that just as France had dominated Brazil recently so, too, have they had Italy's number. France put Italy out of the 1998 World Cup en route to winning. And remember the Euro 2000 final when Italy lost to France so dramatically?
Posted Thursday at 10:22 a.m.
Cosimo Pantaleo: Gazzetta dello Sport in Italy reports that team doctors will not clear Alessandro Nesta for Sunday's final. Although he will be missed, I say 'if it ain't broke don't fix it'.
There is also an article that discusses how well-rounded a team they are in this world cup, noting that the 11 goals scored have been from 10 different players ( if you include Zaccardo's OG then 12 by 11) vs. 8 French goals by only 4 players. Evidence of the Italian teams depth and ability to play more as a team than what we have seen in the past. They are also trying not to under-estimate a veteran French squad who can be dangerous with Zidane, Henry and Ribery.
Neil, I must say that I am surprised to see the betting markets so close. Any reasons that you know of?
Posted Thursday at 10:11 a.m.
Cosimo Pantaleo: Well, I can't say I am disappointed to face France in the final, although I was disappointed in yesterday's semi-final. I thought it lacked some luster and the intensity we saw in Tuesday's match. Maybe they were trying to save themselves for Sunday. What was Barthez doing - playing volleyball?? That's something Italy will have to exploit on Sunday - he looked very shaky. I am not convinced that the penalty shot was deserved. It appeared as if Henry stepped on the defender's ankle which caused him to fall, but that was only evident with video replay and the refs do not have that benefit. Nevertheless, it will certainly be a great game on Sunday, although France will have to play much better than they did yesterday to compete against Italy.
Posted Thursday at 8:53 a.m.
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