OFFICIAL FIFA World Cup 2006 Thread - Page 22 - Calgarypuck Forums - The Unofficial Calgary Flames Fan Community

Resolute 14 · 07-09-2006, 10:17 PM

I'm going to side with Tranny on this one.

I watch the World Cup every four years because I love nearly all sports (save golf, figure skating and any equine event other than horse racing), and it is the biggest tournament in the world.

But outside of that, the constant diving, whining and ego stroking makes this game unbearable to watch. Soccer at its highest levels incorporates the absolute worst of all other sport. Childish antics? Just watch the victory celebrations (especially the Germans despite winning nothing). Arrogant players? Jackasses demanding trades? Ronalhildo or however the hell it is spelt. Over-the-top scripted goal celebrations? Remember that guy that "snorted" the goal line? Diving, acting in spades. It is slower than hockey at its worst, the salaries are just as outrageous.

Every player in the game is a Jarko Ruutu clone.

Resolute 14 · 07-09-2006, 10:18 PM

That all said, I wish I could have watched the final, and congrats to Italy.

Jagger · 07-09-2006, 10:45 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by Snakeeye

Every player in the game is a Jarko Ruutu clone.

Erhm.........no, that is not the case.

The player snorting the goalline was a skit at the opposition fans who baited him for supposedly doing drugs. When he scored against them he wanted to rub their faces in it, quite literally. Rather funny actually.

ayjackson · 07-09-2006, 11:15 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by Jagger

Erhm.........no, that is not the case.

The player snorting the goalline was a skit at the opposition fans who baited him for supposedly doing drugs. When he scored against them he wanted to rub their faces in it, quite literally. Rather funny actually.

one robbie fowler!

ayjackson · 07-09-2006, 11:21 PM

they call football the beautiful game for a reason...let me explain the lure of soccer

some people only like movies if there are explosions and chases and people getting shot or fight scenes every five minutes.....other people like movies that have drama and build-up and ebb-and-flow and quality acting throughout.....

when soccer is at its finest, it is like the latter.....you can't have a short attention span, though....and you have to learn an appreciation for the suttleties (skill) of the game....

i actually find soccer and hockey to be very similar games.....just different venues....but the way you attack and defend is quite similar....finding space, playing the puck to the right man, etc.

Jagger · 07-09-2006, 11:27 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by ayjackson

some people only like movies if there are explosions and chases and people getting shot or fight scenes every five minutes.....other people like movies that have drama and build-up and ebb-and-flow and quality acting throughout.....

when soccer is at its finest, it is like the latter.....you can't have a short attention span, though....and you have to learn an appreciation for the suttleties (skill) of the game....

i actually find soccer and hockey to be very similar games.....just different venues....but the way you attack and defend is quite similar....finding space, playing the puck to the right man, etc.

Excellent post! I really couldn't have put it better myself.

When I moved to Canada I was really concerned about missing my football as I had been a season ticket holder of Liverpool FC for many years. I found that hockey perfectly filled the gap as I found that I understood and appreciated the game very quickly. Nicely pointed out ayjackson....

Yeah, there's only one Robbie Fowler alright. Now back at Liverpool too!!!!!

Resolute 14 · 07-10-2006, 07:25 AM

Actually, I liked Storm/Mustang games when they were in Calgary, and yes, I can appreciate the subtlties. At the highest levels though, the players constant acting and whining just ruins the game.

God forbid North American atheletes ever begin to behave like that en masse.

The Goon · 07-10-2006, 08:02 AM

There are some things that need to be cleaned up in football, no doubt. I think this past World Cup was a good example that the diving and whining has gotten out of control.

With regards to Zidane, that was one of the more insane things I've ever seen in sports. Wouldn't someone with his experience be familiar with another player using a racist taunt (if that is what instigated his action) to get him wound up?

Kybosh · 07-10-2006, 08:59 AM

Zidane wins the vote for the Adidas Golden Ball:

http://fifaworldcup.yahoo.com/06/en/060710/1/8rik.html

habernac · 07-10-2006, 09:20 AM

A lot of overreaction here, it's been said a number of times in this thread by even the most die hard fans that this is a tough sport to enjoy because of all the diving, crying, acting etc. Soccer was probably my best sport back when I was a kid, I loved to play. But the diving BS is the reason I can't/don't watch it as well.

Remember Mike Ribeiro in the playoffs a few years ago? We all called him a big loser after his act. That stuff happens every game it seems in soccer, I'd be a hypocrite for not shaking my head in disgust at it.

habernac · 07-10-2006, 09:33 AM

I hear ya, Fotze. I delayed my response on this thread because I didn't want to come in on a soccer thread just to bash it (I did watch the game, some exciting moments for sure, Zidane with a brilliant header and an equally brilliant save, the bizarre headbutting incident after that.)

troutman · 07-10-2006, 09:59 AM

It's fair comment for T99 to come on this thread and criticize the diving, whether or not he is a football fan. No sport should be immune from criticism, and this World Cup was a big disappointment IMO. I am a football fan, but this tournament has really turned me off - too much simulation, and not enough scoring. Also, I don't like penalty shoot-outs (Jim Rome is just hammering the penalty shoot-out - imagine the World Series being decided by a home run derby. They might as well play rock-paper-scissors).

So, what can FIFA do about this mess?

Scoring - I suggest a change to the off-side rule; maybe draw a line on the field (30 m from goal). No off-sides once the ball is brought over the 30 m line. The off-side trap makes it too easy for defenders to get out of trouble. Also, do something about players shooting the ball over the net 99% of the time from 20 m out - new ball, emphasis on accuracy not velocity, etc. Maybe more substitutions, and changes on the fly during extra time.

Simulation - strict fines and suspensions meted out retroactively after video review following the games. Too hard to detect during live action for the refs. Any player that goes down, necessitating the ref to add time, should cause the player to be substituted automatically.

Burn13 · 07-10-2006, 11:46 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by troutman

It's fair comment for T99 to come on this thread and criticize the diving, whether or not he is a football fan. No sport should be immune from criticism, and this World Cup was a big disappointment IMO. I am a football fan, but this tournament has really turned me off - too much simulation, and not enough scoring. Also, I don't like penalty shoot-outs (Jim Rome is just hammering the penalty shoot-out - imagine the World Series being decided by a home run derby. They might as well play rock-paper-scissors).

So, what can FIFA do about this mess?

Scoring - I suggest a change to the off-side rule; maybe draw a line on the field (30 m from goal). No off-sides once the ball is brought over the 30 m line. The off-side trap makes it too easy for defenders to get out of trouble. Also, do something about players shooting the ball over the net 99% of the time from 20 m out - new ball, emphasis on accuracy not velocity, etc. Maybe more substitutions, and changes on the fly during extra time.

Simulation - strict fines and suspensions meted out retroactively after video review following the games. Too hard to detect during live action for the refs. Any player that goes down, necessitating the ref to add time, should cause the player to be substituted automatically.

FIFA has been debating Penalty Shoot Out for 24 years, nothing has been agreed upon, it's part of the game now. Soccer is just fine its lasted all these years and it will continue to last as is.

I for one found the WC highly entertaining except for a few games, but I watched them all and enjoyed all the matches.

Congrats to Italy and France for making it to the final when everyone ruled them out of it also kudos to Portugal and Germany. And welldone Italy on a truly team effort for their 4th WC title.

4X4 · 07-10-2006, 12:38 PM

There is a swearword at the end, so don't click if you can't handle the 'f' word...

Someone posted this on Rome's craigslist. Kinda cheesy, but kinda cool at the same time...

http://france.justgotowned.com/

The Goon · 07-10-2006, 12:39 PM

Caramel · 07-10-2006, 01:46 PM

The most beautiful game in the world was tarnished because of dirty Italians and Frenchmen in the Finals. Divers, whiners and complainers in the final, disgusting. My Brazil lost, but we should win it in South Africa in 2010. I think I should make a trip to South Africa for the world cup and cheer on the Samba Boys, and throw things at Italy. Just a disgrace a team that dives so much won. They didn't deserve it all. Dissapointing world cup all together, it could of been alot better, no classic games.

troutman · 07-10-2006, 01:56 PM

What caused Zidane to lose his head?

http://sportsillustrated.cnn.com/200...ane/index.html

Imagine if the NFL were like that. Half a dozen stretchers called for during the course of the game, whereupon the nearly deceased leaps off it, shakes off the very fingers of the Evil One and trots back onto the field. Maybe Zidane was tired of all this, of this travesty, which rewards all the things that we were once taught were cowardly, but can be used to great advantage in this game.

So Zidane slammed a guy. He lost it. Writers all over the world are competing with themselves to heap scorn on France's greatest player. You know something? I don't blame him for getting sore. Almost every time I could find him on the screen, he had someone tugging at his shirt, tripping him or messing with him in some sneaky way.

http://sportsillustrated.cnn.com/200....ap/index.html

The Paris-based anti-racism advocacy group SOS-Racism issued a statement Monday quoting "several very well informed sources from the world of football" as saying Materazzi called Zidane a "dirty terrorist." It demanded that FIFA investigate and take any appropriate action.

Zidane's agent, Alain Migliaccio, was quoted by the BBC as saying the France captain told him the Italian "said something very serious to him, but he wouldn't tell me what."

FlamesAddiction · 07-10-2006, 08:08 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by fotze

I've read somwhere that the italian headbuttee has been invlced in some sort of racist thing in the past.

A friend of mine at work said that the guy told Zidane that his mother was an Albanian whore, at least according to some lip reader.

Vulcan · 07-10-2006, 08:16 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by FlamesAddiction

A friend of mine at work said that the guy told Zidane that his mother was an Albanian whore, at least according to some lip reader.

Yeah, I heard this on Vancouver Global news only it was his sister.

Anyways I thought it was one of the few true responses in the tournament. Kudos to Zidane.

Here's another lipreaders intepretation of the Rooney incedent.

"I went for the ball, Ref."

Ref, "Yes Wayne, but the ball[s] you went for belonged to Ricardo.."

Jagger · 07-11-2006, 12:12 AM

I've heard a number of different scenario's regarding what Materazzi said to Zidane to provoke such a reaction, none of them good:

"according to the bbc, (they used a lip reader ) Materazi wanted an ugly painful death for zidanes family

now that may not sound bad till you realise Zidanes mother is severely ill in hospital"

This courtesy of a French news agency;
Zidane holding his shirt says to to Materazzi:
ZZ: "Ordinanza de tirare il costume!!" (stop pulling on my shirt!!)
MM": "Taciti, enculo, hai solamente cio che merite..." (shut up f***er, you only get what you deserve)
ZZ: "si e cio..." (yes, sure...)
While Zidane starts to move away, Materazzi goes:
MM: "meritate tutti cio, voi gli enculato di musulmani, sporchi terroristici" (all of you deserve that, f***ing Muslims, terrorist *******s)

edit: Here's a link to more Materazzi golden moments:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=rKGcUr0S-FU