I just lost two bacardi's that i bet on portugal...


aaah ..but Italy shall take my revenge !

I just lost two bacardi's that i bet on portugal...


aaah ..but Italy shall take my revenge !

Winning off a PK just sucks.

portugal 'died standing up'- what a great picture, to see all the team attacking right up to the last minute, goalie included [i had never seen that either!]. very dramatic, very exciting, and all very classy at the end

separated at birth:

Argentinean coach Pekerman


French prime minister Villepin

Separated at birth:

French coach Domenech


Eugene Levy

and I almost forgot:

Argentinean goalkeeper Abbondanzieri


Luke Wilson

darn .. that was a good game ...

but honestly .. the better team lost. portugal should have won that game. anyway ... such is life ....

the 3rd place game and the finals should be good ..

is it just me? .. or does Luke Wilson's hands look freakish ?

Orhan
Don't forget that france is ALSO a mediterranean country...

but, ofcourse. i am torn. at this point, may the better playing team win...
on the other hand, i'd like to see zz go out with a cup in his hands.

but, ofcourse. i am torn. at this point, may the better playing team win...
on the other hand, i'd like to see zz go out with a cup in his hands. a

add barthez to that too.

i hear you man, there will be some world class players in both squads on the pitch on sunday.
i'm just so pleased that Zidane's last game for France will be a world cup final, that shit is just insane, who would have thought this could happen 2 weeks ago??

Barthez is France's weakest link actually. Thuram on the other hand... man that guy is class incarnated....

sporadic, the better team lost? no way.

aml, portugal classy? HA!

nonsense, the lot of it! ;-)...

classy and portugal's '06 world cup squad should not be mentioned in the same sentance.
-the whole team dove like madmen
--Figo to get a dutch defender his 2nd card (oh, my throat, my throat)
--C.Ronaldo every chance he got
--etc.

-Figo the Barbarian's head-but, and other cocky antics...

-world cup record 9 yellow cards against Netherlands.

-the whole team dove like it was the latest fashion craze...
some examples:
--Figo to get a dutch defender his 2nd card (oh, my throat, my throat)
--C.Ronaldo every chance he got


/rant


sorry about that...I love this game. I need a la carte cable so i can buy Fox Soccer Channel...the WC's over in 3 days! :(

ap- i said "all very classy at the end" meaning that they didn't break up and fight as, well, germany and argentina, but that all [french and portuguese] applauded the public and each other and exchanged shirts civilly.

[meaning, not that they played in a classy way but that they lost without loosing their cool]

Here's a couple of predictions from Page 1. Nobody mentioned anything significant about France until Page 4, just prior to and after the France-Spain match.


urbanisto
06/09/06 6:50
it's gonna be Italy or Argentina (each a classic champion)



nevermore
06/09/06 8:21
Brazil is overrated.I wager that they wont get past the quarter finals.

It's going to be a european team.( Italy or even England )



cf
06/09/06 8:51
Italy has old players and packing them all in the backfield and hoping for a break-away won't work anymore. Boring



superstarchitect
06/10/06 22:11
while i usually always root for italy (i'm half italian), unfortunately i don't think italy will make it to the finals this year, largely because of all the scandals (pity, they have a pretty good team this time around).




moratto
06/09/06 6:59
Brazil will win the Cup hands down, they are like the Yankees of futbol. I would like to see Italy win it though.

nice blast from the thread-past, Public...



I hear ya aml. no argument.

i just noticed that i listed the diving thing twice...stupid emotions ;)
read twice, submit once...

Alemania vs. Portugal


Kahn gets the start?!?!
what happened to Lehman?

good for Kahn...hopefully good for Germany...

Kahn - Mr. Golden Ball!!!
So, is it a given that Klose will win the Golden Shoe award?

Is it a given that Italy will win 2-0?

(I think so.)

no way Auguste...

as for Golden Boot - if Henry gets 2 goals, he will tie Klose.

AP ... I dont know which game you watched .. but in the portugal-france game ... Portugal was the better team ... they had more possesion, more shots at goal, more chances, better control in the midfield ... almost the whole game was played in the french half...
france got lucky with that penalty and Portugals finishing was poor. else it would have been a diffrent story.
I know you dont like the Portugal team and I dont fancy them much either.. but facts are facts... france was not even a shadow of what they were against Brazil .. which, by the way, was perfection ...

Kahn was Brilliant yesterday ... i think he's better than lehman ( I cant stand the guy !!) but good for him .. retiring from the world cup on a winning note ..

overall a good game ...

I'd like to see klose winning the golden boot ... he deserves it ..
total team player and he scored only when it was clear for him.

I do have issues with the young player award ... I feel Ronaldo (por) deserved it ... and he was leading the votes till the english media started a campaign against him!!

LET'S GO. WHERE EVER.....

so far spectecular. i do think stadium's ghostly past had a successful exorcism via some african drumming and shakira stage which was beautifully designed.

shit what happened to henry? mins. 4
he's back after sniffing some good stuff..;)

so far it seems like italians are going with a gusto towards breaking legs.
and that already cought up with them... penalty or penal....!!! zidane. unusual gol. cream puff again .... so early so different...
fra 1 ita 0

15 mins.
if france wins the orro, zidane is going to be the new pele...
so far so good. for france that is every minute is a good minute passed...
13 mins. freekick ita. hey hey hey.. nobodody is kidding. hohoho...
french defence can't even defeat ordinary attacks. what's gonna happen when the vezuvius erupt?
so much like fra por game except french is less dangerous. ribery
seems energized but purposeless like the rest of his team.
mins. 18

gol gol gol
mins 19. a beautiful one
1-1 lets go indeed

trivia: in recent world cup history, italy has made the world cup final exactly every 12 years. 2006, 1994, 1972, 1960.

since they won't be in the finals again until 2018, they had better make the most of it.

btw, that was NOT a foul in the box.

20 mins.
french became penalty seekers. henry falls zz scores... not this time.
french are pressing without much dangerous. but slowly they are gaining control. since the gol, italy parked the car and turned off the engine. usual motis operandi.
27 mins.
italy is more relying to corner shots as they scored one with it. similar play greeks played in last european cup. trying to win the game with standing balls.
min.29 another freekick by them.
so far it is ribery busting his ass in french front.
seems like both coaches are in deep thought charting the game and relying to their players' indi efforts.
32 mins

is that right? every twelve years ha?
the new italian pm watching? i wonder le pen or sarkozy are watching also?
mins 34
wowowowo... on the bar italy. side ball. again. france has to come up with a solution to this. how soon they forgot the lessons from greece?

as the 1 st half start to melt away, there is a sense urgency and danger in developments.

mins 40
looks like both teams are satisfied with 1-1 and don't want to risk anything before the 1st half.

mins 42.even the audiance is happy with the status quo. both countries are brocratic systems mind you..
ribery on opposite side trying to pass one italian while 2 more waiting in the back. good luck rib. we know its not easy all by yourself.
mins 45. another freekick ita and another nothing...

i wonder if shakira is coming back for the half time?
i doubt it...

i wonder what udjustments are figured out in the changing rooms?
both sides have to increase mid fied efforts. so far it has been most balls, are brought to front by long passes with the lack of mid field formulated danger. it is very much calculated game with mediocre application. i wonder how the teams adjusted their tactics?

mins 2
beautiful slide in with henry ends with a weak shot.

the game looks spacious but spacious games require a lot of speed which is lacking.
mins 3.5 another corner by ita. damgrous again.
mins 4.5 henry again. same way sliding thru but weak finish again.

both sides, specially france seem to fix their mid field play, therefore more consisting attacs more dangerous more fun to watch game.

now that was a foul. all is fair now.

mins 10
it looks french who is closer to a goal.
but ain't it just the environment italians like to exploit?

ita is trying to slow the tempo. if they have the ball that is.
french is getting morefamiliar with italian defence and doubtlessly will exploit it soon in theory.

mins 15

refree is writing some notes in his notebook. i always wonder what they wright. numbers or names or both .

gol italy. offsite though. get there incognito and bingo. however its a warning.

mins 18- 24
french coach finally smiled sarcastically. he looks so mucyh like an architect. is he doing a music center? hmmm.
henry again.. same type ofslide blocked.

this is, 'take no risk but do your best' instructed game. so far players are just doing that and because of their class it is not boring yet...
mins 28.

+,- 15 minutes left.
so far they should make a shocking move and give the cup to shakira.
31.5 mins.ita free kick. beatufully shot by piero. like i said standing balls = italy's chance.
mins 33.33

35 mins
zidane hurt. might have to quit. will he?
it might be good for france. bring someone fresh and fast. tezeqet?

ninja is back..

he no quitter. did you see him smoking cigs on hotel balcony?

mins 38

game looks like a 3 and 4th place game. yow there is chirac saying no thanks to popcorn. he looks aged a bit.
mins 40 extra time talks already started.
remember the extra time rhapsody in last italian match.

mins 42.
so far i am wired the news from roma that there are no tvs on the street thrown from upper floors.
i wonder ifv they should laser cut the cup in half and award them to shakira and zizu for being there?
the game is going to extra time. now...

xt 1

mins 3
barthez is a sweet guy and taking the role of goal keepers goal keeper nicely.
so far it's kinder garden chats and it is obvious italian defence metaphoricaly show, they build more stone walls than germans and french combined, historically. if kahn asked a stone stone would say italian defence in 2006 world cup.


mins 9 rib rib rib. what a chance for france why they pull him out right when missed by an inch? teze comes in. now he is a danger x 2 when fresh.
mins 11

zidane heads a beautiful shot .... what a finish that would be. head on target just as a beautiful save...oh. this on 14 min, could go down to history.1x over...

1 half ot, italiens are playing for a pks, where they clearly have the advanrage (baffon).

expect more hunkering down of the italien defense except for maybe a last minute attack

zidane,

fall from grace. he should be out of there!

expect more defense and longballs by italiens

will this be the game of exorcisms and italy finally getting rid of penalty evil? or barthez and zidane will take the world cup in a perfect ending of the dream which is also positive.
uwww zidane is upset. he heads the guy like a kid from banlios. red material in real life what an ending to a biblical goodness. it is just as well. but not good. his points go down to the red... wow.

france has to win it for zizu now.

how stupid of zz. he did something like that with the coach in the first game too. throwing his captain bag. he should be more careful. but hey its only human. i mean it. he is still the hero. i bet he is dying for a marlboro now...

anyway back to game which has lost its king and the kids of the south having the street fight...
mins 11.5.
all of a sudden barthez has a chancee to still the show from bad boy Z.

I just lost all respect for Zidane, there is no excuse for the lack of class he jus showed.

time to exorcise the ghost of roberto baggio.

by the way. if italy wins. baffon should get the golden ball.

2 goals allowed: one by teamate, and 1 pk...unparalled in world cup history