half time Final
 

I'm pulling for Italy. Very good first half of football... Very powerful comeback by the Italians, France just sat back too much. Referees are mostly keeping to themselves not messing with the flow of the game.

MAN! Obviously, everyone saw Dizane flip out and head butt that guy! WOW!

And I'm glad Italy won in the PK. yay for them.

That head butt was stupid, Zindane really screwed up. Still a great final. The Italians know how to have a good time eh? I loved the defense, that is a team with heart.

:lol: right! Zidane, not Dizane! :lol:

I'm a maroon.

yeah, well, zidane will be playing in america next year so watch out.

I thought he was retiring?

Undertoad started this thread referring to the idea of the World Cup and racism . Undertoad also seems to like Italy , and yes , Italy has won . Certain Italian politicians have also made some extremely racist remarks , such as the fact that Italy is truly glorious as all their players are white Italians and not Blacks and Muslims as they are in the French team . Perhaps these Italians should take a look at French history . For example , Lilian Thurman is Black and he comes from the Caribbean island of Guadeloupe . Guadeloupe has been part of France for longer than Nice or the Alpine French region of Savoy .

No one is really sure yet why Zidane head-butted that Italian player , and of course that sort of violence cannot be excused . Zidane has said that he will try to explain when he has calmed down . Meanwhile , lip-readers believe that Zidane was called an Islamic terrorist by the Italian .

So yes , Undertoad is obviously right to wonder about racism in the context of the World Cup . Perhaps one should also remember that Italy is not just pizza and Michaelangelo . It is also Berlusconi and the heritage of Il Duque . Thank goodness for the likes of Nanni Moretti amidst the maelstrom .

...I think the reason the Italian team is mostly white because most Italians are white, meaning most of the good soccer players are white, and if all the best happen to be white, it would be racist to hire someone who WASNT white just because they arent white.

As advised by 'a friend':

Since Sunday evening the whole World has been debating what Italian defender Marco Materazzi said to Zinedine Zidane to make the retiring Frenchman react in the way he did. The French captain, in his last ever professional game, thrust his head into Materazzi's chest in Sunday's World Cup Final resulting in a red card and shame for Zidane. Today, with the help of Italian lip-reader Arturo Belladini, we can reveal what drove Zidane to self destruct; Materazzi was seen to hold Zidane's shirt on the edge of the penalty box in extra-time at which point Zidane said

"if you want my shirt so bad you can have it"

Materazzi responded

"I dont want your shirt you m***** f*****. you're a f****** old man"

As they jog away Zidane is seen to laugh at this and it is unclear how he responded due to him having his back to the TV camera

Materazzi then hit a volley of abuse

"you should've quit 2 years ago, you're a f****** has-been"

"m***** f*****! your mum is a f****** muslim terrorist and you are too,f*** you old man f*** you"

"old man, this arena is not for you anymore m***** f*****"

Zidane carries on jogging away

"you are only good enough for Tottenham now" It's at this very point Zidane turned and head-butted him.

Also from another 'friend' (yes, I know it's hard to believe I have more than one):

A snippet of overhead conversation in a pub about the World Cup final and Zidane's sending off :-

" That's the closest anyone in a French uniform has come to combat in 60 years"


and....

Sophie Ellis Baxtor has been found head butted to death in a hotel room where the French football team were staying. Police say there's blood on Zidane's floor.

I do not know who Sophie Ellis Baxtor is , and France was right not to send troops to Irak . France is proud of Zidane . Chirac has refused to condemn him , and Zidane has been officially nominated best player in the whole of the World Cup . Zidane is a good man whose mother , incidentally , is seriously ill in hospital in Vitrolles .

So, tell me again ... how did the best player in the whole world cup get himself ejected from the final game assuring his team's loss?

P.S. France has a long history of not sending troops anywhere, including France.

I think the World Cup officials liked his foot-work , Wolf .

France does not need to send troops anywhere . They gave you lot the Statue of Liberty for you to shoulder all that sort of responsibility .

And Zidane , like the Statue of Liberty, has feet of clay .

The world doesn't want French troops anywhere real work has to be done.

The Statue of Liberty is made from copper.

The pedestal is made from stone near here , Undertoad . Stone from Hauteville ( Hauteville is about half an hour away from where I live) I believe that the steps of the White House are also made from Hauteville stone .