Well, Italy won the World Cup, as I hoped. Funny thing was, that with all the build up to the match, and all the talk of it being Zidane's last match, I stated to lean towards wanting the French to win.
Extra time sorted that one out.
Whatever a player may say to you on the pitch, you don't react, certainly not with your head. Certainly not when you're ten minutes away from penalties, and when you're the man the rest of the team will be looking upto as chief penalty taker.
Zinedine Zidane is a player that, as a neutral, you looked as a class above the norm. I've watched him play at Old Trafford against us in Champions League matches and he was a class act to be admired. Okay, he has that Gallic temperament, like many before him, and he could get a bit naughty. But there's a time and a place for that. And when it's your last ever game for your country and professionally, in the bloody World Cup final, you'd expect more than headbutting an opponent as if it was a common assault in a pub car park.
It may or may not have affected the outcome of the match. After all, the coach made some odd substitutions bearing in mind a penalty shootout was looking very likely. So well done to the Italians for beating that penalty hoodoo. But if you're French, right now you'll be looking for someone to blame, and Zidane has more than filled the role of the World Cup pantomime villain, previously played by Ronaldo earlier in the tournament.
All that experience, all those medals, all that acclaim. Yeah, it'll all be remembered in time, but at the moment, all that will be thought when you mention Zidane is of that headbutt.
Extra time sorted that one out.
Whatever a player may say to you on the pitch, you don't react, certainly not with your head. Certainly not when you're ten minutes away from penalties, and when you're the man the rest of the team will be looking upto as chief penalty taker.
Zinedine Zidane is a player that, as a neutral, you looked as a class above the norm. I've watched him play at Old Trafford against us in Champions League matches and he was a class act to be admired. Okay, he has that Gallic temperament, like many before him, and he could get a bit naughty. But there's a time and a place for that. And when it's your last ever game for your country and professionally, in the bloody World Cup final, you'd expect more than headbutting an opponent as if it was a common assault in a pub car park.
It may or may not have affected the outcome of the match. After all, the coach made some odd substitutions bearing in mind a penalty shootout was looking very likely. So well done to the Italians for beating that penalty hoodoo. But if you're French, right now you'll be looking for someone to blame, and Zidane has more than filled the role of the World Cup pantomime villain, previously played by Ronaldo earlier in the tournament.
All that experience, all those medals, all that acclaim. Yeah, it'll all be remembered in time, but at the moment, all that will be thought when you mention Zidane is of that headbutt.
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