That's quite an understatement It was a perfect goal. Taken volley with the breast, then directly to the foot, turning around 90 degrees and slamming it in a wide arc into the far goal corner. It was incredible.

Well, 2 games to comment on:

England beat Ecaudor 1-0. England were poor, Ecaudor were equally poor. Not much else to say.

Portugal have beaten Holland 1-0 in the worst display of refereeing I have EVER seen, in 25 years of watching football. Four sendings off, 15 (i think) yellow cards. Utterly, utterly hopeless.

And after all that, England play Portugal in the qauter finals. We lost to Brazil at this stage 4 years ago, to a Scolari managed Brazil. Lost to Scolari's Portugal 2 years ago at the European Finals. Surely we can't lost 3 times in a row. Portugal will be without Costinha, and more importantly Deco, and Christiano Ronaldo went off injured so may not be fit. But England have been poor so far. Make that very, very poor.

Getting quite exciting this now

POR-NED:

That was idiocy, confusion, circus, you name it. And the most hillarious refereeing (again, Starge, I can only wish the likes of Collina could be around Germania, to put down foolishnes in its place) that I've seen so far.

Why, perhaps we can clone him!

There has to be some of his DNA in my avvy!

*Ze runs to the nearest cloning facility in Germania with samples of Stargelihno's skin... and 40 years later* :

"Now you boys play nice or I'll make you yellow all over... like my Pimpin' T-Shirt !"

Ayyyyy....now then WHO the h*** is COLLINA??????

You must not have watched a lot of footy in the past. Pierluigi Collina was the most famous referee to ref any international game. He was famous for being respected by the players like no second with the exception perhaps of Markus Merk and Urs Meier. It may be the way he looks, his total consequence in his decisions, his humor or a combination of all of that. He is widely regarded as the best referee in terms of skill.

Here's a photo:

BTW, the way he looks is the result of a medical condition.

Oh...haha....so that´s him? I thought you had created some kind of monster, then naming that monster collina....I mean when you had him as an avatar!

Hmm..he might suffer from hyperactive thyroid gland!!!!

Edit:

Bad luck to the Germans, but they certainly contributed to the best, most tense game of the entire World Cup. It was a cracker. Both sides were absolutely fantastic. I just had a feeling about Italy before the competition started, but they had to be at their very, very best tonight.

It´s a sad day.....Germany´s out of the competition......

*runs off to start crying*

Okay... since I can't say the actual F-word here, i'll improvise:

FUDGE FUDGE FUDGE FUDGE FUDGE FUDGE FUDGE FUDGE FUDGE FUDGE FUDGE FUDGE FUDGE FUDGE FUDGE FUDGE FUDGE FUDGE FUDGE FUDGE FUDGE FUDGE FUDGE FUDGE FUDGE FUDGE FUDGE FUDGEEEEEE !!!

The better team today won.

My sympathies to all the fans of the German team and congrats to the Italians.

I know how the German fans feel- every autumn, I suffer as my (former) university [American] football team seems poised to win games in which they should have no chance, only to fall short at the last minute.

Anyway, back on topic, it has been a fantastic World Cup, despite the spotty coverage here in the States.

Ahhhhh, I´m watching Germany vs Portugal......goddamnit, WHY can´t they just SCOOOOORE???????

Ahem....the germans I mean......ohhhhh it´s almost painful to watch!

edit; 2-0 to germany..WOOOOOAAAAHHH

3 - 0!

And 3-1...THEY WON!!!! YIIPPPEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEE

Go Germany GO!!!

what a relief.......they got a medal anyway..

And the credit of organizing a very good game.....oh aye......

How about that headbutt by Zidane eh? Probably cost them the win in the end.

Ohwell, congrats Italy.

Good for Germany in the consolation. After Zidane's stupid foul, I was pulling for Italy. Jackass American sportscaster started complaining about the red card, saying "Well, if the sideline official saw that on the replay monitor but didn't actually witness it in real time, he should just not say anything. They shouldn't show replays of things like that on the stadium screens." What an idiot.

The sportcasters on my station thought it was justified. They also said that the crowd was probably booing because they didn't show a replay on the stadium screen so no one saw the foul.

It did seem that the Italian goalkeeper, and probably the injured players were the ones who brought the foul to the attention of the refs.

Oh, yeah, the red card was definitely appropriate. It was a thuggish act, not in the heat of a struggle for the ball or anything....

Thank god, or someone else, that this thing is over >_< now I can await the Euro2008... and the whole new Crimson Red Serbian jerseys

Zidane.... what a disgrace. Nice way to make a retirement

And Mil, the new boys in Red won't be any better than boys in Blue. Not until something changes in mentality of players and national selector. Simply changing the shirt won't make any diffrence.

Ah well.... there is still hope for the U21 team. We were runer-ups in the last European Championship, am i right

Well, he's a flair player...inevitable he'd go out with a bit of flair

Of course the fact I wanted Italy to win has nothing to do with it. Honest.

1. Ah, well, Zidane... I guess that every man has his limits of patience and tolerence but the ironic thing is, he was proclaimed the Best Player, tsk.

2. Hypno, someone once said: "Hope dies last"... wrong. Hope NEVER dies, nor the fighting spirit inherited wanishes. Even if we make fools of ourselves once more in 2 years from now, I get the feeling that htis time something will change... not just the color of shirts.

3. Yes, and our young team is exactly the source of that hope - players like Vucinic, Purovic and basta (poor basta, he didn't even get the chance to play in WC).

When Zidane left the stadium with his back to the Cup, it would have been cool if he looked back at the Cup with one eye, thinking about what could have happened. That would have been perfect picture material. He didn't look though.

Regarding the red card, I actually had a very strong feeling of hate for Zidane when I saw him hit Materazzi and instantly yelled "Red!!!" when I saw the act. It was just so peaceful at the start. They're all walking, then BAM! A giant headbutt from Zidane on Materazii's chest. Fatality!

Well, officials on the field have determined that Mr. Innocent Italy called Zidane a dirty terrorist, so I think that he deserved it. If you call a player of Zidane's family's backgroud a dirty terrorist, you should expect a good hit. And its quite obvious that he did something to agravate Zidane because unless he has spidey-sense, he wouldn't have known to turn around and headbutt the man.

I know I may seem harsh, but I was pretty let down on how Italy has been playing. They seem to have been taking dives, looking for ways to get the opponents in trouble and general rotten play. Also, when you get headbutt in one of the most fortified parts of the body by a pretty tame headbutt, the reaction isn't usually falling down and crying.

In conclusion, I still love Zidane and though it may not have made the differance, I think he was completely right to give em' a smack. Also, I hope that in the future some of the Fifa players toughen up becuase when my 13 year old futball playing nephew can take a slide tackle better than a pro, somethings wrong.

I kept out of this thread because I don't follow the World Cup. But my sister does so I post in her honor, here is part of her celebratory email to me about the Italian scene in San Francisco:



And here is a pic of Italian celebrants in Rome after the World Cup win.

About this head-butting business - it's a rough world when people call you names or insult your heritage. No one knows this quite as well as the Italians I assure you ... I don't think there's an Italian kid anywhere on the planet who didn't go through the "so your old man's in the mob" syndrome. Quite the inside joke really.
I've used the mob sob myself on occassions where I just wanted some people to go away and leave me alone. It works nicely.