The World Cup Ends, And A Hero Leaves A Zero

Well, it's over. All you football (the round ball kind, silly) watching fans can now catch up on sleep, spend your winnings, or start earning back your losses, lol. The World Cup finally came to a close yesterday with my predictions of either Germany or Brazil winning the thing so off the mark I could have hit my own ass. Italy were the final victors, and rather worthy ones at that. The World Cup. The road to the finals was quite uneventful. With the favourites of Brazil, Italy, Germany et. al progressing through the early stages. Holland surprisingly fell early on, while England somehow managed to make the quarter-finals. Argentina and Brazil lasted not much longer. Alas, I felt deliberate handballs, playacting, diving and sheer stupidity left a bad taste in many a mouth this World Cup campaign. Playacting and diving, performed wonderfully by renowned players like Thierry Henry, Cristiano Ronaldo, Zidane, Arjen Robben and a host of others was such a pathetic sight I am at a lost for words. But the best was yet to come. Indeed, it most certainly was. Champions of the World. The final featured the mildly impressive Italians against the steadfast old guard of the French. One of which would see his career end in the most horrible fashion, but not without due cause. A rather dubious penalty scored by Zinedine Zidane gave France the lead as early as the 7th minute. But, jubilation turned to despair as Italy scored an equaliser through Marco Materrazzi hardly 8 minutes later. And so it stood, with the ball going up and down the field so many times it resembled a hoops game more than football. Creativity turned to frustration, and led to tedium as both sides tired and were content to play out the time aiming, I guess, for the penalty shootout to decide their fate. All was well and boring, until around the 106th minute, where suddenly, a commotion broke loose on the field. Buffon raced from his goal, shouting at the third official and the referee, apparently noticing something most of us viewers did not. A crying shame this. And then we saw it. A vicious headbutt by the legendary Zinedine Zidane straight into Materazzi's chest, sending the Italian centre-back reeling. Whether Materazzi's actions were overdramatic or not are irrelevant. A headbutt of that manner spelled malicious intent and nothing else. What fools these mortals be. And a greater fool Zidane. I really don't know what possessed the man to suddenly turn and attack a player, minutes before his team reached the penalty shootout of a World Cup Final. You hate him? Punch him up in the tunnel, AFTER you've won the cup. But recalling the past, as cool and as skillful Zidane always seems to be, underneath that calm exterior seems to lie a beast that rears it's head only sometimes. And this was one of those times. The long walk of shame. So, Zinedine Zidane is red-carded, and is sent off the field like some third-rate bully footballer...once the greatest, forever remembered as a madman. The scene of his walk past the golden Cup of Life itself showed better than anything what his madness brought, both to himself, and to his team. If Zidane had been there, then maybe Trezeguet wouldn't have taken that penalty, and maybe France would have had more of a chance. Sad that it wasn't to be. I really liked that guy, and will still remember him as a footballing great. But not a hero. Nobody's a hero when they do something like that. Self-control is the most important thing in a person's life, I feel, and it was totally absent there. Hence, a hero leaves Germany, Golden Ball or not, a zero. So, that's it from Germany. And a curtain falls yet again on the stage of the World Cup. So, until 2010, when they meet in again in Africa, all us football fans will return to our bickering of whether Barcelona are the best in the world, and whether Roman Abramovich is spoiling football, or whether Man United are in decline. =) >>> Football Tags: Blog, Blogs, Blogging, Football, Soccer, World Cup, Italy, France, World Cup Final, Tenjou