Argentine referee Horatio Elizondo, the man who showed France legend Zinedine Zidane the red-card in the final of the World Cup 2006 has handed over the item of World Cup memorabilia after a one hour meeting with Argentina President Nestor Kirchner.
Kirchner was delighted with the gift and playfully brandished the tool of Zidane's downfall, autographed by Elizondo, in the direction of cameramen as if he was booking them.
Who would've thought Elizondo would give away the red-card - it would've been an awesome "show-and-tell" item for his grandchildren!
Zizou in his famous No.10 France shirt (http://soccer-europe.com)
Recently retired France captain Zinedine Zidane has been banned for 3 matches and fined Ł3260 ($AU8,000) for his infamous head-butt in the closing stages of the World Cup final earlier this month.
Since Zizou had already retired, the 3 match-ban would be academic and as such, he has agreed to do community service work with children and youngsters on behalf of the FIFA.
Good on him.
On the other hand, the 'real' culprit in most people's eyes, Materazzi, was handed a two match ban and fined Ł2170 ($AU5,350) for his role in the incident.
Perhaps more importantly is that FIFA's statement said: "Both players stressed Materazzi's comments had been defamatory but not of a racist nature."
Also determined in the hearing is that Zidane will not be stripped of his Golden Ball award for the best player of the tournament.
This is definitely the first case of the provoker also being punished that I've come across in many years of following football and it sets a difficult precedent.
***The image of Zinedine Zidane is copyrighted. The copyright holder allows anyone to use it for any purpose, provided that http://soccer-europe.com is credited***
The football governing body FIFA has confirmed that Italy defender Marco Materazzi could face disciplinary proceedings regarding his conduct in the World Cup final where he played an important part in the red-card fiasco that saw France's Zinedine Zidane sent off for a headbutt.
The two parties, Materazzi and Zidane, have been summoned to attend a hearing of FIFA's disciplinary committee on Thursday 20 July in Zurich.
Zidane has the right to make a written statement, which must be submitted by Tuesday 18 July and Materazzi will then be given a copy of the statement so he can respond.
My take on all of this is is that it would be rather interesting to see how Materazzi will be punished if found guilty by FIFA's committee.
The case is the first of its kind that I'm aware of and it sets a complicated and difficult precedent for FIFA given the fact there is no way to regulate/govern what a player says on the football pitch.
In that respect, I expect them to be kept very busy in the future if another player attacks an opponent in a similar fashion to Zidane and claim it was in retaliation to something that was said.
Meanwhile, in another interesting piece of news as reported on the Fox Sports website, a French lawyer plans to ask a court to intervene in the controversy over Zinedine Zidane's sending-off in the World Cup final.
The lawyer wants the World Cup final to be replayed because there are doubts over whether a match official relied on video evidence or not.
Interviewer: Everyone wants to know exactly what he said...
Zidane: They were very serious things, very personal things.
Interviewer: About your mother and your sister?
Zidane: Yes. They were very hard words. You hear them once and you try to move away.
But then you hear them twice, and then a third time... I am a man and some words are harder to hear than actions. I would rather have taken a blow to the face than hear that.
Interviewer: He said these things about your mother and sister two or three times?
Zidane: Yes. I reacted and of course it is not a gesture you should do. I must say that strongly.
It was seen by two or three billion people watching on television and millions and millions of children.
It was an inexcusable gesture and to them, and the people in education whose job it is to show children what they should and shouldn't do, I want to apologise.
Interviewer: You apologise to them but do you really regret having done it?
Zidane: I can't regret it because if I do it would be like admitting that he was right to say all that. And above all, it was not right.
We always talk about the reaction, and inevitably it must be punished. But if there is no provocation, there is no reaction.
First of all you have to say there is provocation, and the guilty one is the one who does the provoking. The response is to always punish the reaction, but if I react, something has happened.
Do you imagine that in a World Cup final like that, with just 10 minutes to go to the end of my career, I am going to do something like that because it gives me pleasure?
Interviewer: No of course not. But at the moment you exploded...
Zidane: There was provocation, and it was very serious, that is all. My action was inexcusable but you have to punish the real culprit, and the real culprit is the one who provoked it.
Now that Zidane has come forward with his version of events, it'll be interesting to see what course of action FIFA takes. Will they punish Materazzi or will they strip Zidane of his Golden Ball award, as hinted by FIFA president Sepp Blatter?
Both parties are inexcusable for their actions, but I hope Zidane's reputation won't be tarnished because he is without a doubt, the best player I've ever had the privilege of watching play football.
Retired France legend Zinedine Zidane is set to reveal all about the infamous headbutt incident in the World Cup final on French TV station Canal Plus today.
Meanwhile, Materazzi has admitted he made an offensive remark but Zidane is yet to give his version of events.
Every football fan will be most interested to hear what Zidane has to say and what exactly was said to make him lose his cool like that.
Zinedine Zidane never got the fairy-tale ending to his illustrious career as Italy won the World Cup on penalties.
Not only was it not a fairy-tale, Zidane's retirement came prematurely as he was red-carded in his last ever match after a moment of what can only be described as madness.
France dominated for much of the game but could not manage a goal from open play that would've effectively killed off the match and Italy's hopes.
However, Italy dug deep and weathered the storm quite brilliantly and shone in set pieces as France had trouble dealing with Pirlo's pin-point crosses and the height of their players.
France went ahead through Zidane in the seventh minute when Materazzi was adjudged to have fouled Florent Malouda as he made a clumsy challenge inside the area. Replays seemed to show that Materazzi was in fact trying to pull-out of the tackle and even if there was contact, it would have been very minimal.
Up stepped Zidane to score one of the cheekiest and most gutsy penalties, chipping the ball past Buffon and hitting the underside of the bar, bouncing down a yard over the line and spun out.
Zidane jogged away with an arm raised as he joined Pele, Vava and Paul Breitner as the only players to score in two World Cup finals.
Materazzi soon made amends for conceding the penalty when he climbed above Patrick Vieira to level the scores from a Pirlo corner. With only 20 minutes gone, this had all the ingredients for an entertaining final.
Sadly, the final will be remembered for many years for Zidane's moment of madness on his last game before retirement. Words with Materazzi were exchanged in the second period of extra-time and Zidane had already begun walking away when Materazzi had the last few words and with that, Zidane turned around and rammed his bald head hard into his chest.
I have no idea what was said between the two, but it makes me wonder what on earth would make a player of Zidane's experience and stature to lose his cool in that sort of way. Expect more news to follow on this incident in the days ahead.
The referee had missed the incident but after consultation with the linesman showed no hesitation in showing Zidane the red-card in his last ever game.
When it came to penalties, France's David Trezeguet missed by the narrowest of margins and Italy converted 5/5 to lift the World Cup trophy for the fourth time.
Venue: Gottlieb-Daimler Stadion
Attendance: 52,000
Game 63
Germany (Schweinsteiger 56' 78', Petit (og) 61') 3 - 1 Portugal (Gomes 88')
SUMMARY:
Germany officially ended the 2006 World Cup as the third-best side after demolishing Portugal 3-1 in Stuttgart.
Two stunning goals by Schweinsteiger capped off a good performance by the Germans whilst Luis Figo came on late in the match as a substitute to setup a consolation goal for Portugal courtesy of a bullet header from Nuno Gomes.
Here is a short clip of Schweinsteiger's opening goal.
The game marked the retirements from international football for German keeper Oliver Kahn and Portugal's Luis Figo and Pedro Pauleta.
Both Germany coach Jurgen Klinsmann and Portugal coach Luiz Felipe Scolari have yet to announce whether they will remain as coaches for their respective teams after the World Cup.
The prestigious FIFA Golden Ball award is given to the most valuable player in the 32-team World Cup tournament and is picked by FIFA accredited journalists.
Since its inception in 1982, previous winners of the award were Italy's Paolo Rossi (1982), Argentina's Diego Maradona (1986), Italy's Salvatore Schillaci (1990), Brazilians Romario (1994) and Ronaldo (1998) and Germany's Oliver Kahn (2002).
FIFA Golden Ball Award 2006:
This year's list of ten is dominated by the finalists - the Italians with four nominees and France with three.
The remaining three spots went to Germany (2) and Portugal (1).
The winner will be announced the day after the final at the end of the month-long tournament that began with 32 teams on July 9.
The nominations are:
Thierry Henry (France)
Patrick Vieira (France)
Zinedine Zidane (France)
Michael Ballack (Germany)
Miroslav Klose (Germany)
Fabio Cannavaro (Italy)
Andrea Pirlo (Italy)
Gianluca Zambrotta (Italy)
Gianluigi Buffon (Italy)
Maniche (Portugal)
If France wins the World Cup with an inspired Zidane at the helm, who would bet against Zidane lifting the Golden Ball as well?
It would surely be the most amazing and deserved send-off for any player.
Zidane will play the final match of his glittering football career in the World Cup final against Italy at the Olympiastadion in Berlin on Sunday evening, 9th July at 8pm (Mon. 10th 4am AEST).
France saw off Portugal courtesy of a 1-0 victory secured by Zidane's majestic strike from the spot after Portugese defender Carvalho had fouled Thierry Henry.
Zidane's cooly-finished penalty on the 33rd minute was enough to settle the game although Portugal had their chances to equalise through Figo amongst others.
Portugal's Cristiano Ronaldo was jeered and booed everytime he touched the ball due to his part in Wayne Rooney's sending off in the previous game but that did little to deter him from his natural game - electrifying pace, step-overs aplenty and of course, diving. It's a shame such a skillful player has to resort to the dark art of diving theatrically thus tarnishing his own reputation.
The same could also be said of Thierry Henry, one of the top strikers in the world, and his theatrics in the tournament is starting to tarnish his reputation. The penalty awarded in favour of Henry in this game was a tad dubious, but his play acting in the game against Spain when he went down clutching his face after a Puyol challenge to the shoulder sparked controversy.
Italy now awaits France in Berlin for the final in what should be a mouth-watering clash of the European heavyweights.
Will Italy put their domestic woes behind them and win the World Cup for the fourth time? Or will it be a fairytale ending for legend Zinedine Zidane as he leads France to their second World Cup?
The Azzuri are through to the final of the FIFA World Cup after Germany's World Cup dream was destroyed by two Italy goals at the end of extra-time.
Having remained scoreless the entire match with the German's having only managed two shots on goal, the semi-final was less than two minutes away from a penalty shoot-out when Grosso fired Italy into the lead in the 119th minute.
Grosso chose not to dive to win a penalty this time, but instead, curled a brilliant ball beyond Lehmann and into the German net.
Naturally, Germany piled forward in desperate search of an equaliser and this ultimately left gaps at the back which allowed Gilardino to slip a pass to Del Piero and he scored the second with the last kick of the game.
Italy will meet the winner of the France vs. Portugal game in the final.
The World's most famous footballer, England and Real Madrid superstar David Beckham, has resigned as England captain after five and a half years of leading his country.
This announcement came barely 12 hours after his country's disappointing defeat against Portugal in the Quarter Final's of the World Cup.
I can't say that I was entirely surprised by his announcement but what shocked me more was how soon he came out with the news of his resignation.
Given Beckham's sporadic form during this tournament, it was only a matter of time before the likes of Aaron Lennon (who deputised for Becks brilliantly at this WC) and Shaun Wright-Phillips came banging on the door to replace him, thus a player can no longer be captain if he is NOT guaranteed selection in a team.
As a new era looms for England, Beckham probably did the smart thing by jumping before he was pushed by relinquishing the captaincy and saving new England boss Steve McLaren from having to drop him as skipper.
Brazil 0 - 1 France
England 0 (1) - (3) 0 Portugal
SUMMARY:
An unbelievable night/morning of football....
Once again, England's spotkick curse came back to haunt them as they went down galantly to a Portugal side bereft of ideas but had the better luck in the game.
The match when toe-to-toe during the first half with some slick passing from England, especially around the back which is very continental and a huge contrast from what you would expect a 'Premiership' team to play. Both teams showed one another respect and players obviously felt the tension of the occasion with some wayward passes every now and then.
After the break, England had a huge claim for a penalty after a hand-ball in the Portugese penalty box but the referee waved play on. Shortly after, Beckham came off (for possibly the last time ever in a World Cup) due to injury and teenager Aaron Lennon took his place on the right flank.
The introduction of Lennon added some much needed pace down the flanks and England started to look more threatening. However, this proved short-lived as Rooney got a straight red card in the 62nd minute of match. Replays showed he stomped on an opponent (in the groin, of all places) but to me, it looked rather unintentional.
His Manchester United teammate and supposed mate no more, Cristiano Ronaldo did his best to get Rooney sent off by pleading to the ref. as Rooney pushed him away.
England were now down to 10 men and the rather subdued Joe Cole was taken off for a target man up front in the mould of Crouch.
Ironically, England's best performance of the tournament came in adversity and with 10 men for sixty minutes. Players came out of their shells - Terry's leadership qualities came to fore as he marshalled his back-line and substitutes Crouch and Lennon causing all sorts of problem for the Portugese.
Owen Hargreaves, by far the best player on the pitch, proved his critics wrong with a determined effort capped off by some truly remarkable stamina.
England created chances to win the game, but they ultimately failed to score and that proved costly. The numerical disadvantage and the lack of a goal poacher on the field meant that chances went begging.
Once again, a match between England and Portugal went down to penalties and once again, the hero was Portugese goalkeeper Ricardo.
Lampard, Gerrard and Carragher all missed penalties for the Three Lions and Eriksson's reign as England coach came to an end with a third successive Quarter Final exit from a tournament.
In the last Quarter Final of WC2006, France ended the hopes of hot favourites, Brazil, to progress through to the semi-finals courtesy of a 1-0 win.
France thoroughly deserved this victory as they out-played Brazil on every part of the pitch although it must be said that Brazil were nowhere near their best.
Zidane rolled back the years with a vintage display of close control, deft touches and exquisite passes to setup Henry's winning goal and on this performance, he may well be retiring as a winner.
Ronaldinho, the supposed World's best player was a shadow of his usual self and that is why he is far from one of the greatest ever players. Zidane the man showed the boy how it's meant to be done and he was the main difference between the two teams.
The goal came from a set-piece - Zidane floated in a lovely ball and Henry, totally unmarked, went into score the winning goal for France.
France are now two matches away from winning a second World Cup and it remains to be seen whether Zidane will retire with a fairy tale triumph.
Expectedly, Italy progressed through to the World Cup semi-finals with a victory over debutants Ukraine in their Quarter Final clash.
Italian striker Luca Toni, the top scorer in the Serie A last season, finally opened up his World Cup account with two goals to help seal the win for Italy with Ukraine superstar Andriy Shevchenko unable to save his country.
The Germany and Argentina encounter went down to penalties and with both sides having an immaculate record when it came to spot-kicks, something had to give.
Call it German resilience or stubborness if you wish, but once again, each and everyone of their spotkicks were taken with precision thus ensuring their progression into the semi-finals of their 'home' World Cup.
Argentina, the favourites to win this tournament, head home after two missed penalties sealed their fate.
Richard Jolly, from ESPN's Soccernet has compiled a list of the best players to be featured in 'Team of the departed".
As the title suggests, the list honours those players who can look back with personal pride after distinguishing themselves on the highest stage despite their team's early exit.
Therefore it is no surprise to us all that Australian centreback Lucas Neill features prominently on that list.
Jolly heaps praise on Neill by saying, "The cruelty of Australia's exit was only increased by the identity of the unfortunate defender. When Lucas Neill was adjudged to have fouled Fabio Grosso, Francesco Totti converted the penalty to end the Socceroos' endearing adventure. Many impressed, but none acquitted themselves better in gold and green than Neill. If the hallmark of a high-class defender is the ease with which they seem to play, Neill's reading of the game and pace to recover mean he stands comparison with the best in the tournament so far."
High praise indeed but most deserved for the Blackburn Rovers star.
On the merits of his performances at the World Cup, Neill is rumoured to be on the shopping list of European Champions Barcelona.
Spain (David Villa 28(p)) 1 - 3 France (Ribery 41', Vieira 83', Zidane 90')
Brazil (Ronaldo 5', Adriano 45', Ze Roberto 84') 3 - 0 Ghana
SUMMARY:
World Cup favourites Brazil progressed to the last eight of the tournament with a 3-0 victory over Ghana in their second round match. The match was not as one-sided as the scoreboard suggests and it was a thrilling contest from both sides.
Striker Ronaldo wrote his name into the history books with his 15th World Cup goal, surpassing the 14 goal record of Gerd Muller set in 1974.
To Ghana's credit, I felt they played superb football at times and the way they managed to carve up Brazil down the middle of the pitch was something to behold. However, their lack of a world-class goal scorer proved to be their down-fall as they never got a shot past the Brazilian goalkeeper Dida.
France rolled back the years and showed their true class with a good win over Spain. Veterans Zidane and Vieira both got on the scoresheet in the 2nd half as well as Ribery's fantastic equaliser in the 1st half for France.
Spain took the lead courtesy of a penalty after a foul from France defender Lilian Thuram.
Brazil will now meet France in the Quarter Finals - a repeat of the 1998 World Cup Final in which France won 3-0.
Football is widely known as the 'beautiful game', but then again, it can also be oh so cruel and that is what the Australian public will be feeling today in the aftermath of the 1 - 0 loss to 10-man Italy.
With the last kick of the match, Francesco Totti slammed his shot high and with force to the top left hand corner of the net - and Australia were on their way home.
The goal, a dubious penalty according to the Australian press, had been given to the Italians after Lucas Neill had been adjudged to have brought down Fabio Grosso in the box three minutes into stoppage time.
There was no redemption for Australia as the referee immediately blew the full-time whistle just as the goal-scorer wheeled away to celebrate his goal with the entire Italian squad chasing after him.
Hiddink and his men applaud the travelling fans for their support after their heart-breaking 1-0 loss to Italy (Image: BBCSport)
Australia had started the match brilliantly - the passing and movement was fluent and I felt we looked like a class side, not intimidated one bit by an European power-house team. The first half ended goal-less with the Italians having a few missed opportunities - striker Toni had four alone, but the Socceroos were playing well.
Shortly after the break, Italian centre-back Marco Materazzi was given a straight red-card and was sent off in the 50th minute for a two-footed tackle on Bresciano. The red-card seemed a bit harsh for me, but the referees had been told to stamp down on two-footed tackles and that he did.
The Socceroos were still playing confidently and with Italy down to 10-man, Australia were firmly in the driving seat. However, Australia never created any clear-cut goal scoring opportunities and the Italians were able to soak up any pressure the Socceroos threw at them and this ultimately proved costly. Australia were missing Harry Kewell who had to sit out the match due to gout and not his much-publicised groin injury.
With substitute Totti brought onto replace the ineffectual Del Piero, Italy looked dangerous everytime they managed to launch a counter-attack and when he flicked a ball onto Grosso in the 92nd minute who evaded Bresciano...we all know what happened next.
As the net bulged and the Italian fans in the stands erupted, the Socceroos sank down onto their knees in disbelief....shock. Lucas Neill, my Australian Player of the tournament was inconsolable.
Cruel? Excruciatingly so. Injustice? Debatable. I feel that Australia's lack of experience contributed to their demise because you simpy have to defend in numbers when there is only seconds left until the full-time whistle. Australia weren't undone by a moment of genius, but perhaps, a momentary lapse in concentration.
Bresciano should not have been the only player on the left flank taking on Grosso.
It could also be said that Australia should've been ahead by this time against a 10-man Italy for 40 minutes of the second half. You simply have to seize the initiative when given such an advantage in a match like this.
When the post-mortem of the match is done and dusted, only one question remains.
Proud? Very. Australia have well and truly arrived on the world stage of football and the Class of 2006 will go down in history as the best Australian side ever.
Italy will now face Ukraine in their next match after the Ukrainians eliminated Switzerland in the other second round tie in a penalty shoot-out after the match remained score-less after 90 minutes plus extra-time.
England (Beckham 60') 1 - 0 Ecuador
Portugal (Maniche 23') 1 - 0 Netherlands
SUMMARY:
England will have the chance of getting revenge on Portugal (whom knocked out England in the QF of Euro 02) when the two teams line up to face each other in the Quarter Finals.
England beat Ecuador courtesy of an exquisite Beckham freekick - his first England goal in 15 months and becoming the first England player to score at three different World Cup's along the way.
Again, this was another below-par from England with Wayne Rooney lacking much support up-front due to the 4-5-1 formation. I also felt that the midfield was a bit over-crowded at times but Carrick did reasonably okay in his first competitive match for England.
Chelsea duo John Terry and Frank Lampard were both below par for this match with Terry's mistake in the first half almost proving costly. Lampard, on the other hand, must've had some 20 shots at goal now in his 4 matches for England, but has yet to score.
In the other match, Portugal beat Holland to win a match marred by shocking refereeing decisions.
Russian referee Valentin Ivanov had produced an incredible 16 yellow cards - equalling the all-time tournament record - plus four reds (two each for Portugal and Holland). This lead FIFA president Sepp Blatter to say after the match that the referee should be yellow carded too.
Portugal will meet England in the QF missing their chief play-maker Deco after he was one of the players to be sent off. Also missing could be Manchester United starlet Cristiano Ronaldo due to injury.
Germany safely secured their passage into the quarter-finals courtesy of a 2-0 victory over 10-men Sweden.
Sweden found themselves two goals down as early as the 12th minute from a brace of Podolski goals and were left with an impossible mountain to climb soon after when Teddy Lucic was sent off for two yellow cards on the 35th minute.
Germany played well and Sweden were never able to recover like they did against England in their previous match. The closest they got was a missed penalty by ace striker Henrik Larsson on the 53rd minute, who will have played his last match for Sweden.
Argentina and Mexico fought out a classic encounter to win 2-1 courtesy of a stunning extra-time goal from Maxi Rodriguez. Argentina books a place in the quarter finals while Mexico will return home with their heads held high.
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