Cool Head Warm Heart

Italians won the football World Cup 2006 by provoking their opponents and getting them to react and be sent off. At the final minutes against France, these Italian mobs managed to provoke Zidane to response and head butt the untalented Mr Marco Materazzi. Zidane was sent off and the Italians continued to win the match in penalty shoot out 5:3.

It was a sad end for the football icon of our generation, Zinedine Zidane. That was his last macth of his career…actually the last ten minutes of his outstanding career. A friend of mine asked me whether I think Zidane had done the right thing. He emphasized, “Is head butting your opponent right or wrong?”

I hesitate and do not want to say it is a wrong act simply because for most people wrong means unacceptable. But for me, yes it is wrong for Zidane to head butt Marco, BUT it is completely acceptable at that situation with how the events was unfolded as back drop.

I just wonder why Zidane use head. It hurts so little. He should use his fist on Marco’s face or foot smack right to Marco’s…

Dave Zirin wrote it well, check the real issue here.

By the way, who is this Marco Matarazzi:

Dave Zirin: Right now, we do not know beyond a shadow of a doubt what was said but all the circumstantial evidence points at least toward a variant of SOS Racisme’s claim.

Zissou is the son of Algerian immigrants who has sparred verbally with Europe’s far-right political machine for more than a decade. He is an outspoken anti-racist on a team that has defined itself by its multiculturalism and stubborn insistence to stand up against bigotry both inside and outside the sport.

Materazzi on the other hand, will be playing this year for the Italian team Lazio, where his father was the former coach. Lazio’s fan club, The Ultras, are notorious for their Fascist-friendly politics. Lazio’s hardcore Ultras, known as the “Irriducibili,” have members in Italy’s extra-parliamentary far right and try to use the club to recruit. The group has frequently uses racist and anti-Semitic banners, one time hanging a 50-foot banner that said their opponents were a “team of niggers.”

It’s wrong to taint Materazzi for the actions of Lazio’s fans, but there is more. Earlier this season in a match that pitted Messina against Inter in Sicily, Messina’s star African player Marc Zoro famously picked up the ball and walked off the pitch in protest of the monkey chants rained upon him by Inter supporters.

In a stirring act of solidarity, many of the Inter players immediately showed support for Zoro’s actions. But one opponent yelled, “Stop that, Zoro, you’re just trying to make a name for yourself.” That opponent’s name was Marco Materazzi.

So we know we should never spend a penny on the club that Marco Materazzi joins. We will not watch Lazio matches. And Lazio sponsers will never get a penny from selling things to me.

And off course, for the tactics they deployed, Italians won the World Cup 2006 in disgrace. Though with different reason, I agree to what Dave’s asked the Italians to do, “Give the cup back to FIFA.”

Dave Zirin: Racism will be the death of soccer if things don’t change. Italy can set the sport back on course, with one simple, stunning gesture.

Give the damn thing back.

Let us listen to Zidane on what happened on the field. May be after we hear the incident from him all we want to do is to punch Marco Materazzi’s face.

The world cup games are full of untalented players trying to provoke telented players to react, fight and be sent off. Just like when you play chess, you would trade your pawn for a queen.

I will not be surprise if getting Rooney and Zidane to be sent off is part of their game plan. I am just too familiar with football matches to believe that this Italian mob, Marco, is innocent.

What ever happen, Zinedine Zidane is still the finest and greatest player of our generation. Nobody can take away that (even if they provoke him to punch them).

Two struggling teams during the group stage became the finalists of the World Cup Final. France and Italy, which team do you support?

In 1998, I wished Italy to win very badly. I wished Roberto Baggio have a chance to redeem his missed panalty in the final of 1994 World Cup. It didn’t happen. France became the Champion.

Today I wish France to win as a parting gift to Zinedine Zidane. This finest football player of our generation will retire after this World Cup. I wish him to retire gloriously.

Thank you Zidane, regardless of the outcome of today final.

A better World Cup Final would be…Napoleon vs Julius Caesar.

Hey French, runs those Portuguese down once more.

I was wrong about Zinedine Zidane just like many others. I wrote him off too early. I know he is one of the best players of our generation, but I thought he has lost his magic touch. I am happy to see him sending the Spaniards (who wanted to send him to retirement) packing.

It is a World Cup of many heart breaking moments. It broke my heart to see Australia and Germany to lost at the very last moment of the matches. It broke my heart to see South Korea lost.

And now I have to endure the moment hoping France will knock Portugal down. Today I just reminded a friend of mine who support Portugal that it was the Portuguese that destroyed our Empire of Melacca in 16th century.

There are 13 states in West Malaysia with 11 Sultans. The two states without a Sultan are Penang and Melacca. Penang was a deserted island of Kedah state when the British came. So it never had a Sultan. However, Melacca was the main state of the peninsular (like Roman Empire to Europe) then when the Portuguese came. The Portuguese attacked the Empire, chased the Sultan away to Johor and occupied the land. Portuguese was chased away by the Dutch. Later, the English came.

It is a long story why Malaysians should not support Portugal based on our history. But more importantly, I was angry with Christiano Ronaldo who caused Rooney to be sent off. I believe getting Rooney to be sent off was one of Scolari’s game plan. It is annoying to see injustice done. I will not be surprise if one of Scolari’s game plan against France is to injure Zinedine Zidane, or get him to be sent off just like what they did to Rooney.

I truly hope the French would humiliate the pests…I mean the Portuguese, with 8 – nil.

Isn’t it boring? The entire knock out stage left only ONE African nation (Ghana) and ONE…errr…Asian nation (the Aussies). Four South Americans and TEN European nations. Again, there were the usual suspects like England, Germany, Sweden, France, Italy, Holland, yada, yada, etc.

No major upsets like those in 2002. All got back to the normal world cup routine. Sigh!

My favourite teams left Australia and Holland. I will support England if they play well.

Congratulation! Aussies…Hope you will beat Italy. It is not too difficult to beat Italy though. Yes, they have rock solid defence. This is a team traditionally plays with emphasis on defence. From previous matches, especially with Czech, it demonstrated it has one of the  strongest defence among the World Cup teams. The trick is just not to concede a goal, go for a draw and…penalty shootout. Historically Italy is one of the worst performing team when comes to penalty shootout, i.e. 1990 in Semi-finals lost to Argentina, 1994 in USA World Cup Final lost to Brazil, 1998 in France quarter-finals lost to France. We can claim Italy had never won a penalty shoot-out in World Cup.

Ok, I like Italy team, but you are Asians (or under Asia grouping) (even though you may not like to think like this and prefer to think that you are more of a Western country…). And I am a big fan of Guus Hiddink!

And for South Korea…you will have my support tonight. You may not hear my cheers and shouts, as I will be lying comfortably in my couch watching another historical moment of yours. But spiritually, ahem, I am will you. Though I am not a Korean but mentally I will quietly shout your slogan, “One Nation One Color, and that is…RED”.

This is the game of life and death for both teams. They both know that it is near to impossible to beat Brazil. The reasonable expectation for both Australia and Japan is to beat the opponent and subsequently Croatia to clinch the second place in the Group. Whoever loses this game will almost certainly not proceed to the knock out stage.

My heart is with Socceroos. Yes, I like Guus Hiddink. But the most important factor is that I will never support Japan. Not until they remove the World War II’s war criminals from their Yasukuni Shrine and stop worshipping these criminals.

You say, “Hey this is just football. Not politics…” Well, football is never ‘just football’, football is life, football is civilized war without guns, football is about friendship, it is about revenge, it is about a nation’s pride…

After Argentina lost the Falkland war they broke English heart twice with Maradona’s hand of God and Beckham’s sent off in two World Cups.

Sitting at the food store watching at two TVs and one projector screen with almost hundred of other diners, I realised most Malaysians support Japan. This is not surprising as the relationship of Malaysia and Australia, historically, was not a smooth one. Our ex-prime minister, Dr Mahathir, used to quarrel with John Howard, the Australia’s prime minister. What intrigue me is that most Malaysians seem to forget the history that Malaysia was once invaded by Japan and that the leader of the invasion is now worshiped as Japan’s national hero.

Yes, Japan is Asian (Well, football tribe). Yes, we spatted with Australia, but unlike Japan, Australia never invade Malaysia. World War II is not a distance history. Both my grandmothers (father’s mother and mother’s mother) are still alive. During World War II my mother’s mother travelled Malaysia for stage performance and collect donations for Chinese army to fight against Japanese Imperial Army. My father’s mother, today, still refuse to speak to my father’s Japanese friends. However, I know I am not alone in supporting Australia. The entire South Korea and the entire China nations, like me, hope Australia will win. (From the reactions of China and South Korea, you know how Japan treats its neighbours)

This game is getting intense. An Australia player was sent off with red card.

Yes, Australia score…Wow! Socceroos……..Wow…Socceroos! One : One now.

Oh yes, another one for Australia from Cahill again. Congratulation Guus Hiddink!

Ohhhhhh! Yes, another one for Australia. 3:1 and Australia beats Japan flat!

And Yes. Its over. Australia in (if they beat Croatia). Japan out (of the knock out stage), almost.

For my fellow Asian football tribe, don’t worry, we still have South Korea.

Trinidad and Tobago held Sweden to a nil : nil draw. Almost unbelievable. What a start for this small South American country.

But come to think of it we should not be too surprise about the result. Don’t forget this is the team that had to knock other South Americans football out of this World Cup final in order to qualify for this final. They defended fantasitcally with occasionally quick counter attacks.
Even though the game ended goalless, it is a much entertaining and intense game than the Germany vs Costa Rica World Cup opening game.

Our first surprise…Trinidad and Tobago…and welcome to the World Cup final.

If after watching the World Cup opening game between Germany and Costa Rica and you think that the game is boring even with a 4 – 2 goals result, I agree with you.

Germany football games were never interesting. Mechanical attack, slow counter attack, heavy passing at mid field, clinical finishing, etc. I always fall asleep watching Germany game even if the players score.

You want good, interesting and quick football game? Watch Sweden vs Trinidad and Tobago. So far there is no goal yet, but definitely intense with great attackings and fast moves.

We can expect teams like Holland, Brazil, Argentina, etc. to deliver entertaining and great football games. Germany? Forget it. Even with four goals they are boring.

There is an interesting online survey at MSN on “Who will win the World Cup?”

As at the date of this post, the expected winner is Brazil with 31% of vote. The funny part is the second most popular vote is United States with 12% of vote. This is even higher than England 11%, Germany 7.7%, Argentina 5.8%, Netherlands 2.8%, Italy 5.9% and France 1.9%.

United States win the World Cup? Ha ha ha, this is my initial reaction. I simply couldn’t imagine it to happen. Winning World Cup seems like a pipe dream or sort for US. But after a quick search I realised they were training like a club for months. In football history, many big football countries failed to perform in World Cup simply because they spent too little time to train their famous players to play as a team. Don’t forget 2002, US was in quarter final. I will not surprise if US manages to cause some upsets.

Who I want to see to win the world cup?

I want to see South Korea to win the World Cup. I always enjoy the story of David knocking down Goliath. I want to see Australia to win the World Cup. I am a big fan of Hiddink and I don’t mind Socceroos. I like orange, Holland, to win. Their attacking games are always entertaining (unlike that of boring but effective Germans). I hope to see England in final, I like Steven Gerrard.

It will be truly boring if Brazil wins again. It will be really boring to see Germany in final. Please don’t.

Which teams will reach semi-final?

Brazil, Italy, England and Argentina.

Who I genuinely believe will win the World Cup?

Brazil will still win the world cup judging from their performance in the friendly matches. Ronaldo, Roberto Carlos, Cafu, Kaka, Ronaldhino, etc. are all ageing for sure, but their magic has not waned. This is the team that lost in 1998 final in France and win in 2002 facing Germany. They know how the tournament goes and have the experience and mentality dealing with the tournament.

France and Holland is in deep troubles. England has its chance to win the World Cup with the easy draw, but not if they keep to their tradition of losing the game in penalty shootout. By the way, this is one of the strongest squad ever for England. (Err…I thought I heard this last World Cup.) With Jonh Terry and Gary Neville at the back, Steven Gerrand and Frank Lampard at mid-field, England simply looks invincible. If everything goes well, the first real test comes only at semi-final against Argentina.

Germany? Probably not this round if they meet England in the early knock out stage. Historically Germans got into trouble whenever they faced English, and that was not just in football (like Bismarck). Their friendly against Japan and opening game against Costa Rica just showed how easily their defence line can be torn apart. But don’t forget, World Cup host always performed must better than their usual self.

Argentina? I used to hate them. But they paid their sin of Maradona’s “hand of god” (and Beckham’s 1998 sent-off) in 2002.

Looking at the past, it is always the team that improves along the way of the tournament that will win the game. They usually started with mediocre game plays but only to become better and better into the final.

Statistically (stat, stat and lies), European team always win when the game is hosted in Europe (except 1958 when Brazil won the World Cup in Sweden). I pick Italy to win the World Cup 2006. (England? Nah, they will lose at penalty shootout).

Who can spring surprises?
There were surprises in every past World Cup. Roger Miller and Cameroon in 1990, US in 1994 and 2002, Senegal, South Korea, Japan and Turkey in 2002, Croatia and Davor Šuker in 1998,

There will be surprises this round without exception. I think they are United States, Australia or Japan.

Which strikers or players will shine?
I can tell you it will be Steven Gerrard, it will be Ronaldhino, it will be that Walcott kid, etc. But the truth is World Cup is always the place for not-so-famous players to shine, be famous, join a new club (sometimes) and get rich. Henry Thierry, Sukar, Roger Miller, Zinedine Zidane, Michael Owen, etc. were all only reasonably famous then before making their names in the World Cups.

Give it a try to guess, I will still choose Steven Gerrard and Ronaldhino. Peter Crouch? Nah.

Who I miss in World Cup?

Frankly, it is Roberto Baggio, the pony tailed, talented but once cocky Italian striker. I missed him in the last World Cup final too. I remember how he led his Italy team into the final of World Cup 1994 against Brazil. He missed his penalty shot and Brazil won the World Cup with a 3-2 penalty shooting. Then a man with a totally changed demeanour in 1998, he did not miss his shot against France in a penalty shootout. However, France won the game and eventually won the World Cup. I expected him to seek his redemption once more in World Cup 2002, but he was not chosen for Italy’s World Cup team.

I will miss the way Roger Miller scoring his goals.