Biggest Disgrace of the World Cup?

Pigman II

Zidane has probably made the most headlines for his actions yesterday but which player do you think has disgraced himself most this summer?

Personally I'd go for Ronaldo of Portugal whose gamesmanship and diving (in the QF and SF especially) turned a relatively popular side into the most hated team in the tournament.

Pacifico

Portugal in general.

And the fact that they won most entertaining team!

Roddy23

Didnt see Di Rossi there. Would definately have been him.

p.pete

The Swiss.

Vokes

What did Kezman do?

Attractive Nun

Has to be Zidane, given the context. Probably felt he was untouchable given it was his last game, and left his team struggling in a World Cup final.

Ronaldo, please...

Ruu_Old

Zidane for me, cowardly act from someone who should have known better as I mentioned before.

DaBreno

The lack of "Burdz of the World Cup" emails you usually get after these events with loads of Sweden entries. You can tell Web blocking software is a booming industry right now.

godtabh

SofaKing wrote:

What did Kezman do?

Dunno!

iregk

Im assuming Kezman for his tackle againt the Argies but what about Henry in that list. Bigger culprit for his diving than Kezman...

Unearthly

SofaKing wrote:

What did Kezman do?

He looked liked he was playing for Chelsea again?

I'd go for De Rossi, that was crazy what he did.

Pigman II

SofaKing wrote:

What did Kezman do?

S+M are 3-0 down to Argentina and he gets a straight red for a tackle that just screams "I'd rather go home now than try get something out of this game."

BTW add Torsten Frings to the list for his punch on Cruz. I know there was a mass brawl but he was the only one I remember getting caught on camera for anything. (I heard Mertersacker kicked an Argie in the goolies as well but that could just be a rumour.)

unkel

You have Deco and C. Ronaldo in your poll, but you missed the only player to do a proper head-butt this tournament? :eek:

Some teams and some players were disgraceful at times, the Portuguese in general were disgraceful most of the time

ghost26ie

picked di Rossi, but could have gone with figo, ronaldo, rooney or zidane. or just the whole portugal team in general. the only good thing they did was knock out england.

Pigman II

unkel wrote:

You have Deco and C. Ronaldo in your poll, but you missed the only player to do a proper head-butt this tournament? :eek:

Who was that? Figo? I didn't see that incident myself so I couldn't determine where it was nomination worthy.

Kimbot

Zidane by a mile, it should have been his night but he showed all that he can't leave with a bit of grace!! At the end of the day no matter what was said to him he should have remained calm and let his football do the talking!!

ghost26ie

think he's talking about figo. not sure tho.

AnCapaillMor

i voted for rooney because of the stories of what happened after the whole carvalho\ronaldo debacle. I dislike ronaldo but the way the english media is pointing the finger at ronaldo and claiming poor little rooney trapped by the evil Ronaldo is sickening. i'm surprised the sun has'nt printed his and his familys adresses and phone numbers yet.

PHB

lol, what about Henry and the face holding?
Indeed, what about the diving?

For me, the bigest disgrace of this world cup, is that FIFA's heads aren't rolling after it.

mike65

I give the vote to Ronaldo for being an intense repeat offender, Zidane action was reprehensible but he did'nt look to do it every time he got riled. At least Rooney's foul was in the heat of battle.

Mike.

Necronomicon

De Rossi all the way for me. Absolute madness.

daveirl

This post has been deleted.

Pigman II

Maybe a mod could change Deco and Simunic to Figo and Henry as they seem to be popular choices?

TheMonster

Henry - biggest acting of the tournament

gimmick

Terry Henry for me. Lost all respect for him with his diving in this world cup.

Also, he doesnt seem to understand the offside rule

Chucky the tree

di Rossi.

Fanny Cradock

unkel wrote:

You have Deco and C. Ronaldo in your poll, but you missed the only player to do a proper head-butt this tournament? :eek:

and zidane's wasn't?

figo's head butt was a mere caress in comparison to zizou's.

for me it has to be de rossi. especially considering he turns up in the final and scores in the shoot-out. should have been sent home!


::edit:::

added to that, i think ronaldo's general behaviour was shamefull. he embodies everything that is wrong in the game at the moment. what a git! go back to selling cars.

dor83

voted for zidane because he really should have known better than to do it, especialy as it was his last game and the worst way he could have ended a great career. but i also think the refs were a disgrace in general, they ruined alot of games with needless red cards.

vorbis

the incessant diving was the biggest disgrace of this world cup

Rikand

Brian McBride for that autrocious Dive!!!














so yeah, De Rossi, definately. That elbow was sickening

cournioni

Henry for me. He influenced games by diving.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=yrBL_zAqlbo
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=efWjni4kFYk

nlgbbbblth

Materazzi.

If it transpires that it was a racist insult to Zidane then I would hope that some of you would try and understand why he acted in that way.

To say that Zidane should keep quiet 'whatever his opponent says' is tantamount to being an apologist for racism in football.

Fanny Cradock

nlgbbbblth wrote:

Materazzi.
To say that Zidane should keep quiet 'whatever his opponent says' is tantamount to being an apologist for racism in football.

no it's not! to my knowledge, nobody has said anything about keeping him quiet. there are better ways of dealing with racism other than resorting to violence. on the other hand, excusing his assault is tantamount to endorsing violent retribution in the game.

Mr. Presentable

I'm surprised not to see Graham Poll included

For me Henry, Zidane, deRossi and the fake Ronaldo. I don't know what Materazzi said, and we'll probably never know - who's to say what Zidane uses for justification will be true - but there's no justification for assault. The police should be involved. Do you suppose nobody made a complaint?

Chucky the tree

It said on Channel 4 news at 7 that matterazzi said something about zidanes mother.

Jimi-Spandex

De Rossi.

Gamesmanship, diving and reacting to an insult with a headbutt I can understand, but that was absolutely vicious. I liked him in serie a too so I was looking forward to seeing him.

Pepe LeFrits

De Rossi. Zidane's headbutt was a red-mist moment, the Italian's elbow was just plain dirty.

lol @ all the Henry mentions.

unkel

Pigman II wrote:

Who was that? Figo?

Yep. Full headbutt, but the impact didn't seem that forceful to me really, bit of a whimp-attack, although it is hard to say when one is not the recipient of said headbutt. The fouled player's reaction seemed dodgy to me. Then again, a headbutt is a straight red. Always. No matter what way the other party reacts

Pigman II wrote:

I didn't see that incident myself

Lucky you, I'm glad you didn't see that match. It was awful

cardshark202

nlgbbbblth wrote:

Materazzi.

If it transpires that it was a racist insult to Zidane then I would hope that some of you would try and understand why he acted in that way.

To say that Zidane should keep quiet 'whatever his opponent says' is tantamount to being an apologist for racism in football.

Most outrageous comment award goes to.....

PS: lol @ Ronaldo mentions, Henry is a hypocrite and a cheat.

Ponster

De Rossi.


lol @ all the Henry mentions

cournioni

Ponster wrote:

lol @ all the Henry mentions

Why? He cheated his way through the world cup.

ghost26ie

PORNAPSTER wrote:

Why? He cheated his way through the world cup.

he dived once that i've seen. it wasn't the right thing to do, never is, but its nothing compared to ronaldo.

kinaldo

I voted Ronaldo ahead of Henry not only for persitant diving but for having the nerve to dive left, right and centre in a 3rd/4th place playoff of all games, in spite of all the condemnation he'd received prior to that match what with losing the young player of the tournament and all because of his behaviour. Great talent but truly pathetic individual.

super_furry

Zidane produced a moment of madness, Ronaldo had made a tournament of cheating.

Iago

Can't believe that people actually think that Zidane is disgraced. Typical example of media hype influencing the way people think.

Yes he lost the head, he was provoked, which isn't an excuse but gives some rationale behind his actions.

At least he was honest about it, he didn't try and elbow someone slyly when they went in for a header together. He didn't try and go over the top of the ball and break someones leg, he didn't try and con the ref into giving him a penalty or getting someone sent off. He hasn't come out and made excuses or cheated his teammates by not giving his all when he was on the pitch. There where a lot of players and officials in Germany who I think were a disgrace, Zidane wasn't one of them.

SkyNews wrote:

A lip-reader has reportedly revealed the words which provoked Zinedine Zidane's now infamous World Cup final headbutt.
Marianne Frere claims Italian defender Marco Materazzi insulted the French captain with a stream of racial and personal abuse.
She told The Sun that Zidane was called a "son of a terrorist whore" before he lashed out and was sent off.
Reports in France have suggested it was the reference to the Algerian-born star's mother which made him blow his top.
His mother Malika had been taken to hospital seriously ill only hours before Sunday's final.
Zidane's agent Alain Miglaccio said the player had told him a 'very serious' comment had been made during the match.
Italian news agency Ansa quoted Materazzi as saying: "It is absolutely not true, I did not call him a terrorist.
"I'm ignorant. I don't even know what the word means."

he reacted, as we all react when we feel abused, or mistreated. Yes it was extreme and yes his timing was bad. He's gone from the chance to be one of 3 real legends in the game to just being another really brilliant player, but disgraced, not a chance.

super_furry

Iago wrote:

Can't believe that people actually think that Zidane is disgraced. Typical example of media hype influencing the way people think.

Exactly. If it wasn't for Zidane, France wouldn't have been near that final. So he lost his cool, it happens. Regardless of what happened in the final, he's still the best player since Maradonna (the best EVER) and his football legacy should never be tarnished.

therecklessone

Iago wrote:

Can't believe that people actually think that Zidane is disgraced. Typical example of media hype influencing the way people think.

Yes he lost the head, he was provoked, which isn't an excuse but gives some rationale behind his actions.

Jesus, what is it with people? Some of us are capable of independant thinking, we don't need the media to tell us what to think...

For what its worth, here's the Football 365 run down of the numerous examples of lip reading reported in the media:

The Sun's lip-reader, for instance, claims that Materazzi called Zidane a "son of a terrorist whore".

Just to cover all bases, the newspaper also cites 'a source close to the Italian squad claiming that after twisting Zidane's nipple, Materazzi asked him: "What, don't you like it?" The French captain replied: "A bit too hard to turn me on." But Materazzi shouted: "Well, I did it that way because I know that's how your mother likes it."'

Not so, according to The Guardian. Their lip-reader claims that the charming Materazzi said, "I wish an ugly death to you and all your family," and then told Zidane to "go f**k yourself".

The Independent's lip-reader has a slightly different interpretation as well. 'It is alleged that Zidane responded by sarcastically telling Materazzi that he could have his shirt as a souvenir at the end of the match,' the newspaper reports. 'The Italian is alleged to have responded by saying that Zidane could keep it for his sister and then made an extremely derogatory comment about her. That version is backed up by lip-readers from the Brazilian TV channel Globo. They claim Materazzi called her a "prostitute".

Little wonder that there is such confusion when the exchange between an Italian and a French-Algerian is being translated into English via Brazil.

As for The Daily Mirror, their frontpage informs readers that 'The furious French captain attacked Marco Materazzi after the defender allegedly sneered: "All Muslims are terrorist b*****s."

'And sources claim the Italian even branded Zidane's Algerian mum Malika "a whore".'

As if that wasn't quite enough explanations to sate your curiosity, The Daily Mail reports that 'Materazzi had insulted the memory of one of Zidane's closest confidants and former coaches, Jean Varraud. The former AS Cannes coach died of cancer shortly before the tournament.'

Nor is there a consensus in Italy or France over what was said.

A number of Italian newspapers claim that Zidane insulted Materazzi's mother, with the former Everton defender saying that the Frenchman "made love to his sister".

However, Materazzi's agent has also reportedly offered his own unique account of the verbal exchange, claiming that Zidane offered to swap shirts later and the Italian replied: "'I'd rather take the shirt off your wife."

A statement from the Paris-based racism group SOS Racism had earlier insisted that Materazzi called Zidane a 'dirty terrorist'.

And here's what Materazzi told Gazzetta Dello Sport:

"I held his shirt for a few seconds, he turned to me, looked at me from top to bottom with utmost arrogance and said: 'If you really want my shirt, I'll give it to you afterwards'. I answered him with an insult.

"It was the type of insults that we've heard before so many times on the pitch, and sometimes we don't even notice it.

"What's sure is that I never called him a terrorist: I am not cultured and I don't even know what an islamic terrorist is. My sole terrorist is her...," added Materazzi, pointing at his sleeping 10-month-old daughter.

"I certainly did not talk about Zidane's mother. For me, mothers are sacred," he added.

Royale with Cheese

PORNAPSTER wrote:

Why? He cheated his way through the world cup.

Yeah the entire tournament he was always throwing himself to the ground and kicking people when the ref wasn't looking :rolleyes:

The face holding incident was not good and pretty much everyone was very disappointed in him for that. But anything else? The amount of people trying to claim he dived for the penalty against Portugal on this forum, it was really quite funny. There's alot of Henry haters on here who will look for absolutley anything as an excuse to have a go at him. Admitedly the incident with Puyol wasn't an excuse, it was a very genuine reason for having a go at him but alot of people just took that incident and ran with it, and then coming up with quotes saying he was cheating in the entire tournament. If you dont' like the guy fair enough, but when the entire tournament was full of divers it seems funny you pick out Henry and act like he alone has completely disgraced the football world.

TheMonster

Royale with Cheese wrote:

Yeah the entire tournament he was always throwing himself to the ground and kicking people when the ref wasn't looking :rolleyes:

The face holding incident was not good and pretty much everyone was very disappointed in him for that. But anything else? The amount of people trying to claim he dived for the penalty against Portugal on this forum, it was really quite funny. There's alot of Henry haters on here who will look for absolutley anything as an excuse to have a go at him. Admitedly the incident with Puyol wasn't an excuse, it was a very genuine reason for having a go at him but alot of people just took that incident and ran with it, and then coming up with quotes saying he was cheating in the entire tournament. If you dont' like the guy fair enough, but when the entire tournament was full of divers it seems funny you pick out Henry and act like he alone has completely disgraced the football world.

He may not have dived but his reaction was way over the top for the amount of contact made.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=jI3uOFu8-WM&search=henry%20penalty%20portugal

actually on watching it again - he actually threw himself through the ground after the contact. The contact itself did not cause the fall.

Royale with Cheese

TheMonster wrote:

He may not have dived but his reaction was way over the top for the amount of contact made.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=jI3uOFu8-WM&search=henry%20penalty%20portugal

actually on watching it again - he actually threw himself through the ground after the contact. The contact itself did not cause the fall.

So he dived once and his reaction wasn't very nice. Big deal, to say he was the biggest disgrace of the world cup is ridiculous considering all the other playacting that was going on. It wasn't even in the box, nowhere near it even.

PHB

What's worse?

Diving to win a free kick?

Feigning injury in order to get another player sent off?