Posted on 07/07/2006 8:05:16 PM PDT by soccer_maniac
The World Cup Final will be held Sunday in Berlin at 2 p.m. ET (ABC).
Germany will face Portugal to play for third place on Saturday in Stuttgart at 3 p.m. ET (ESPN).
(Excerpt) Read more at fifaworldcup.yahoo.com ...
World Cup Ping!
France thinks and stinks.
Italy bows and prays.
Or not.
Eat a pizza in solidarity of the Italians.
I definitely have to support the French; they play a much cleaner game.
Did France surrender yet?
Actually, I'm really excited.
I can't wait until Sunday.
An estimated 1.3 BILLION people will watch it live!!!! How's that for exciting????
On the plus side, that just means less competition for us.
Side note: last winter I visited family friends in France, and pretty much all of them told me in depth how bad the business and labor laws are there, and how much damage they're doing to the economy.
Having partial French ancestry, I'm going to have to pull for the French here. Although I really wanted to see an England/Germany game.
I'll be IN Germany on Sunday...WHO DO I ROOT FOR???
Best comment i've heard in these WC threads.
Been meaning to say the same, but didn't.
If one can only separate their socialist policies and politcs from the sport, it would be a most wonderful thing. FIFA is pure socialism.
I must say I have completely come around on the French and Zidane, I want to see Zidane go out a winner. The French team seem like a classy bunch, especially Henry, they don't go nuts when they score goals.
We are having friends over for the game, we will have Italian food and French wine.
For the final we have Italy vs France.
For 3rd and 4th place we have Germany vs Portugal.
Take your pick. I hope you can find tickets.
Definately I want the Germans to get third place. And then Klinsi can come back home and coach the US team.
"they don't go nuts when they score goals."
They don't go nuts because there have been, and continue to be, "internal" problems. These same internal problems are the reason for some to be mum during the singing of the national anthem.
Blame it all on diversity and multiculturalism.
I really want to see the winner of Saturday's game cheering, "We're #3". Such a stupid match.
The Italian Napoleaon Bonaparte is the one who made France a part of history otherwise they would have been a foot note.
The Algerian Zidan is the one who got them the world cup in 1998, and he is getting them to final this year together with Terry Henri who was not born in France either.
The best division in the French military is the "La Legion Etrangere", the "Foreign Legion" which is mostly made by non French mercenaries.
I've been watching reruns of the last 10-15 minutes of the match and Italy had relative control of the field. The first goal especially was pure brilliance from playmaker (known as regista in Italy) Pirlo.
I'm rooting for Italy as I have Italian roots, although I must say France has two magnificent players in Zidane and Ribery. Italy needs a good forward (punta) and hope Toni seats this one out.
You said it!
Saved me a post
:^)
You do not think that Toni will play well this coming Sunday?
I could not help it but notice it myself.
I hope, if and when the USA can threaten to win the Cup, all of their players are home grown. There is nothing I'd love to see more than the USA win the cup with 11 American-born kids. Youth soccer needs more sponsors with deep pockets.
Amen.
The Mastercard All Star Team is as follows:
Goalkeepers
Gianluigi Buffon (Italy), Jens Lehmann (Germany), Ricardo (Portugal)
Defenders
Roberto Ayala (Argentina), John Terry (England), Lilian Thuram (France), Philipp Lahm (Germany), Fabio Cannavaro (Italy), Gianluca Zambrotta (Italy), Ricardo Carvalho (Portugal)
Midfielders
Ze Roberto (Brazil), Patrick Vieira (France), Zinedine Zidane (France), Michael Ballack (Germany), Andrea Pirlo (Italy), Gennaro Gattuso (Italy), Francesco Totti (Italy), Luis Figo (Portugal), Maniche (Portugal)
Forwards
Hernan Crespo (Argentina), Thierry Henry (France), Miroslav Klose (Germany), Luca Toni (Italy)
I don't think he'll play at all. Were I in Lippi's shoes, I wouldn't risk giving him a chance. He's too unpredictable. Some days he play well and scores, while other days he's continually caught in off-side and not into the match.
I'd replace Toni with two forwards, such as Gilardino and Iaquinta with Totti right behind them feeding them the balls.
So Lucas Toni is no Paulo Rossi :)
ITALY! ROOT FOR ITALY! VIVA ITALIA!
Italy has an embarrassment of riches up front.
Gilardino is a spectacular threat, Toni is coming off a red--hot goal scoring season (European Golden Shoe with 31 goals) and indeed scored twice in the same game in World Cup play, Inzaghi and Iaquinta have each scored.
How to choose?
Go Italy.
Filipo Inzaghi knows how to celebrate a goal.
Forza Azzurri!
Coalition members start your celebration parties.
Early your pizza early!
You are of course joking.
Thought it was only me that noticed the non-singing of the French players during the anthem. They seem more enthusiastic when the anthem of the other country is playing.
Talk to some French though and they will tell you point blank, "They're not French." On that, I'm not kidding.
Liberty, Fraternity, blah, blah, blah. Famous French words followed by the undeeds. It's not lost on these people.
One must thank God for America. We always work toward our creed. And I'm grateful for that.
I don't agree with you about Baggio. At all. I was there in the stands behind the goal in 1994 for the final between Italy vs. Brazil.
Many people don't know that Baggio was injured and it was unknown the day before the match whether he would even be able to play. He led Italy to the final but in the end, he really shouldn't have played hurt as he was. It didn't help him on the PK.
But Baggio is a national treasure, now and forever. Italy fans look back and say, okay 0-0.
This Italy team will not be denied. Even with the world's best defender out due to injury, they will triumph. They are playing much better than France.
We've been having a great time watching some great games. Thanks for the "pings."
There's a joke in here about Buffon's needle problem (probability that a needle randomly dropped on a surface scored with lines will intersect a line) somewhere, but I can't think of what it is.
Well, yeah...halfway joking...one must at least choose one team to pull for.
Zee French...bah. I like spaghetti more than French food.
So it's Italy for me!
I agree. Unfortunately, I don't see any way that Lippi is going to play 2 forwards AND Totti. Especially not in the final against a team with a good attack like the French.
Say what you will about Luca Toni, but his brother Riga makes an incredible pasta.
/time for supper
Morning! Thanx for the ping.
I am sure they are devastated.
The French will win and it will be doubly satisfying that a no hoper like you was proved wrong yet again.
You have no understanding of football. I think I have told you this before but it probably didn't sink in. Italy are a poor team, full of cheats and divers.
They have played moderately well in their last two games but were dismal in the ones before that. France, by contrast, are the best team in the tournament. They beat an admittedly bad Brazil team very comfortably and were excellent against Spain.
The referee will be the deciding factor since the Italians are prone to diving and whining so much ... if the ref is a namby-pamby euro-twit, prone to PC fairness, the Italian fakery will gain them the necessary advantage. Watch the little fool in the yellow shirt for early clues to success or failure of the Italian weenie-whiny boys ...
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