pololo, that's some incredible scoop you are sharing with us. So, you mean that the Brasilian players sold the World Cup?? Wow! Don't you think they should have been brought to justice and tried in Brasil for treason. I mean, they definitely betrayed their country and innocent fans such as you. They should never again have been allowed to play for Brasil... What is your opinion on this?
i still don't think that the wc was bought since there is no evidence. but fishbiproduct, even as a french football fan lets get real here and admit that it was something strange with that match. brazil UNDERPERFORMED BADLY in that game. ronaldo came to the stadium directly from hospital and the brazilian team never went out to participate in the warm-up before the game and we are talking about a wc final here. don't tell me that there was nothing strange with that match. i'm not saying that france bought the game but brazil underperformed badly and without a doubt something had happened. if brazil would have played up to their standards i'm not sure that france would have defeated them.
What happened was, Brazil played like utter crap, Ronaldo was sleepwalking on the field (understandably, given the seizure he had before the match). But that wasn't the first time a team didn't play up to potential - it's called chocking and Brazil choked big time, while France played their best match of the tournament. Teams that play well usually win and teams that play badly usually lose - I don't see why that's so hard to understand.
Perhaps Brazil underperformed badly in that game simply because France was too good on that day and thus prevented them playing to their standards ?? I can't see anything strange in it. Anyway Platini is the man. His Euro 84 display is the best individual performance I've ever seen in a tournament. Platini won it of his own. Zidane can't do that.
yes i agree with you brazil simply underperformed badly and choked that can happen to any team. anyone who says that brazil played up to normal standards can't have been watching that game. don't you see it as strange when one of the teams in a WC final doesn't participate in the warm-up before the match? don't you see it as a little bit unusual that their biggest stars has a seizure the day of the game and was sent to hospital? don't you see it as strange that despite that they originally had decided to replace ronaldo with edmundo they changed their minds just minutes before the final and let him play although he came straight from hospital. again i'm not saying that the wc was bought but a team has never in wc history underperformed so badly and having so many strange things happening to them as brazil had in that match. it was not france who were marvelous in that match if you look at the goals they scored and the chances they had they all came because of a sleep-walking horrible brazilian defence. the two headers that zidane scored were both ridiculous goals. not even estonia would have conceded 2 goals like that in a match. zidane himself said that he had never scored with header before and all of a sudden he does it twice in a wc final. just take a look at the match and look at the marking. the brazilians just stood there and did absolutely nothing. when i heard all that had happened before kick-off and saw the teams lining up for the match i knew that france would win easily. i think that ronaldos seizure on the match day was what made brazil choke. the entire team must have been shocked by the incident and there was some quarrel when zagallo left him out of the starting line-up and that is why they never participated in the warm-up. at least that is what i have heard. again the final was not bought france was just damn lucky to have all that happening to brazil on the day of the final. any wc team would have defeated brazil on that day.
See, I think Brazil was lucky to be in the final in the first place. That was not a great Brazilian side by any means. The defence was simply awful and the attack was heavily unbalanced to the left side. And if Patrick Kluivert had been able to convert one or two more of the chances he had, we would be talking about a France vs Netherlands final. Only, the brilliance of Ronaldo and Rivaldo, combined with the Dutch inability to make pks covered up for those flaws until the final. But as you say, any team could have beat Brazil that day, because they were awful. On the other hand, France managed to win despite having bad matches, most notably against Paraguay and the majority of the match vs Croatia - that's what champions do, win despite playing poorly. I wouldn't be surprised if there was some shady business with Nike and CBF, but France was the best team of the tournament and they would've given Brazil trouble even if they did play to potential.
I agree with you that the brazilian team of 2002 was better than the one 4 years ago. They had a worse defense in 1998. But Brazil were nevertheless one of the strongest teams of the tournaments and deserved finalists for sure. If you look at Brazil vs Holland you will see that it was Brazil who missed the majority of chances. Ronaldo was free with the goalie 2 times after they were 1-0 up. In one occasion Davids had to stopp him with a foul that should have resulted in a penalty. In OT Brazil was all over the dutch team. So Brazil was better than the Netherlands in that game for sure. France was a good team also one of the top teams of the tournament for sure. However they weren't superior by any means. They struggled badly against Paraguay and in the match against Italy Italy was the team which came closest to score. But of course France deserved to be in the final as well as Brazil. And maybe France would have won the final even if Brazil played up to standards but one thing is for sure, Zidane would never have been allowed to score those 2 ridiculous headers if Brazil would have played a normal game.
Im not talking about a whole we are talking about some individuals here i mean Ronaldo must be the biggest diva in football history,it wouldn't surprise if he got payed to throw away the game totally and maybe other players got payed too i don't know but like vico said there is no evidence.Well like all conspiracy theories the evidence never show up,but i never seen such a bad team that day and ive followed football for years and this is the strangest moment and it was a World Cup final.
I DON'T REALLY GIVE ****************** WHO THE BEST French player of all time was but Didier Deschamps certainly shouldn't be thought of, he's the 'water carrier'
Like most conspiracy theories, this one has no basis in truth, but borne completely out of sour grapes.
Re: Re: Who is the best french player of all-time? C'mon, skipshady! He was about to tell us all about Roswell and JFK's assassination... Do you really have to ruin the party??
Zidane, easily. This is very evident. A while back I read an article in Sports Illustrated where Magic Johnson saw Zidane play a match. He equated Zidane's play to better than Jordan, Bird and himself combined. The way he plays is phenomenal, with out Zidane is the best Frenchman of all time.
Re: Re: Re: Who is the best french player of all-time? Sorry. Carry on with the completely plausible conspiracy theory.
But of course, Magic never saw Zidane, Tigana, Papin, Six, Kopa or Cantona play. In fact, Magic made that comment after watching ONE match. And even if Zidane's mastery of the ball is indeed the best in the history of French football, that does not necessarily make him the best player of all time.
Yea skipshady, maybe it doesn't make him the best player of all time. We are talking about best french player of all-time, which he is.
Sorry, I meant to say, Zidane's mastery of ball control, which is probably the best in French football, doesn't neccesarily make him the beest French footballer. I guess the best we can do is agree to disagree. Platini and Zidane brought different assets to the table, and played different roles in different eras with different teammates. It's impossible to make a fair comparison between the two. But it's safe to say, being the second best French footballer of all time is nothing to be ashamed of.
Zidane of course, n maybe hes playin in madrid b/c no french teams could support his talent? c'mon the guy is magic, my whole family, even the ones not into soccer, love watching him play b/c he is so incredibly amazing n he makes everything look so easy. the guy's got something special, his determination, passion or just plain skill, he's just got it all. Rock on