not that high sense it was defenders(mostly Buffon and Cannavarro) that won them the cup, probably somewhere in the bottom half of all 18 world cup champions without a doubt, 1970 Brasil is at number one
The plain truth is it wasn't a particularly good world cup although that's not Italy's fault particularly. FIFA's half-baked instructions to refs didn't help and the amount of diving, hacking and whining was pretty bad. Hmm, well maybe Italy did have something to do with that but not as much as some teams I could mention There were some tremendous games, though. Argentina vs. Mexico and Argentina vs. Germany were two of the best I've seen in a long time. In retrospect, (and bear in mind I'm English), I'd have liked the Argies to have won it because of the way they played. ALL of their games were entertaining and generally played in good spirit. Well, for the Argentinians, anyway.
None of the last 5 (including this one) have had finals as memorable as some of the earlier rounds. Italy were certainly the best team with a near clean sheet (the own goal against the US was their only blot) which nobody else could claim. Yes, their defending reputation stuck but they also showed they could attack. They deserved to win. But Brazil in 1970 and England in 1966 will be hard to surpass.
IMO this team is better then the 1990 German team and the 2002 Brazilian team. Not better then the 94 Brazilians, 86 Argentinians or 98 French. Very close with the 82 Italians.
Limiting rankings only to the years since the round of 16 knockout was adopted, I rank them below Brazil 2002 and Argentina 1986. Brazil 2002 won all of their games. Argentina 1986 only tied one, but more significantly, in Round of 16 play, not only won all four of its knockout games in regulation (a feat only duplicated by Brazil 2002), but never trailed in any of those games. With the passage of time, that Argentina 1986 team looks better and better.
i also rank Brasil 2002 higher as they were more convincing in many aspects then this Italian squad, Brasil 2002 won with both there offensive and defensive(atleast in the semis and final and a majority of England game) playing great well the Italian offensive left something to be desired many a time
They were better than Brazil in that competition. That's why they won. Mind you, we've only won it once so can't hope to compete with Spain's total of.. er... AH!
OK! For the benefit of the members of the society of the permanently bewildered I'll say... not particularly high - but better than a country who have never won it. OK?
I wouldn't say this Italian team is better than the 90 German team at all. While the 90 team wasn't perhaps as formidable in the back as the 2006 team, they were no slouches either, with Augenthaler and Kohler forming a solid defensive duo. As fantastic as Zambrotta is, so was Andy Brehme. Hässler and Littbarski were better on the outside than Camoranesi and Perrotta. Pirlo had a very good tournament, but neither he, nor Totti drove the attack at the same level that Matthäus did in 1990.
Bottom line, this world cup did not have a dominate team. I think it was a mixture of the refs, heat, and most importantly improved general skill level among the usual weaker teams. Lets talk about Argentina. Why were they so dominate? Because they beat Serbia Montenegro 6-0? Big deal. They lost all their games. Argentina against Ivory Coast was lucky to win, probably deserved a tie. Against Holland, what did they show? How about against Mexico? Mexico got beat on an own goal. And Germany game, although I will admit Argentina deserved to win and played better, was not dominant. Brazil of course had their problems. England quite frankly never showed up. I blame the coach. Spain did their usual big whoop. France looked great against Spain and Brazil, and actually pretty good against Italy. Germany, I equate them to Argentina. Who did they really beat and dominate? Costa Rica, Ecuador, come on. Italy I was disappointed with their final game and vs. USA. But they played very nice soccer against Ghana, Czech, Germany and Ukraine. Even then, I wouldn't say we dominated. We tactically controlled the matches and had an easy knock out round draw, and of course luck, which always help. I will say this about Italy, it was perhaps the best TEAM performance I saw. By that I meant there were no goats. Everyone played and certain players picked it up to make up for other players having a down game. Look how many heroes there were. Someone always stepped up and became the hero in each game, and for the most part it was someone different each time. Take into consideration Italy loses arguably the best defender in the world (Nesta) and even goes down to their third string CB and still holds a clean sheet. Man for man, not the best world cup champion team in the world, but you never knew who was going to beat you.
I was supporting Italy and had predicted they would win it. But after the Matterazi's racist comments and verbal harrasements throught the game, I take my support back and I don't think they are worthy of being called The Champions.
How do you know there were rascist comments? Because somebody on this board told you. LOL. Hey I have a beautiful bridge I will sell you real cheap. Do you want to buy it? Do you think Zidane is a saint? Read about his other 14 red cards through out his history. I guess all those 14 players called him something nasty and rascist too. That's right, the Saudi player who was on his stomach and had his head in the dirt mumbled something about Zidane's mother before Zidane jumped on his back with his cleats. Real class.
It's been n several news sources. But my comment is based on it being the truth. What's most important here is the way Zidane came back several steps, it tells me the comment must have been very harsh, it also tells me Zidane had enough of it even though he knew it's his last game, it's the world cup final in the 100+ minute. I highly doubt Zidane is stupid enough to risk all that for no reason. Again, consdering that FIFA had called upon anti-racism efforts, I think Zidane may have made the biggest anti-racism message across the globe.
He definitely made the biggest anti-fair play message across the globe. I'm just glad my 4 year old son wasn't watching.
It's been in "several news sources" as "speculation". And "may have said". Read all of the words, not just the ones that make Italians look bad. If Materazzi said something really horrible, I'll be the first to criticize him. I actually bashed Totti terribly a few years ago, and DeRossi in the USA game. But you have no idea what was said. You really don't. In fact, if you look closely, it looks like Zidane starts the conversation. I'm sure he was just saying hello. Those other 13 red cards were probably the other guy's fault too.
I initially thought it was a deplorable act but the more I read about it [from news sources] and considering all the anti-moslem going on, I think the anti-racism message takes precedence over anti-fair play. Although, I have always been a huge supporter of fair play. This "terrorist" thing has become too comfortable for a lot of people to call others.
all I could say is looking comparatively... this Italian team had a lot of help from the officials... so it conjures up images of 1966... but Italy were not hosts... it also brings up images of Brazil in 1994... with the PK victory in the final... and I wouldn't rate them any higher or lower than those two... which is like right about the mark of the bottom 3rd of the winners IMO... I think Argentina of 86 are often overlooked, astonishingly... I mean Maradona scores the best goal of all time, right after god scored one for him FFS... then the most entertaining final ever IMO the 3-2 win over FRG.. and then again the Germany of 1990... which saw many players go to three straight finals... and then others go on to two more successive quarterfinals... but also who they beat 1990 callibur Holland (reigning european champs, Czechoslovakia, England(best squad since 66), and Argentina(defending champs)... I don't remember too many champions with a path as difficult... compare that to Australia(newcomer), Ukraine(newcomer), Germany, France... and it doesn't measure up then you have to consider this team... but to me, West Germany were better than Brazil in 1970... too bad they played so many extra-time games and wore themselves down in the end vs. Italy... on a fresh day, that West Germany team beats Italy and Brazil and on a fresh day that Italy team makes a much better showing vs Brazil as well... (note... when looking back through history at the percentage of teams that go to extra-time and then go on to face a fresh team in the next match and lose...) compare results against a common opponent when both teams were fresh FRG 3 PER 1 (comfortable win, gerd muller hatrick by 30 mins, late peru goal) BRA 4 PER 2 (knock-out match, back and forth match-up) BRA 1 ENG 0 FRG 3 ENG 2 (a.e.t, knock out match, 2 goal comeback... revenge match) BRA 3 URU 1 (relived rivaly, kock-out match, BRA overcame 1st goal) FRG 1 URU 0 (3rd place match, early FRG goal... not much excitement) so from that it suggests they would be on par... also look at their results from successive competitions 66 FRG runners-up BRA 1st round exit 70 FRG 3rd place BRA winners 74 FRG winners BRA quarterfinalists but its tough to say because Pele was not there in 74 and Muller was not there in 66... so it may make more sense to count just 66-70 for BRA and 70-74 for FRG and that still swings FRG's way... it suggest to me West Germany were the better side at the time... Gerd Muller even topping Pele and Garrincha for most goals scored all-time in only 2 world cup appearances... and Schnellinger I think is one of the most underated soccer players of all-time... but that 1970 team is also the 3rd championship team for BRA in 4 cups... so it does show you how a best of all-time is also a hard discussion... they dont play against each other or similar opponents so there is little to compare... and judging them by their peers depends on if their peers they're not even head and shoulders above the rest... but this Italy team does have the claim of only allowing 2 goals... 1 an own goal... the other a bogus call PK, which barely crosses the line (nearly missed by Zidane, no matter how much people claim he meant it to bounce luckily in off the crossbar like that)
and what better way to defend your ancestors amidst claims of terrorism... than with a viscious act of violence in the middle of a World Cup final...
If it were a normal player who didn't have a reputation of losing his temper, I would agree with you 100%. But given his temper and past episodes of being ejected from games (mind you, they are all important, other world cup games, Champion's leagues games), there is no rhyme to reason with Zidane. He is a fantastic player, one of my all time favorites, but he is a hot head. Period.