This is a ridiculous discussion!! The topic is okay but it has turned out to be way too subjective here. From my point of view, and I'm objective as I'm no big Sweden fan neither Ajax, Zlatan or Holland fan, I can tell you that Zlatan wasn't out of control last night. The foul on van Bronckhorst was terrible and I personally think he should have got the red card for that one. Zlatan clearly was angry with van Bronckhorst for an earlier challenge but what he did was just too much. Zlatan told Swedish media after the match that he didn't do it on purpose but that ridiculous, everyone who saw the situation saw him aiming for van Bronckhorst. But to claim that Zlatan tried to injure vd Vaart and Heitinga on purpose is really really stupid. Come on you guys... have you seen the situations??? I never thought that anyone could ever find the 'kick' on vd Vaart a deliberate attempt to injure him. And Heitinga only has himself to blame for pulling Zlatan and making him fall backwards. And as Zlatan said after the match... he was in several weird situations were people got hurt but noone is thinking about all the kicks Zlatan got, just cause he didn't got hurt that much. And to you, moderator guy, who says that he kicked both vd Vaart and Heitinga on purpose, could you explain what makes you think this???
vd Vaart himself said that the plays could have been accidental, but Zlatan didn't even apologize. there is something wrong with that. although opponents yesterday, they are still teammates.
Languages: Flemish (Dutch), French, German i can honestly say i thought there was such a thing as belgian. oh well, they still have those waffles...i hope quick questions: why do they call it flemish instead of dutch? are 1 of those 3 languages preferred amongst belgians?
When you pull on an international shirt and represent your country everything that involves the club you play for goes out the window. Should you be mad that Ronaldinho is not kicking Ronaldo and Roberto Carlos? Why didnt Ledly King kick Sol's ass for going to arsenal? Is Ashley Cole not going to tackle Henry if it was needed?
there's a difference between playing hard and playing stupid - cole can tackle henry all day... he isn't going to studs stomp a teammates ankle
I can't believe there are still people left making excuses for Zlatan's behaviour! I mean if this was a world cup quarter final then fine but it was a friendly for god's sake. Let him apologise to Rafael and Heitinga or bugger off to some club where they appreciate footballers of vile character like Bayern Munich. Anyway. I speak German, French, Spanish, English and Dutch. Not perfectly mind but I can make myself understood. On the Flemish: it is technically a language but it's not officially a language in the sense that it's not recognised as an official, national language anywhere. The official languages in Belgium are Dutch, German, and French, if I'm not mistaken. I'm sure the Belgians will correct me if I'm wrong - they're much greater language purists than the Dutch!
the elbow to gio was wrong and i truly dont like that, but it doesnt bother me that much. the play on his teammates though is an issue. lets say he got caught up in the moment and purposely did go studs up or whatever (which he didnt do...besides the point tho), he should still apologize. i dont give a crap that during that particular game they were opponents. it was only a friendly, but hell even in a qualifier i would be pissed at him for not apologizing.
Well I agree but thing is that there was an elbowing incident in the Dutch league with Zlatan last year as well. There's a pattern there.
i wouldnt have thought it any kind of secret that he often acts out on the pitch - this behavior is hardly new for him, but usually he isn't putting teammates out of action for weeks no excuse good enough, i say
The kick in Heitinga's back was clearly not by accident. Easy to see that. The vdv situation was more difficult, as Zlatan tried to stay on his feet. But it was not that accidental in my eyes.
Okay, Holland guy who's team didn't qualify for WM 02, obviously Bayern Munich's tactics seems to work.
Here we go, multiple answers in one post... vBronckhorst was the handballer. He was standing in the middle of the penalty area completely alone. The ball hit his outstretched arm right below the elbow. If you missed it the first time round, the replays showed it in plain sight. But I suppose he can be forgiven for putting his elbows where they don't belong, if he too can forgive. Zlatan might not have immediately realized that vdV was hurt. I agree that, accident or not, he should've apologized as soon as he realized what had happened and there was an opportunity to do so. Which is what he did, when he phoned that same evening to give an apology which vdV accepted (according to papers today) Really. 1. The slide was obviously accidental. 2. Zlatan's looking at the ball the whole time and had no way of knowing whose ankle it was with the Dutch players swarming around him I can't believe an apparent Twente supporter makes such a big deal about the standards present in Ajax. They were obviously accidents and your vitriol is rather unwarranted, especially two days past Heitinga falls on his own and pulls Zlatan down with him. Zlatan falls on his back and they both try to get back on their feet. As for vdV, your admitting that Zlatan tried to stay on his feet apparently invalidates your own opinion.
As soon as Zlatan hits the ground his right leg makes a quite unnatural downwards move. Trust me, that's no accident. Is it not possible to try and stay on your feet and make use of the situation while at it? I don't see how it invalidates anything.
Because it's a mixture of German and Flegm. (Apologies to Billy Crystal, who actually said this about Yiddish.)
Hmmm... Everyone is very quick to assert or accept that Zlatan is still a madman on the pitch for Ajax. But the last incident I recall (though I might certainly be overlooking something) where Zlatan was actually officially censured for this sort of behavior was MAY of 2003, when he was suspended for six games for elbowing Feyenoord's de Nooijer. Not exactly "last year". Since then, the league did review video of an incident in October 2003 where Zlatan hit PSV's Hofland with an elbow, but decided there wasn't enough there to merit an investigation. The feeling at Ajax, I think, is that Zlatan has matured considerably. That no doubt why people are making such a big fuss about this latest thing; it seems like a return of the "old" Zlatan... But I haven't seen it, so I can't say whether I agree.
1-that is a female 2-bayern and ORANJE are not the same thing 3-she didnt say bayern couldnt play, she said they were vile characters