World Cup: Germany vs. Italy
Despite the best efforts of Blatter and his FIFA cronies to turn football into a dull, no-contact sport, I am happy to report that the beautiful game is alive and well.
Much has been made of play-acting and bad sportsmanship over the course of these finals, Henry's face-cluthing display against Spain being a prime example. However, the game tonight was played, by both sides, with passion and commitment. There was no rolling around on the floor for no good reason, diving head-first into the penalty area if breathed on, and so on. Instead, we had handshakes and a quite fantastic spirit about the game.
The result? A truly remarkable game of football. Easily the best 120 minutes I have seen during this year's World Cup finals. Both teams were an absolute credit to the game and their countries.
I have to say the brilliant performance of the Mexican referee played a part in this. He let a number of firm but fair challenges go throughout the game that free-kicks would have been awarded for in other games. He just let the game flow, and flow it did. End to end for 2 hours. Thankfully, the game wasn't reduced to penalties with 2 excellent goals from Italy in the last minute or so of extra time.
It is a shame Germany are out, it is always good to have the hosts represented in the final game, but they can go away from this tournament with heads held high after playing some great football. And I think that goes for the whole country who have done a great job as hosts.
Blatter, if you watched the game tonight: that is how football should be played, you'd do well to remember that.
Much has been made of play-acting and bad sportsmanship over the course of these finals, Henry's face-cluthing display against Spain being a prime example. However, the game tonight was played, by both sides, with passion and commitment. There was no rolling around on the floor for no good reason, diving head-first into the penalty area if breathed on, and so on. Instead, we had handshakes and a quite fantastic spirit about the game.
The result? A truly remarkable game of football. Easily the best 120 minutes I have seen during this year's World Cup finals. Both teams were an absolute credit to the game and their countries.
I have to say the brilliant performance of the Mexican referee played a part in this. He let a number of firm but fair challenges go throughout the game that free-kicks would have been awarded for in other games. He just let the game flow, and flow it did. End to end for 2 hours. Thankfully, the game wasn't reduced to penalties with 2 excellent goals from Italy in the last minute or so of extra time.
It is a shame Germany are out, it is always good to have the hosts represented in the final game, but they can go away from this tournament with heads held high after playing some great football. And I think that goes for the whole country who have done a great job as hosts.
Blatter, if you watched the game tonight: that is how football should be played, you'd do well to remember that.
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