I guess gallas has to blame some one for their loss, Even if they barely got through their round(Italy won the round with much tougher teams than France)they got lucky with Portugal,on a gift PK,and Figo graced them missing a sure goal,Italy got a bad call in the final (france's PK) but came back and thanks to their great defense(best in the world) their goalie(best in the world) they won, besides Zidane's header what did france due?, and as far as provoking what about Euro 2004 where Totti was provoked all game and was suspended for spitting,soccer like any other sport is played with talent and the mind,if you can't handle the pressure you should not play. Zidane is one of the best but he went down in my book. How can Gallas say such crap when france is luckier than luck.

FROM WHAT I SAW FROM THE WHOLE WORLD CUP SERIES IS THAT FRENCH LIKE OTHER TEAMS, BUT SPECIALLY FRANCE GOT AWAY WITH CHEATING AT TIMES. AND NO MATTER HOW MUCH SOMEONE PROVOKES YOU. YOU CAN'T EXPECT TO HIT THEM AND GET AWAY WITH IT. FRANCES CHEATED THRU OUT THE WORLD CUP. YOU SAW IT SPECIALLY WITH PORTUGAL. FRANKLY I THINK THEY PAID TO GET CALLS OR FOULS IN THERE FAVOR. IAM GLAD FINALLY SOMEONE PUT A STOP TO IT. GO ITALY!!!

You guys make me laugh! Are you going to tell me that Italy's PK against Australia was deserved. What a joke that was a gift!!! Italy had a cake walk and they couldn't even beat the US. They played Australia and Ukraine both first time World Cup participants who had no chance of moving very far in the tournament. Their only tough game was against Germany. I've never seen a team fall to the ground more than the Italians. What a bunch of over actors. Materrazzi is definitely not an innocent bystander. He most likely deserved what he got. Italy definitely played not to lose. They just retreated in thei end of the field because they couldn't keep up with the rate of play. Penalty kicks was their only chance to win. Unfortunately for France, Italy didn't choke in the shootout this time.

You guys are quick to forget that Italy beat a very good Ghana team & a very competitive Czech team in the 1st round. Also, you don't pick your opponents, you just have to beat them. Why don't you mention the fact that no one scored on Italy through the run of play. 1 penalty kick (a shady one at that). It doesn't matter what Materazzi said. If anybody has played the game then you should know the things that are said on the pitch. When Totti spit on a player in Euro 2004, nobody asked what provoked him. When De Rossi elbowed McBride, no one asked what provoked him.
Italy played hard & left everything on the field every game. If you watched the semi-final against Germany, you would've seen that.
Finally, ITALY IS THE WORLD CUP CHAMPION! Deal with it.

FRANCES GOT AWAY WITH A LOT IN THIS 2006 WOLD CUP AND ITALY IS TRULY A CHAMPION.

Good point ForzaItalia. Im tired of the french teams crying. Italy one the game point blank.

It's true James & ForzaItalia. All the French have done is cry cry cry. Please get over it. Forzaitalia well said.

Viva Italia viva forza Italia.

All French are cry babies as it goes to show you in this forum. Cry cry cry cry cry cry cry cry can you please stop you crying French.

it doesnt matter that france played dirtyto get to the final, or that italy did too, what really matters is that materazzi did say something racist to Zidane and that is not okay. nobody should blame anybody here, both teams disgraced themselves in order to get here, and neither of the teams have put on a good showing of sportsmanship.
one more thing, France outplayed itlay in the final by far, italy's defence just was rock solid

yes that is so aboslutely true Eousa if someone sad something racist to me or had called me a terrorist just to provoke me then i'd probably do what any other player would do not just zidane, the fact of the matter is that i've played club with the italians and they do say things to make you agree my step brother is italian plays together with me and even though we're both on the same team he's always doing something crazy like that

It's funny how someone said the Italy got a gift with Australia,when Italy played an hour with ten man on a bad call(materazzi)even with ten players they had the better chances and Grosso was taken down twice in the same play,the call could have gone either way. Ididn't agree with Totti spitting on Pulsen in euro 2004 regardless of the torture he endured and I don't agree with Zidane,what he did was simply stupid. As far as France dominating play I agree with the second half,in the first half Italy dominated,they bounced back after the iffy PK call,scored and hit the crossbar,they had the better defense and the better goalie and after all the heartbreaks on penalties they had luck.Regardless thay are the champs,winning the cup for the 4th time is something no ?

Michael Iam assuming you live or have lived in Italy. I just think that people are excussing Zidane for what he did because he is a great player. Just because someone insulted you doesn't mean you can headbutt them and get away with it, because your a great player.

Viva Italia

By the way how do these players communicate? I ask because there from different countries. And who does the ref communicate with the players being that he is from a different country? can someone answer my ?

Let me give you guys another example. Eric Cantona is a legend for Man United. They still chant his name at Old Trafford. Yet, his most infamous moment is when he karate-kicked a fan. He too was provoked. He has beer thrown on him. IT STILL DOESN'T EXCUSE WHAT HE DID. Many United fans asked for him to be released after that. The point is, Zidane could have just turned around and said 'See you after the game' or whatever. Like Zidane has never insulted a player in all the years he's been playing...Please.

As you may have heard/read, 8 players in the final game played for top serie A power Juventus, and 3 of those 8 were playing on the French side, zidane who played numerous years at Juve, speaks Italian, French and Spanish... Elizando spoke neither French or Italian, but with all the players on the field, playing club soccer in numerous countries, there was a loose communication established between players from both sides, but not sure bout Elizando and his crew.

Another good point ForzaItalia.

Zidane's headbutt was unprofessional, but Gallas is right, he was provoked, and that's real cheap. It's wrong, players should just play the game without talking trash, because it ruins the game entirely. And if you say France got lucky to get to the final, your totally out of your mind. Italy had a gift. That PK in stoppage time against Australia was a horrible call. Zidane is still an amazing player and has all my respect.

I think what you have to take away from this game was pure and simple, you get what you deserve. I like neither France or Germany, and both were destined to play in the final when the draw clearly had all the dominant teams playing each other in the quarters and semis. In a realistic world, regardless of random selection, Argentina would have been playing Brasil in the final.
At any rate, I don't care about excuses. Materazzi was running his mouth, and he got what he deserved. Was it the right thing to do on Zidane's part? No. Had he stayed in the game Treziguet wouldn't be taking a penalty and the ball is in the back of the net and Buffon is forced to come up with a save at the end. Think about this, if France had won, ever Italian on this blog would be crying, "But Zidane should have been sent off!!!" So you're complaints about the French being crybabies are falling on deaf ears here.
Bottom line, Zidane reacted. We can debate whether it was the smartest thing to do, but as far as I'm concerned, the smartest thing may not always be the right thing.

Neither Italy or France deserved to play in the final,but 2010 will be different(Africa.)The africans has establish a different type of soccer,unique if i must say so myself and other countries should be afraid of their potential.

for roman: I hope that the african teams can prevail,but remember that the only team that made it out of the first round was ghana,who was defeated by italy 2-0,all the countries failed to make it through.italy outlasted the host germany and france beat brasil so how can you say they did not deserve the final?.out of the african countries I expected more out of Ivory coast and missed nigerira in the cup,I hope you are right for 2010,but forza Italia always.

What's up with Gallas? Was he born yesterday? There is trash talking in all sports. But if you respond physically then you get penalized. There is really nothing else to talk about.......ITALY **WORLD CUP CHAMPIONS**

For Mike, trash talking is a part of competitive sports whether you like it or not. Patrick, You're quick to say Materrazi got what he deserved. Well, Zidane got what he deserved as well. Also, Zidane WAS caught and he WAS sent off and Italy DID win the cup. Who is crying now? I'll say it again. ITALY WORLD CUP CHAMPIONS! DEAL WITH IT!

There is a difference between "trash talking" and insulting someone and their heritage, but I guess all you Italian fans are too blind to see that. Materazzi knows he was out of line in what he said and now he's claiming ignorance by saying he is "uncultured" and doesn't even know what a "islamist terrorist" is. Does he actually think people will buy that story? He must be dumber than I thought.
Oh, and all you Italian fans, see you in Paris on Sept. 6. Should I remind all of you that France is still the only European country to win the World Cup and the Euro back-to-back.

What I want to know is all the basketball players that all of us Americans adore, many of them act like complete jerks off the court and on but they do not get this kind of critism. We all know Zidzne made a mistake and used poor judgement. Let us not take anything away from one of the most talented players in the world. Soccer just like any sport is a very emotional sport and tempers can flair for any reason no matter what situation youare in. My question to everybody that has played the sport at a competitive level is do you belive replays should be shown inside the stadium on a jumbrotron television or should the officals responsible for maintaining order on the feild be responsible for seeing the infractions on the feild away from the ball. Soccer is a dirty sport although most people think different.

for nick: looking forward to sept6, so we can win again,and again and again, france's luck ran out,as for the euro 2008 lets talk then when Italy will win it.

wow some unbelievable comments here.
yes in my opinion the Materazzi comment was uncalled for, but sadly those comments happen in just about every sport, and we dont hear about them because players dont react so violenty to them. We also don't know if Zidane provoked Materazzi before the comment was made.
I am not excusing Zidane's actions but their was enormous pressure on him to win the world cup. I guess the comment was too much for him.
Zidane also could have missed the penalty kick for all we know( Roberto Baggio missed in 94).
To say that Italy or France didn't deserve to be in the final is really unfair, because all of the teams got lucky at one point or another and well then nobody really deserved to be in the final.
I think that the world cup was exciting as always and team that won deserves to win.

Actually we do know that Zidane said something to Materazzi. He apparently said, after Materazzi was hanging onto his shirt, 'if you want my shirt so bad, you can f---ing have it after the game'. This led to further exchange of words with Materazzi insulting both Zidane's mother, who was committed to a hospital hours before the game, and his sister. Zidane himself said that Materazzi insulted both his mother and sister, and also said he will not apologize for his actions because that would be like admitting Materazzi was right. Zidane reportedly said he would rather be hit in the face than insulted like that. Some lip readers say Materazzi said Zidane is the 'son of a terrorist whore'. With Zidane's mother being committed to the hospital hours before the match, one could understand why he headbutted Materazzi if he did indeed say such a thing.

Lets see__1)=Italy/Ghana game_;Ghana was fouled twice(thats 2-times) in the 16m Penalty box ;Ghana was on the offense the entire game ,seems like the referee( from Brasil) favored the Italian team (and I wonder why),
2)Italy/Australia ,,,,,second half ,,,Italy on constant Defense ,no chance to score,,,,but ,,,,there is the penalty (Horrible call by the Referee )and
They Negate- well-deserved Victory of yet another team ,
____________in Both-games ,the REFEREES (sport-officials) have WON the game________;)
___________________________________at the end -France on the Offensive and Italy on the Defensive ,that was not a very good final match ,some qualifing groups were too easy ,but the games were Very good(England;Sweden or Spain;France for example).
The BEST Team did NOT-win the World Cup ____the BEST INTERNATIONAL SPORT SHOW on this PLANET ,where every Team speaks different language <-----------see ya in South Africa in MMX ,I just hope they get better REFEREES ( by the way they should add 2 arbiters at both ends of the field)

so chir who is The BEST Team then in your opinion?

To chir: what game did you see,in Italy-ghana Toni hit the cross the bar,. italy had seven chances to score, all Ghana did was shoot from 30 yards out because they couldn't get near the area. Italy clearly outplayed them. Against Australia if you recall the whole second half Italy played with 10 men due to a wrong call from the ref(Materazzi was not the last defender)and Italy had two clear chances with Iaquinta and Perrotta even being down a man. When are you guys going to stop whining and give credit where its due.

France is a great team no doubt about it; they had a pretty good group which is why they struggled. How did france get lucky to go to the final; who did they beat again.... umm lets see... SPAIN which they beat 3-1, then they played an awesome game against the one team already determined to win it again, BRAZIL, 1-0, not off penalty, played Portugal and won 1-0. Now I'm not whining and congradulations to Italy but don't say that France was lucky to get there because every team that makes it to the finals of the World Cup have to be good or otherwise they wouldn't have made it there.

to dude: well said, every team that makes it to the final deservs it ,when I said France's luck ran out I meant on penalties, as Italy was eliminated three times on penalties prior. I guess a lot of people didn't want these two european teams in the final,oh well??

ITALY WON!!!!!!!! THANKS TO THE GOALKEEPER AND THE DEFENDERS.

Viva la France!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
Zidane is the best!

Gallas is dumb to come out and say that the Italians are cheats.....this team never lost had goal scorer's from Defence to midfield to fowards....Italy had the best goalie and defence and arguably best midfield duo....All I can say is that France didn't govern their gift penalty in the final well and thats that..As for Gallas, I am sure he is no saint and I am sure he has trash talked in his career

Zidane is a unique and exceptionally gifted player,its just so sad that a bad attitude couldnt make up for all that skill.He must have been deeply hurt by what Materazzi said and i sympathise with him.He was my key player for the entire tournament and my heart wept when he was driven out but justice must prevail.I beleive he could have controlled himself much better.IN all of this i must say France played better that Italy clearly and they deserved the world cup and Zidane's anger let his team down when they needed him most cos he was their inspiration on field.Well Zidane leave ur mistakes behind and move on with life.You were undoubtedly a gift to Italian soccer.Love you lots.Cheers

Italy won, it's over.

With the bases loaded you stcruk us out with that answer!