And the Oscar goes to...
Jul. 5th, 2006 01:22 am![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
leandraholmesI don't know where to begin. Maybe with what I'm feeling right now.
Right now I'm pissed off, but even more than that I feel betrayed, decieved and robbed of something that should be ours.
Now you could say it's only my disappointment as fan of the German national squad speaking here - and maybe that's the biggest part - but I also, after all considering, re-thinking and calming down, I still feel - no - I'm sure that the outcome of this match was not as it should have been.
You see, most people will say that Germany did a great job, that our team achieved so much more than anybody would have thought only a couple of weeks ago, and - that being said and being true - that we should be happy that we got this far at all. But I simply cannot be happy. I cannot be happy for the fact that I do believe things could have ended differently. Or if not, at least then I really would have known that Italy was better and deserved this victory.
However, there are many reasons why in my opinion Italy did NOT diserve reaching the finale.
1) Frings being banned for the semi finale
This matter has been discussed all over again, but after all logical arguments I still can't help but saying that Italy deliberately tried to eliminate a possible 'threat'. They had the chance and they used it 'wisely'. If the Italian tv station hadn't played the clip of Frings punching Cruz over and over again the FIFA would never have been in the situation of having to investigate this matter. They had already dropped any further investigations until the Italian press forced FIFA to take them up again.
Furthermore I think FIFA's fear of appearing biased and favorizing the host was reason for this unjustified decision. Yes, unjustified. I still believe that, after what has happened before, and especially after Cruz saying he didn't even feel the punch, banning Frings for the semi finale was too big of a punishment.
Frings has proven to be a very useful and dangerous midfield player who is not only important in preparing the offense but also in preparing the defence. The was the center of the midfield, and everyone around him was used to HIM standing there, HIM preparing the passes and fighting off attacks.
No matter how good Borowski or Kehl might be, the team needed Frings, and they were robbed of him due to a cowardly and cheap denigration inniciated by the Italian press.
2) The Referee
Seldom in my life have I seen a ref making such unfair decisions as this one. I really tried to look at the matter in an objective way, and I'm pretty sure I succeded for the greater part. I was making a mental checklist of incidents that the ref overlook (those when the Italians committed a foul against us, offsides and outs) and incidents that he did see (those when we made fouls). I lost count during the game.
There also were many situations where we should have gotten a free kick but didn't, and another one where we even should have gotten a penalty shoot. Podolski was attacked by one of the Italian players IN the penalty area. He did fall down a step beside the line, outside of the area, but the attack had started IN the penalty area. That should have been a penalty shoot for us, but no, it was only a free kick, 12 metres from the goal in a straight line - impossible to score.
Furthermore two German players recieved yellow cards for minor incidents while the Italians fouled much more without being punished.
I simply cannot regard this as being fair decisions made by an unbiased (or unpaid) referee.
3) The Italian team's acting abilities
This point goes hand in hand with 2). Whenever there was the slightest contact between German and Italian players, the Italians let themselves fall down, pretended to be hurt as if God knows what happened while it was nothing. This could clearly be seen in the slow motion repetitions - you could say now that the ref doesn't see the incidents in slo-mo - yet the ref always decided in favour of the Italians.
Never in my life have I seen such unfair and cowardly behaviour on the pitch as today. This seems especially serious as our team stayed fair and friendly all the time. Many times one of our players (e.g. Klose or Ballack) tried to help the other players to get up again, proving that their intentions were anything but harming their oponents. And what did the Italians do? Either refuse the help in a very childish manner or accepting it only to backstab our guys at the very next oportunity.
The Oscar goes to team Hollywood, the best actors in the football world!
No matter what you will say now, which arguments you find to 'prove' that Italy was a tad better than Germany, I will not under no circumstances abandon my postition. Today Germany, our national team, the team that - by its devotion to the game and their fans, it's Teamgeist and fairness, it's kidness, passion and love - means the world to me has ben robbed of the possibility to become world champion. And no one, no one can make up for that!
The only thing that I find comfort in is the fact that our boys will always be the Champions of the heart for me. None of the other teams has proven themselves more worthy of that title than ours.
Cheer up, boys! I'll love you forever for what you did for all of us!!!
Our Mannschaft will always have a place in my heart because never before have I enjoyed this game as much as during this world championship. Never before have I felt so touched and proud to be a part of this, to be a part of Germany (that has proven to be a wonderful, friendly and hospitable host), to call these wonderful people MY team. It broke my heart to see some of them cry, like Ballack and Odonkor.
And last but not least: It's better to lose with dignity than to win with cheap tricks.
Good Night everybody, I'm going to cry myself to sleep now (after I finished one or two or 20 more beers)
Right now I'm pissed off, but even more than that I feel betrayed, decieved and robbed of something that should be ours.
Now you could say it's only my disappointment as fan of the German national squad speaking here - and maybe that's the biggest part - but I also, after all considering, re-thinking and calming down, I still feel - no - I'm sure that the outcome of this match was not as it should have been.
You see, most people will say that Germany did a great job, that our team achieved so much more than anybody would have thought only a couple of weeks ago, and - that being said and being true - that we should be happy that we got this far at all. But I simply cannot be happy. I cannot be happy for the fact that I do believe things could have ended differently. Or if not, at least then I really would have known that Italy was better and deserved this victory.
However, there are many reasons why in my opinion Italy did NOT diserve reaching the finale.
1) Frings being banned for the semi finale
This matter has been discussed all over again, but after all logical arguments I still can't help but saying that Italy deliberately tried to eliminate a possible 'threat'. They had the chance and they used it 'wisely'. If the Italian tv station hadn't played the clip of Frings punching Cruz over and over again the FIFA would never have been in the situation of having to investigate this matter. They had already dropped any further investigations until the Italian press forced FIFA to take them up again.
Furthermore I think FIFA's fear of appearing biased and favorizing the host was reason for this unjustified decision. Yes, unjustified. I still believe that, after what has happened before, and especially after Cruz saying he didn't even feel the punch, banning Frings for the semi finale was too big of a punishment.
Frings has proven to be a very useful and dangerous midfield player who is not only important in preparing the offense but also in preparing the defence. The was the center of the midfield, and everyone around him was used to HIM standing there, HIM preparing the passes and fighting off attacks.
No matter how good Borowski or Kehl might be, the team needed Frings, and they were robbed of him due to a cowardly and cheap denigration inniciated by the Italian press.
2) The Referee
Seldom in my life have I seen a ref making such unfair decisions as this one. I really tried to look at the matter in an objective way, and I'm pretty sure I succeded for the greater part. I was making a mental checklist of incidents that the ref overlook (those when the Italians committed a foul against us, offsides and outs) and incidents that he did see (those when we made fouls). I lost count during the game.
There also were many situations where we should have gotten a free kick but didn't, and another one where we even should have gotten a penalty shoot. Podolski was attacked by one of the Italian players IN the penalty area. He did fall down a step beside the line, outside of the area, but the attack had started IN the penalty area. That should have been a penalty shoot for us, but no, it was only a free kick, 12 metres from the goal in a straight line - impossible to score.
Furthermore two German players recieved yellow cards for minor incidents while the Italians fouled much more without being punished.
I simply cannot regard this as being fair decisions made by an unbiased (or unpaid) referee.
3) The Italian team's acting abilities
This point goes hand in hand with 2). Whenever there was the slightest contact between German and Italian players, the Italians let themselves fall down, pretended to be hurt as if God knows what happened while it was nothing. This could clearly be seen in the slow motion repetitions - you could say now that the ref doesn't see the incidents in slo-mo - yet the ref always decided in favour of the Italians.
Never in my life have I seen such unfair and cowardly behaviour on the pitch as today. This seems especially serious as our team stayed fair and friendly all the time. Many times one of our players (e.g. Klose or Ballack) tried to help the other players to get up again, proving that their intentions were anything but harming their oponents. And what did the Italians do? Either refuse the help in a very childish manner or accepting it only to backstab our guys at the very next oportunity.
The Oscar goes to team Hollywood, the best actors in the football world!
No matter what you will say now, which arguments you find to 'prove' that Italy was a tad better than Germany, I will not under no circumstances abandon my postition. Today Germany, our national team, the team that - by its devotion to the game and their fans, it's Teamgeist and fairness, it's kidness, passion and love - means the world to me has ben robbed of the possibility to become world champion. And no one, no one can make up for that!
The only thing that I find comfort in is the fact that our boys will always be the Champions of the heart for me. None of the other teams has proven themselves more worthy of that title than ours.
Cheer up, boys! I'll love you forever for what you did for all of us!!!
Our Mannschaft will always have a place in my heart because never before have I enjoyed this game as much as during this world championship. Never before have I felt so touched and proud to be a part of this, to be a part of Germany (that has proven to be a wonderful, friendly and hospitable host), to call these wonderful people MY team. It broke my heart to see some of them cry, like Ballack and Odonkor.
And last but not least: It's better to lose with dignity than to win with cheap tricks.
Good Night everybody, I'm going to cry myself to sleep now (after I finished one or two or 20 more beers)
