[KillerMax]

FIFA President Sepp Blatter has further infuriated Italian fans by apologising to Australia for the Azzurri’s World Cup victory.

The second round match was goalless and heading for extra time following Marco Materazzi’s controversial straight red card when Fabio Grosso fell over a Lucas Neill challenge.


Francesco Totti stepped up to convert the stoppage-time penalty with the last kick of the game on June 26 and send Italy on towards their eventual Final triumph.


Australian supporters were angry at the decision by Spanish referee Luis Medina Cantalejo and the FIFA President stepped out of his official role to make a bizarre announcement.


“I agree with them and I would like to apologise to our fans in Australia,” said Blatter. “The Socceroos should have gone into the quarter-finals in place of Italy, because they were up to beating Italy.”


The Azzurri went unbeaten throughout the entire tournament, notching up four wins and two draws in the 90 minutes – seeing off Germany 2-0 in extra time and beating France on penalties in the Final.


Blatter had already caused controversy with his comments after the July 9 Berlin match by stating it was “a tragedy” to see the World Cup assigned on a shoot-out.


This was the second time the trophy had been decided this way, as in 1994 Italy lost to Brazil in Pasadena.


The FIFA President also failed to hand over the World Cup to Italy captain Fabio Cannavaro. He was in the stands, but UEFA President Lennart Johansson took these duties instead. It has never been clarified why the change was made.


"I think the referees were not at their best," continued Blatter. "I think they were too well prepared or not looked after the right way. They were in a military camp situation. And I think there was too much cheating on the players' side.”


Yet Italy also felt aggrieved by the refereeing in the Australia match, as Medina Cantalejo showed Materazzi a straight red card for a late, but by no means violent, tackle on Palermo midfielder Mark Bresciano.


“I certainly don’t think it was worthy of a straight red, but I saw the referee’s eyes were determined, so decided not to argue and risk a longer ban,” said Matrix at the time.


“The important thing is that the world saw what happened.” So did FIFA, who only handed the Inter hard man, standing in for the injured Alessandro Nesta, the regulation one-match suspension.

Football Italia

[KillerMax]

I f@cking hate this guy... I hope he chokes to death!!

[misha]

I posted this but yes he is a big joke. He should talk about 2002 WC

[misha]

Azzurri fury at Blatter insults

Gigi Riva and Marcello Lippi reacted angrily to Sepp Blatter’s suggestion Italy didn’t deserve to reach the World Cup quarter-finals.

Australian supporters were angry Spanish referee Luis Medina Cantalejo awarded a last-gasp penalty for a soft challenge on Fabio Grosso, converted by Francesco Totti, in the 1-0 win over Australia.

“I agree with them and I would like to apologise to our fans in Australia,” said the FIFA President. “The Socceroos should have gone into the quarter-finals in place of Italy, because they were up to beating Italy.”

Obviously these comments infuriated the Italian football world, in particular FIGC Vice-Commissioner and Azzurri legend Riva.

“We won’t permit him to say these things. Blatter must respect the World Cup winners,” he slammed.

“I am astonished, because when we went to see him in Zurich, he complimented the team for the victory and said we had been the best team in the tournament.”

As Blatter is not new to criticising Italian football, stating it was “a tragedy” that they had won the 2006 World Cup Final over France in a penalty shoot-out, Riva pointed out a few other incidents that raise suspicions over his treatment of Calcio.

“A lot of things add up now. Blatter didn’t attend the ceremony to hand over the World Cup trophy, which was unheard of in the history of the spot. Let’s not forget the two-match ban to Marco Materazzi, a decision that the world over found laughable.”

Materazzi was headbutted by Zinedine Zidane in the Final on July 9, but while Zizou was given a three-game suspension, the ‘victim’ was also banned for two matches for “provoking” the incident.

Both the Inter defender and Frenchman denied reports the provocation had been in any way racist or insulting to his religion.

1982 World champion Marco Tardelli also reacted to Blatter’s latest bizarre comments on Italy’s victory.

“If these quotes are real, then it’s a real tragedy,” said the man whose goal celebrations lit up Spain ’82.

“I want to believe he was misquoted. It would be a horrible gesture against Italian football and a confirmation of what we all thought when Blatter didn’t turn up to present the trophy. Above all, it’d be an attempt to influence referees in the next few Italy games.”

Azzurri Coach Marcello Lippi remained unbeaten during the German tournament and was hesitant to answer these accusations.

“I have just heard about this. I prefer, at least for the moment, to not make a comment. When I’ve had time to get a better idea of what was said, I can express my opinion,” said the former Juventus boss.

Football Italia

[agenth]

Blatter backtracks on Italy slur

FIFA President Sepp Blatter has backtracked on his latest comments by insisting that Italy deserved to win the World Cup this summer.

Blatter caused angry reactions in Italy after stating that he wanted to apologise to Australian fans, as he believed the Socceroos should have gone into the quarter-finals in place of Italy.

“The Italian national team showed us all that they are capable of playing excellent football and proved their superior technical qualities,” said the Swiss official on Monday.

“I only meant to give the Socceroos the credit they deserved, because they played a good match and the lack of experience was probably one of the reasons which didn’t allow them to go to the extra time.”

The director of SBS television, who aired the incriminated interview, confirmed that Blatter never stated that Italy had ‘stolen’ the World Cup.

He added that there was no discussion on the fact that the penalty awarded by Spanish referee Luis Medina Cantalejo to the Azzurri for the challenge on Fabio Grosso was a mistake.

Federal Vice-Commissioner Gigi Riva had reacted furiously to Blatter, demanding respect for the World Cup winners, while former Azzurri Coach Marcello Lippi had preferred to not make any comments.

now what?

[X-Offender]

What an idiot! I don't understand why people are so mean to italians, what have they ever done to deserve this?

[bigmacmtl]

i dont know. why does racism exist? i guess it's a socially rooted thing. then again in this case it's more a sore loser thing and in thier minds italy isnt a great team and no matter what they do they never will. i guess you can say ital y has had a makor impact on world history so many italians are proud of that so some many seem arrogant at times. but anyone from any culture can be arrogant. funny how lots of the trash came from the french who probably have the worst reputation of being arrogant. every week a play a game with friends and these 2 fench guys from marseille show up and man i've never seen such babies, they dive, they blame you for their bad passes and even tho it's a friendly game they take it too sriously. any way enough with my rant italy desrved the world cup and blatter is an ***, enough said!

What an idiot! I don't understand why people are so mean to italians, what have they ever done to deserve this?

This post has been edited by bigmacmtl: Nov 1 2006, 11:56 PM