zidane had a horrible wc 1998, except for the final, and in 2006 he had a very nice qf, but he did nothing except score an (undeserved) penalty ( barely, no less). it has been partially answered, as both ronaldinho wasn't too great in the cl final versus 10-man arsenal, nor in either wc, especially the one where he was supposed to be so instrumental and important to brazil in 2006, instead he was dreadful. admittedly, by that standard, totti will always be lacking.Īnyways, with respect to zidane and dinho being such big-game players but totti not. if it didn't happen on european matchnight, it didn't happen in some fans eyes. in the league, he has had nice performances in big games (in fact he is known as a lazio killer, who are, of course, their biggest rivals, and just this year he ate up milan at the san siro as one quick example off the top of my head, and there are many other instances in past years), but I guess that doesn't matter. ronaldinho and zidane will get more chances at european glory, hence, even though they will have poor games, they will have some very nice games also, but totti will rarely get that chance, and when he does, his team will be overmatched and he, more so than other great tens, will have more responsibility and defensive attention because of this, which just makes it that much more difficult. of course, he also "inspirationally" get sent off and "lead" france into a penalty shootout when they had all the momentum, and italy, due to the 120 minute battle in dortmund, was on its last legs until the zidane lifeline. zidane had a horrible wc 1998, except for the final, and in 2006 he had a very nice qf, but in the final itself, he did nothing except score an (undeserved) penalty ( barely, no less). so if rooney and swp get passes, fine, but italy (and totti) don't?Īnyways, with respect to zidane and dinho being such big-game players but totti not. for what is good for the goose is good for the gander, if you allow me the use of a cliche. i for one don't get too worked up over all but the most blatant dives because as you eluded to, diving can be a defense mechanism for hard/dirty fouls, but you, sir, brought it up in relation to italy's win, so you can get let off the hook that easily. I'm sorry to say this but as far as I'm concerned these people are just confirming their ignorance.įair enough, andy. Unfortunately, for some people, the issue can be reduced to one of whether there was any contact. Part of the problem we're having in this area is we're trying to second guess the intentions of players and it ain't that easy. Mind you, I'm going back to the 60's and 70's. I've been in that situation myself and when you think you're going to get taken out you try and avoid it. There was no contact and a lot of people made comments about Wright-Phillips 'diving'.īut it's like I said. Wright-Phillips went as if to avoid the tackle but, as the guy realised he wasn't going to get the ball he pulled his leg in. He jinked one way and then went the other but, as he went to go past, the guy swung a leg at him.
Well it was similar but slightly different in that he was running full speed at a guy that was standing still. I remember another incident last year when Shaun Wright-Phillips was accused of diving when a similar incident occurred. The point is that these things are often not that clear cut.
if I honestly thought it was a dive, pure and simple, I'd say so. Having said that he's been around the game a while now and I've seen him go to ground too easily for my liking more recently. In MY opinion Rooney, frankly, didn't have the nous at that point in his career to try something as sophisticated as that. As far as I'm concerned a true 'dive' is one where there is little or no contact and where the player sets out to con the ref into thinking he's been fouled when, in reality, he could have stayed on his feet and continued play.
Click to expand.Well, we're using phrases for which there are no real definitions, aren't we.