Alas, the world cup has come and gone but the moments to relish for a long time are still hovering the place.

One question begging for answer is: given Italy's performance, do they really deserve being World Cup Champions for the next 4 years?

capital N small o

les bleus deserved that trophy

yes those guys are good

Do you all know that we have lost a lot of money which was to be chanelled back home had we won the cup?
Vieira would have pumped more money in those big projects in Senegal and Henry too.
We have lost a lot of income to Africa by France losing that world cup .I had a soft spot for France because of Africans

Football can be extremely cruel!
I watched the coronation of a very uninspiring wrestler scandalouls King
The mighty can always lose to the meek but the ball is always round so it’s another rotation.
Meanwhile I am having a ball as I wait for another four years when the so called pending champions will be bundled out of the worldcup,manufacture a new villain and go back to their boring, uninspiring Serie A,just as it has been since 1966 incase you win your scandals

I will have prefer France for the cup but in a game there must be a winner and there must be a looser.

Saying Italy doesnt deserve the cup is a lie, they tried their best and their best give them the cup.

This bunch of cheaters? Divers? Low racists? Little monkies who can't but do tricks?

Italians are a shame of the world! The worst nation in the world cup! FIFA must make them give it back to the French for what they did to Zidane!

Youngies

they deserve it thats why they won.

youngies:

This bunch of cheaters? Divers? Low racists? Little monkies who can't but do tricks?

Divers? i didnt see any italian diving. how did france win that penalty again? didn't malouda dive?
Racists? where, who and when?

@priscila:
i'm guessing you didnt watch any of italy's games except the final. no other side had a better goals difference than italy did. france played a bit better in the final but in the long run italy was the better team of the tournament. heck, in the final, they had a ball hit the cross bar and another disallowed for a marginal offside.

Italy - Goals For: 12, Goals Against: 2
France - Goals For: 9, Goals Against: 3

most of you guys just have a naive bias against the italian team. give them credit. they are the world champions.

O yeah, the italians deserved to win. .
They were as consistent as their captain, Cannavaro. .
Just like codec pointed out. . They conceeded just 2 goals ( 1 own goal, and one penalty),
While France, who were otherwise supposed to go out in the first round, managed to scale thru _{*after bribing the shameless togolese*}. .
Give credit to whom credit it due. . . Forza italia,

if no opposing team was able to score against u in open play in 7 world cup matches, then u deserve to win the world cup.

@Priscilia its like u have something against the italians.

Italy fully merited the world cup

Grizzly!
that's why you are giving them a credit instead of a distinction!
To mean they did not deserve it! isnt it?A team that scored a Player as an own goal?I give a weak pass to Canavaro. Him and Buffon salvaged Italy!Who cares if they did not concede!

Gianluga Codec!
I watched all the 32 matches (live & recorded)and this Italy  became my most indisciplined team when they literally fought USA in pitch infact I 've not yet forgiven Rossi for the blood he shed.
Had the ref not helped them with that 95th min Penalty against Aussies then we would be talking different. Y'all know the scandalous ref in WC!
The only game they won honourably was against Germany!period!
THEY DID NOT DESERVE IT and annihilation awaits them in 2010!

Hey! because I mentioned the meek won it, some fans are demanding my head for breakfast.
since Germany 2006 did not live to the hype and these underachievers took the cup, these men here tried
Lippi,Buffon,Cannavaro,grosso, Zambrotta,Toni,pirlo.
Who ever predicted Italy would win? now you are all crowing!

@grizzly: nice sig.

@prisicila:

ok. u live in america or you're american. i can understand now. that's why you didnt see the nasty american tackles. USA were much more aggressive than the italians in that game. perotta ended up playing the game with one leg. but of course, you wouldnt' notice that

italian team - most indisciplined team? i see someone didnt watch the germany-argentina game or the holland-portugal game.

the only form of italian indiscipline was in the form of de rossi's elbow. i think de rossi was stupid and deserved the red card plus the 4 match ban. he redeemed himself by apologizing to McBride immediately after the game (which i'm sure is unknown to you) and served his ban. he then returned to play in the final and lift the trophy.

unlike the hero, zidane who decided to ram his head into someone's chest knowing he won't be banned since it's his last game. if zidane had rammed that head into materazzi's head, the whole pitch for change color to red.

that zidane move showed the discipline of the italian side. if materazzi were say dutch, portugal, argentina or even england, every other player would have attacked zidane sharp sharp with punches and kicks but the italians kept their cool.

these stats from soccernet
Fouls Suffered -> http://soccernet.espn.go.com/worldcup/stats?type=t_fs&year=2006&cc=5739
Fouls commited -> http://soccernet.espn.go.com/worldcup/stats?type=t_fc&year=2006&cc=5739

show that italy suffered more fouls than any other team while france was the most indisciplined side of the tournament.

onto the australia game. you should go watch the match again and you'll see that italy were the better side with the better chances and deserved the win. materazzi did not deserve a straight red card for a tackle from the front but hey u didnt see that. the penalty may have be dubious but it was clear that grosso's path was impeded. that naive aussie defender didnt have to fall to ground. he could have stood and challenged for the ball. he only invited the penalty by throwing his body on the ground and obstructing grosso. any experienced player would have done the same as grosso (i can name 10 non-italians that you love).

other stats:
shots on goal -> http://soccernet.espn.go.com/worldcup/stats?type=t_sog&year=2006&cc=5739

together with goal difference, proves italy were more attacking than france. tsk tsk.

i tire.

Priscila:

Who ever predicted Italy would win? now you are all crowing!

but i did

Oh ! you did? Big up men!
It was such a fiesta!
You also agree they did not deserve it IOO% but yes for 30%.

Italy played well and all that, but I would have prefered it if France won.

CAPITAL NO! I guess Nigeria deserved to win. Somebody win something you dey ask whether dem deserve am. Did they stroll to the finals? My friends, no amount of BB (bad belle) will take the cup away from them!

At all

Just to answer the person that said Italy had a dubious penalty against Australia in the second round, if that is a yard stick then France is far worse cause they had more lucky breaks on bad ref decisions.

The free kick that took France ahead of Spain in the second round was from Henry diving beside Puyol, the penalty that knocked out Portugal was another Henry exaggeration of a slight tap from Calhvaho and the Malouda dive in the final for the penalty as mentioned before so if the consideration is cheating then the French are worse than Italy.

Not to add the Zidane headbutt and the French complaining about it, as if the act deserved a yellow card instead of the red given.

But as others have pointed out with the games statistics Italy are the best team.

Kurunmi:

Just to answer the person that said Italy had a dubious penalty against Australia in the second round, if that is a yard stick then France is far worse cause they had more lucky breaks on bad ref decisions.

The free kick that took France ahead of Spain in the second round was from Henry diving beside Puyol, the penalty that knocked out Portugal was another Henry exaggeration of a slight tap from Calhvaho and the Malouda dive in the final for the penalty as mentioned before so if the consideration is cheating then the French are worse than Italy.

Not to add the Zidane headbutt and the French complaining about it, as if the act deserved a yellow card instead of the red given.

But as others have pointed out with the games statistics Italy are the best team.

word

Kurunmi:

Just to answer the person that said Italy had a dubious penalty against Australia in the second round, if that is a yard stick then France is far worse cause they had more lucky breaks on bad ref decisions.

The free kick that took France ahead of Spain in the second round was from Henry diving beside Puyol, the penalty that knocked out Portugal was another Henry exaggeration of a slight tap from Calhvaho and the Malouda dive in the final for the penalty as mentioned before so if the consideration is cheating then the French are worse than Italy.

Not to add the Zidane headbutt and the French complaining about it, as if the act deserved a yellow card instead of the red given.

But as others have pointed out with the games statistics Italy are the best team.

Thanks men. Forza Italia. They deserve to be double champions

Ha ha ha!
Now y'all coming up to crow with satisfaction about  WC instead of handling your massive unemployment!
You all know Italy never deserved it from the word go! And apart from Gianlugi codec no one ever predicted early Italy would reach even semis.
I said the ref helped them with a dubious penalty and whichsoever reason you quote The MEEK WON IT! Hellbent officiating
I repeat annihilation awaits you in 2010 when they will be bundled out!
Scandalous men they are!

In response to the question that started this thread, YES!!!

The Italians deserve to win the world cup because they have all what it takes except playing good and clean Football.

The italians has a strong defence which cannot be easily defeat and they also don't give up easily when it comes to critical moment.

They have a rugged squad and others. To me the Italians deserve to win the world cup but france has a wider chance of winning but they find it hard to control the italian squad.

the italians deserved it and are a very disciplined side with pirlo being my best player.

They did'nt beat any worthwhile/world class teams and they only controlled 25 minutes of the fast half.The rest of the game up to penalties France had Italy backed up to the corner.

France beat the 1# contendors/favorites Brazil and they did it conivincinly!

Italy won beacause they had weak group and easy finals draws and they won on luck.I admit they played hard and completly dominated the first half from 19-46 minutes.I admit they also deserved their goal.But they won on a players nerve!

Italy
Czech (highly ranked, 5th in the world pre Mundial)
USA (highly ranked, 4th in the world at a time)
Ghana

France
Switzerland
South Korea (2nd best in Asia)
Togo

Who had a weaker group?

Don't make me laugh. Who played the stronger team in the semis?

Y' all should be thanking God for Materrazi mercenary tactics to infuriate Zizou worked in their favour. He went into fits after a slight butt!Afterall a team that lacked Vieira,Zidane and Henry what else?
When Italians knew they could not use their feet they decided to use their mouth.
One more thing, Its very obvious S. Americans rarely win on a european soil, they know the jujuman they visit. A team like Argentina deserved it not Italy. Biko!
Anyway I blame Jose pekerman and Parreira of Brazil for making the two teams lose.

Go on have your vodkas but it will be short-lived

No, took the fun out of the whole tournament

Yeah- At least i think so! And who's that guy stinking up d united logo? D'you want it to look like yours? Fat chance.

Italy deserves to win the world cup fair and square.
They had the best defensive record all through and asides from an own goal and Zidane's dubious penalty-kick the defenders closed shops on everyone.
FORZA ITALIA.

I wonder why some of our members comment like this.

They carry Arsenal mentality to the French Team.

Italy deserve it by far.

Well Well organised and focused team.

It was French Team that was lucky[Thanks to Patrick Vieria, who single-handedly took them to the second round]