Zidane wins Golden ball

[TAKHTI]

I seriously thought after the 'head-butt' incident he wouldn't get it, but i'm so glad he did cos he certainly deserved it.

[TAKHTI]

Here's the link and article:
http://news.bbc.co.uk/sport1/hi/foot...06/5154248.stm

Sent-off Zidane named best player

Zinedine Zidane won the Golden Ball award for the World Cup's best player, despite being dismissed for headbutting Marco Materazzi in the final.
France captain Zidane polled 2012 points in the vote by journalists at half-time during Sunday's match.

The midfielder, 34, beat Italians Fabio Cannavaro (1977 points) and Andrea Pirlo (715 points) in the ballot.

He scored a penalty early on in the final but was red-carded in extra time as France went on to lose on penalties.

The former international player of the year and 1998 World Cup winner announced last month that he was retiring from football after the tournament.

On Sunday, he put France ahead from the spot in the opening minutes but was sent off after slamming his head into Materazzi's chest during the tense second period of overtime, which ended 1-1.

It was to be his last act as a professional player and, with the French missing his prowess in the ensuing penalty shootout, Italy went on to claim the World Cup title.

Germany goalkeeper Oliver Kahn won the Golden Ball in 2002, while other previous winners include Brazilians Ronaldo (1998) and Romario ('94), Italy's Salvatore Schillaci ('90) and Argentine great Diego Maradona.

Germany striker Miroslav Klose was the Golden Shoe winner for the tournament's leading scorer with five goals.

[Rooz]

good! no one else deserves it

[Suprah]

Fair enough....Zidane was France's only inspiration throughout this tournament.

[morti]

i dont agree, canavaro was the best by far, but theyd never give it to a defender

[babak_australia]

i dont agree, canavaro was the best by far, but theyd never give it to a defender

They gave it to a keeper 4 years ago so wats gonna stop them giving it to a defender??

I feel Cannavaro was great but Zidane was inspirational.

Well done to him.

[Amin_]

Yesssss!!!! Even tho I loved Canavaro's play this tournament and I'm a bif fan of him, but I still wanted Zidane to win it!

He simply was the best player and no headbutts can take that away from him!

[Hajagha]

Justice. He was the best.

[Darvish11]

It should have been canavaro, maybe buffon, or even pirlo. Pirlo makes a lot of errors towards the end of games, but he is like the quarterback of italy

[Jaguar]

Long Live Zizou !!!!

[khabalood]

i dont agree, canavaro was the best by far, but theyd never give it to a defender

thats true, defenders never get the respect they deserve. Nevertheless, I'm happy Zidane won the award.

[Fareed]

but one question tho, regardless of if he deserved to win it or not, why vote by the end of the first half? Sometimes miracles can happen in the 2nd half especially when the final is between the two contenders. Not to say that the headbutt streetfighter incident would have mattered, but in the future other stuff might happen. So they should at least wait for another 45 mins if they have waited that long to see the peformances of star players.

[Aryan]

good

[faraz]

By the way, just a little thought:

voting was conducted ONLY up to halftime of the world cup final. Hence, all votes were IN and TALLIED BEFORE the headbutt incident.

just thought I should clear that up

[Milad-69]

well deserved