NY Coed Soccer

Adding Insult To Fake Injury

If you had your doubts about the authenticity of some of the injuries apparently sustained by players during the World Cup finals in Germany last summer, your scepticism may have been well-founded, according to a Fifa internal report.

'Fifty-eight per cent of the players who were treated on the pitch during the 2006 World Cup eventually turned out not to be injured,' a statement from the committee read:  Faking It

Voices In Our Head

We know we should simply let it go. But it's hard. Every so often those babbling voices come back to haunt us. But we promise never to mention them again, at least not for another four years. Sports Illustrated reviews ESPNS's coverage of the World Cup and confirms Dave O'Brien will return - probably without sidekick Marcelo Balboa (yes!!!):  SI ESPN

Colombia For World Cup 2014

Colombia look to host 2014 World Cup but no one's told the South American Football Confederation (CSF) who believe the tournament should be going to Brazil:  WC 2014

Lippi and Klinsmann Resign

Marcello Lippi has resigned as coach of Italy:

"I believe that I have achieved what I set out to achieve as coach of the Italian team. I want to thank the federation for the confidence it had in me during the last two years of work crowned by a result that will rest in the annals of Italian football and live on in the memory of our fans."

And Jurgen Klinsmann has stepped down as Germany coach after two years in charge and been replaced by assistant coach Joachim Loew:

"My big wish is to go back to my family, to go back to leading a normal life with them," said Klinsmann, 41, who is based in California.

"After two years of putting in a lot of energy, I feel I lack the power and the strength to continue in the same way. The only sensible option has been to ask Joachim to lead them further. I am very glad that he has taken up this challenge.

"I have always said that he was much more than an assistant trainer. He was always a firm partner. My role was perhaps that of a supervisor.

"I did not manage to reach all of the players last night. I will call them over the next few days to thank every one to thank them for this incredible experience."

A Final Act of Betrayal?

James Lawton of the UK's Independent newspaper explains why "it is impossible to put aside the extent of the damage Zinedine Zidane did to himself and to football in the gaunt Olympiastadion on Sunday night. He was supposed to leave a light burning in his permanent memory. Instead he brought a peculiar darkness...":  Lawton on Zidane

How They Saw It

NY Coed's favourite football site, Guardian Unlimited, reveal their best and worst of the World Cup:  Guardian Unlimited

As for NY Coed, our awards go to...

BEST GAME
Australia-Croatia (2-2) had everything, while Argentina-Mexico (2-1) and Germany-Italy (0-2) also got the pulse racing and the voice raised...

WORST GAME
Switzerland-France (0-0), and Ukraine-Swizterland (0-0) sent us to sleep... and England barely kept us awake...

BEST PLAYER
Fabio Cannavaro...

WORST PLAYER
Ronaldinho and many of his Team Nike teammates...

And yours....?

Crowds Gather In Rome and Paris

... to applaud their respective teams. But only one audience set their eyes on the World Cup trophy.

Here's the BBC through images marking the day in Rome:  Italy

And in Paris:  France

Well Done Italy But What Must FIFA Be Thinking

Firstly congratulations to Italy. The tournament proved an eventful ride for the Azzuri.

But what must FIFA be thinking now that World Cup 2006 has come to close. The tournament was marred by poor officiating (although from the semi-finals onwards the refs were generally excellent) and blighted by cheating players.

Indeed, FIFA allowed Daniele Di Rossi to return for the final after his disgraceful elbow on America's Brian McBride. The Italian midfielder should have been barred from the rest of the competition but instead we saw him step up to take a penalty during yesterday's shoot-out.

And Italy, as we all know, is a nation whose top league, Serie A, is in the midst of a match-fixing investigation that may see their biggest clubs being relegated, although we wouldn't bet on it.

So much for FIFA's promotion of fair play. And to top it all, Zinedine Zidane has now been awarded 'player of the tournament'. The Frenchman topped a poll of journalists covering the event with 2,012 points, ahead of Italian pair Fabio Cannavaro (1,977) and Andrea Pirlo (715).

The voting, however, had just about been completed by half-time of the final. And it now leaves FIFA in an embarrassing position but they are obviously an organisation with a sense of humour: today it was announced that semi-finalists Portugal have won Fifa's most entertaining team award...

Podolski Wins Award & Best of World Cup Chosen

As we suggested yesterday (see below), the controversy surrounding Cristiano Ronaldo would result in Germany striker Lukas Podolski being awarded FIFA's young player of the World Cup. And so it proved.

Holger Osieck, head of the Fifa technical study group, said of Podolski, 21, : "He not only scored three goals, he was a key element in Germany's attack. He showed a great understanding with Miroslav Klose and the two players formed a very effective partnership."

It seems Ronaldo's antics counted against him when the judges came to make their decision.

Both Lothar Matthäus, the former German international who is patron of the award, and Fifa's technical chief, Holger Osieck, said lack of fair play had been an issue.

Matthäus said: "You will never have 100% fair play and maybe looking at Cristiano Ronaldo he was obviously doing something here. He may have accumulated a couple of minus points due to his gesture with Rooney but you sometimes forget what the laws are in the heat of the fight."

Meanwhile, FIFA also announced their World Cup squad of the tournament:

Goalkeepers: Gianluigi Buffon (Italy), Jens Lehmann (Germany), Ricardo (Portugal).

Defenders: Roberto Ayala (Argentina), John Terry (England), Lilian Thuram (France), Philipp Lahm (Germany), Fabio Cannavaro (Italy), Gianluca Zambrotta (Italy), Ricardo Carvalho (Portugal).

Midfielders: Ze Roberto (Brazil), Patrick Vieira (France), Zinedine Zidane (France), Michael Ballack (Germany), Andrea Pirlo (Italy), Gennaro Gattuso (Italy), Luis Figo (Portugal), Maniche (Portugal).

Strikers: Hernan Crespo (Argentina), Thierry Henry (France), Miroslav Klose (Germany), Francesco Totti (Italy), Luca Toni (Italy).

Sepp Blatter Admits To Being A Cheat

You really have to wonder about FIFA President Sepp Blatter. In a tournament blighted by 'simulation' and over-indulged players, Blatter has foregone tough love and reveals that he understands players who dive.

Before the World Cup, Fifa instructed referees to clamp down on any diving and playacting, with Blatter claiming: "Diving is worse than shirt-pulling or tripping. It is betraying the players and the referee. I'm in favour of red cards for diving."

Fair enough.

However, in a programme to be aired on CNN International on Saturday called Revealed: Sepp Blatter, the Fifa president said he understood why players dived. "I think that all players - especially attacking players - they do it because you go into the 18-yard area and then you lose the ball because somebody takes it away," he said.

"You are frustrated, and then in the frustration you do two things, either you try to get the ball back and then you commit a foul or you say 'but he touched me,' and then you fall down. I think this is a normal movement and I can understand the players acting like that. But now they are at the level of the World Cup and they are the professionals, so they should think about that, but it's in the game."

Blatter goes on to reveal that he used to dive when he played in the top amateur league in Switzerland.

"I was not a perfect player, I have to say, being a striker," said Blatter. "I tried ... to get some advantages by joking with a player and then falling down by saying 'but he touched me'. And in fact it was not that. I did it."

Nothing like sending out the right message, huh...