Sepp Blatter at it again

[Rambo]

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.

First he didn't want to hand over the cup to Italy, now this

[Sweey]

Saw this earlier and simply thought "cunt". Sore loser springs to mind too - like we're the only country who ever got one single favourable decision in a game....a game where one of our players was wrongfully sent off.

[Karaoke29]

Not his first time to attack Italy and the Italian football with or without a reason. Undeniably, he has a cunt.

[Eric Clyde]

Originally Posted by Sweey

Saw this earlier and simply thought "cunt". Sore loser springs to mind too - like we're the only country who ever got one single favourable decision in a game....a game where one of our players was wrongfully sent off.

What about the 2002 World Cup when South Korea cheated Italy for a place into the next round. I think they also cheated against Spain in the penalty shoot-outs. I remember the Korean goalkeeper coming about 4 yards off his line before the ball was struck. Did Italy recieve an apology for that.

And why does Sepp Blatter feel an apology should be made? Did Tottenham recieve an apology from the FA for their obvious goal against Man Utd in the Premiership? Did UEFA apologies to Chelsea when they lost in the semi-final to Liverpool? Because as far as I remember, it wasn't a goal.

I think that this is the final dent to his obvious hatred of Italy and although the Italian fans can sometimes be a bit of a bastard, you have to feel sorry for them that this arsehole is in charge.

[Ziss]

How about Greece and their constant time wasting in Euro 2004?

Sepp Blatter, kiss my ass ring.

[Sweey]

Originally Posted by Daz_Rangers51

What about the 2002 World Cup when South Korea cheated Italy for a place into the next round. I think they also cheated against Spain in the penalty shoot-outs. I remember the Korean goalkeeper coming about 4 yards off his line before the ball was struck. Did Italy recieve an apology for that.

And why does Sepp Blatter feel an apology should be made? Did Tottenham recieve an apology from the FA for their obvious goal against Man Utd in the Premiership? Did UEFA apologies to Chelsea when they lost in the semi-final to Liverpool? Because as far as I remember, it wasn't a goal.

I think that this is the final dent to his obvious hatred of Italy and although the Italian fans can sometimes be a bit of a bastard, you have to feel sorry for them that this arsehole is in charge.

Amen to that.

He's supposedly issued a sort of apology today saying he was misquoted but I'm not interested in what he has to say.

[sinhz]

Well said Daz-R

[dimitrivdr]

Who can take the prat seriously anymore? Women footballers should wear shorter shorts to attract fans, anti-Italian bias, clear pandering to the minority federations in order to protect votes for his next re-election.

He makes Bush seem coherent. He's an embarrassment to the game and I can't wait until he retires and lets people who actually love the game take over.

[Brüno]

Isn't Sepp Blatter from Switzerland?

What right does he have to apologise for an incident that involved the Italian Football Team? That is absolutely disgusting behaviour!

If I was an Italian, I'd be extremely angry and would even consider writing a letter of complaint to FIFA. There is a large Italian community in Australia, I would like to know how well that statement went down there.

ps. As for Geoge Bush, Dimitri, did you know that, before 2001, he thought the Taliban were a bavarian brass band? He also baffled the Brazilian President, Fernando Henrique Cardoso, with the question "Do you have blacks too?"