What were the voters thinking by giving Zidane the Golden Ball? Should FIFA step in?

- Zidane played terrible the first two games, and was invisible.


- He gets an accumulated red card and missed the next.


- He scores a free goal at the end of the game against Spain...When Spain was pressing to level the game.


- He finally has a good showing against Brazil.


- Then he back tracks against Portugal and almost disappears. But, oh wait he scores a PK...big deal.


- And, finally against Italy he does more running than anything else and finally decides he is too classy for the game and bows out with a red. That is after scoring another PK for a bullshit call...again big deal.





So, just to summarize. The man got two red cards. Played well in maybe 1.5 games of the tournament. And, scored 3 free goals. What is the big deal?? In this case Ronaldo was a better choice.





THis has become a joke when the best defender and captain of the world cup comes in second. A man that is barely 5'9 165lbs could stop forwards twice his size 4 every min of the tourni with class.

What were the voters thinking by giving Zidane the Golden Ball? Should FIFA step in?
I am totally with you!!! I am not saying that he is not good, of course he is good!! but he's not the BEST. And even if he was, he didn't deserve it. What he did yesterday was terrible and unprofessional.
Reply:Ronaldo was supposed to be the best choice for the Golden Ball considering that he played well throughout the tournament and even set a record for the most number of goals scored at 15 for all the World Cups. It was just unfortunate that Brazil was eliminated by France that put Zidane on the limelight.
Reply:I agree with you totally..........Cannavaro was the MVP of this world cup.........and in a lot of people's minds they'll remember only one thing about Zidane in this tournament.........the barbaric headbutt.......
Reply:i think he deserve the awards .............
Reply:This shows how much you are good in soccer. Or making your OWN judgement.
Reply:Zidane did not deserve the Golden Boot.Maybe he deserved the Golden Butt instead.
Reply:It's funny how your description fits with the one I have for the 1998 WC. Follow me:





- Gets a red card in the opening against the Saudis, for such a nasty play that he gets a two-game suspension for that;


- Misses the games against South Africa and Denmark;


- Does absolutely nothing against Paraguay, who almost brings the game to PKs.


- Does even less against Italy and, once more, the French barely make it, this time 'not avoiding PKs;


- Does even less (is it possible?) against Croatia, who almost (yet again) beats the French, who escape by two unbelievable plays from a defender (Thuram, great player, by the way);


- Scores twice in the final, against a ridiculous Brazilian team, and gets all the credit as best player in the Cup.





What a lucky man is this, who twice is considered the best player in WCs, while he has played one decent game in each, coincidently, both agains Brazil?





At least, it seems there is justice after all. FIFA is talking about taking his award away. As for 98, he did not get the official award, only blind people who do not remember the games think he deserved something.
Reply:The voters, who are sports journalists, were thinking about Zidane as the sentimental favourite to win the Golden Boot award given that he came out of retirement to help the French barely qualify for the World Cup and that he led the French to the finals.





Zidane was a great player in his prime. However, he is just not the same player as he used to be. Unfortunately age catches up to us all. His game against Brazil was his one and only excellent game in this World Cup tournament. With respect to the other games, Zidane was either a non-factor or suspended.





Had Portugal gone to the finals, I suspect that many people would have voted for Figo as the sentimental favourite since he will be retiring as well and has yet to win a major championship with Portugal.





In my opinion, Zidane saved everything he had for that one game against Brazil. To beat Brazil is quite the feather in your cap. The French probably did not expect to advance as far as they did in the tournament, so they hoped to rely on Zidane to lead the way. Well, looks like that backfired on them BIG TIME!





My vote for the Golden Boot award would be for Cannavaro. He is an exemplary defender, a well respected leader, and a gentleman on and off the field. He may tackle hard, but he does tackle cleanly.
Reply:Maybe you have others choices(are you brazilian?),were you there?To me looks like the italian trying to make him mad in a purpose, because of his bad temper history.Next cup, when Ronaldo play his last one, could have that
Reply:I have heard that the voting for the award was done by halftime, so the head-butt was not taken into consideration. Zidane played well, but he barely beat Cannavaro on the Golden Boot voting points. I think if the vote was taken after the game, then Cannavaro would have been a lock to win.
Reply:hey jack, nobody played better nor motivated more than Zidane did during this World Cup. None of Italians even come close to him - a bunch of second division whinies