Another impressive outing for Michael Schumacher and Ferrari this past weekend, winning the French Grand Prix.

Schumacher crosses the line - beating championship leader, Fernando Alonso who finished in 2nd

In what has turned out to be a season determined by who has the tyres on the given weekend, it was Ferrari’s Bridgestone tyres that dominated the weekend over Renault’s Michelin tyres. Ferrari was able to utilise a 3-pitstop strategy, thanks to the soft compound tyres that allowed the Ferrari to build up enough of a lead, so even though Alonso only pitted twice, Schumacher was able to win the race by a comfortable margin.

There are 7 races left in the season, and it’s shaping up to be a very close finish. Schumacher could potentially win the remaining seven races and still lose to Alonso, who currently has a 17 point advantage over Schumacher. Given the reliability of Alonso’s Renault, it’s going to be hard to go against him repeating as champion. However, with Schumacher you never know what is going to happen - maybe he will get in teammate Felipe Massa’s ears and convince him to take Alonso out in a couple of the races - you couldn’t put such a tactic beyong Schumacher, who has a history of dirty tactics. It will certainly be an exciting end to the season.

Fifa released their first official rankings since the conclusion of the World Cup.

Saying that the ranking criteria makes no sense would be an understatement. The biggest shock comes right at the top, with Brazil retaining the top spot despite the fact that they didn’t make it out of the quarter finals. Ukraine, a team that lost 4-0 to Spain and 3-0 to Italy, shot up 30 spots into 15th place. I think this is bloody awful, considering they only progressed to the second round because they were in the weakest group in the group stage. In comparison, Australia progressed to the second round from a much harder group, outplaying Brazil but losing and then being denied by a lousy call in the final minute against Italy, yet they only increased their position by 9 spots to number 33. I guarantee that if Australia had played Ukraine in the quarter finals, Australia would have won convincingly. Continuing with Australia, they are ranked behind Uruguay (14th), whom they beat to make the World Cup; Greece, whom they beat leading up to the World Cup; Croatia, whom they outplayed and would have beaten (instead of drawing with) if not for poor keeping and the referee calling time as John Aloisi scored a match winning goal; and Nigeria, Cameroon, Guinea, Romania, Turkey, and Egypt - all teams that failed to make the World Cup finals. Even the Ivory Coast, who scored less points in the group stage and didn’t make the second round, advance more places in the standings.

Other interesting things to take note of in these rankings: England gained 5 places to the 5th spot, while Portugal and Spain both lost places. Paraguay, another team that didn’t make it out of the group stage, moved up 12 places to 19th. One of the best teams in the tournament, Germany, only increased 10 places to 9th - they are easily good enough to be in the top 5. The U.S.A. managed to stay in the top 20, even though they scored 1 point in the group stage and only managed to score two goals (one of them an own-goal by another team).

It’s not hard to see that politics play a part in the Fifa rankings. Even after being the most surprising team in the tournament, the Socceroos can’t get any respect. If I were a cynic, I would say that the rankings reflect a conspiracy that would only magnify the horrible call they received against Italy. As it stands, Fifa needs to implement some kind of transparent rankings systems that the general public will be able to decipher.

Here is the Sportsbbq All-World Cup team, using a 3-5-2 formation.

Starting Line-up

	Goalkeeper - Gianluigi Buffon, Italy - Easily the stand-out goalkeeper in the entire tournament. Produced beautiful saves against Australia when Italy were down to 10 men. In the semi-final against Germany, he has a clean-sheet against the most potent attacking pair in the tournament, Klose and Podolski. To top that off, he made the save of the tournament in denying Zinedine Zidane’s header in the final moments of the first extra time, a save that a lot of other goalies would not have prevented.
	Defender - Philipp Lahm, Germany - Scored the first goal of the tournament, in the sixth minute of the first game. Lahm looked dangerous every time he moved forward in attack from the defensive line, but his defence was stellar too.
	Defender - Fabio Cannavaro, Italy - Runner up to Zidane for the Golden Ball, Cannavaro was the anchor for the best defensive line in the World Cup, and easily the best defender in the tournament.
	Defender - Lucas Neill, Australia - Australia’s best player was brilliant in all four games that the Australians played. Will be remembered as the player that Italy’s Fabio Grosso ‘fell’ over to concede the penalty that put Italy through to the quarter-finals. Solid defender, who will be the anchor of the Socceroos defence for many years to come.
	Midfielder - Maniche, Portugal - One of Portugal’s outstanding players in the tournament, scored the match winning goal in their match against the Netherlands. Was always dangerous with the ball at his feet. Wins the place on this team, over his teammated Ronaldo, because he was just as effective, but without the diving and theatrics.
	Midfielder - Zinedine Zidane, France (c) - The best player in the tournament. Had his tournament cut short following his headbutt on Materazzi, but his inspirational effort to get the aging French team in to the final of the tournament, defeating Spain, Brazil, and Portugal, cements his place on the team.
	Midfielder - Juan Riquelme, Argentina - When Argentina were at their best, it was because of this midfield magician. Riquelme was spectacular in the group matches for Argentina, with his incredible play resulting in a number of goals for Argentina. If Argentina had progressed past Germany, Riquelme would have been a front runner for the golden ball award.
	Midfielder - Maxi Rodriguez, Argentina Scored one of the goals of the tournament in extra time against Mexico after he chested a ball and shot the volley in the top corner of the net. Also scored two goals in the 6-0 drubbing of Serbia and Montenegro. Look for Rodriguez and Riquelme to be dangerous for Argentina in 2010.
	Midfielder - Franck Ribery, France - Probably the breakthrough player of the tournament. Scored the important equalising goal against Spain in their round of 16 match. Was electrifying for France throughout the second round of the competition and never stopped running.
	Forward - Miroslav Klose, Germany - The winner of the Golden Boot with 5 goals. Klose was deadly for Germany. Klose will be 32 at the next World Cup, but if he can be there to partner Podolski, Germany once again will be dangerous.
	Forward - Thierry Henry, France - Broke France’s 4 game streak without a goal in the 6th minute against South Korea. Was on the end of a Zidane freekick to score the winning goal against Brazil. In the final, Henry was magnificent, taking the ball into the Italian penalty box numerous times. The final was easily his best game of the tournament.

Substitutions

	Midfielder - Patrick Vieira, France - Vieira scored two important goals for France and was tireless in defence. It was unfortunate that he left in the early stages of the second half of the final with an injury. A sad end to a brilliant tournament.
	Midfielder - Andrea Pirlo, Italy - Pirlo was magnificent for Italy throughout the tournament and was the key to their offensive success, assisiting 3 goals and scoring another. Finished third in the Golden Ball voting.
	Midfielder - Michael Essien, Ghana - Ghana’s best player was unfortunatley missing from their round of 16 match against Brazil. If not for that, Ghana might possibly have pulled off a huge upset. Despite their 3-0 loss, Ghana played extremely well and were unlucky to have not scored. During Ghana’s important group match against the Czech Republic, Essien was brilliant in defence and equally effective in attack, producing a lot of Ghana’s best attacking movements.
	Forward - Lukas Podolski, Germany - Partnered with Klose to form the best attacking tandom in the tournament. Scored 3 great goals and was named the best young player in the tournament.

It’s good to see someone from the media sticking up for Zidane. This article, I thought, was brilliant.

To illustrate just how innocent Materazzi can be, here is a collection of some of his finer moments.

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After watching this, I hope Zidane broke one of Materazzi’s ribs

The actions that led to the end of a career

The day after Zinedine Zidane was shown the red card for his headbutt to the chest of Italian player Marco Materazzi, Zidane was named the winner of the Golden Ball award as the most outstanding player in the tournament. Zidane received 2,012 votes from journalists, narrowly beating Italian captain Fabio Cannavaro, who received 1,977 votes. The votes began being received during halftime of the Final, before Zidane was sent off. This result will no doubt leave Fifa officials embarassed, but nonetheless, red card or not, Zidane was the most deserving player. If you take him out of the French line-up, there is no way they make it out of their round of 16 match against Spain, let alone make it to the Final and outplay Italy, only to lose on penalties. If you take Cannavaro out of the Italian line-up, they would still have a great defence, so there is no way he was more valuable to his team than Zidane was to France.

In the aftermath of Zidane’s actions yesterday, there has been the inevitable chatter as to why one of the greatest players ever to play the game would react in such a manner. I am still of the belief that Materazzi said something highly offensive to Zidane and some of the initial reports, including this one from Zidane’s agent, would seem to justify my belief. There have been numerous commentators that have said that Zidane should have known better and that it was an awful display. While that may be true, anyone who has played in a competitive atmosphere can understand Zidane’s actions - especially if it is revealed that Materazzi had made rascist or similarly offensive comments to Zidane, which he obviously did.

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Notice Zidane running off, only to snap back towards Materazzi - I wonder why?

While watching the incident yesterday, it was clear that all the referees had missed the incident. This would mean that Zidane was sent off after one of the officials noticed the incident via a replay on one of the monitors. This is a theory that was also suggested by not only the French coach, but the Italian one too! While Zidane deserved to be sent off for his actions, if the referees did not notice the incident when it occurred, Zidane should not have been sent off once an official noticed the replay. Fifa will no doubt deny that the official noticed it on the replay, even if the official were to admit to Fifa that he did. French striker, Thierry Henry, pointed out that “If they want to use video evidence it’s not for one incident, they should use it for everybody and they should look at Materazzi too, Materazzi has a reputation for being a dirty player and also one who feigns injury.” This is no doubt in reference to Materazzi fondling Zidane’s chest area prior to the headbutting incident. If Fifa is going to deny the use of replay in their matches, they need to ban the stadiums from showing replays of incidents to prevent another incident like this, when a replay affects decisions made by referees.

While there is no doubt that Zidane’s sending off prevented the French from attacking in the final 10 minutes of extra time, there is no guarantee that France would have scored or won on penalties. For Zidane to be blamed for France losing the Final is highly unjustified, especially considering that France would have not been in the Final if not for his inspiriational play during the second round of the competition.

Roger Federer won his fourth consecutive Wimbledon title, overcoming a fierce challenge from his nemisis, Rafael Nadal. Many thought Nadal wouldn’t make it to the final of Wimbledon, but he proved to all that he is a legitimate power in tennis, and not just on clay.

The first set of the final was very similar to that of the French Open final, where Federer came out and blitzed Nadal off the court 6-1. In yesterday’s final, Federer came out and took the first set 6-0. This time, however, Federer held his nerve in the second set. Despite having his serve broken, he was able to break back when Nadal was serving for the set and force a tiebreak, which Federer won 7-5. Both players held serve in the third set forcing another tiebreak, which Nadal won 7-2, forcing a fourth set. Federer came out on fire in the fourth set, breaking Nadal twice to take a commanding 5-1 lead. Unthinkably, Federer got nervous when serving for the match and was broken by Nadal, giving him a sniff of a comeback. Nadal held his serve, making it 5-3 and leaving Federer serving for the match once again. This time he made no mistake and defeated Nadal only for the second time in eight meetings.

This was probably the most important victory in Federer’s career. A loss to Nadal at Wimbledon would definitely have damaged Federer mentally. Losing on clay to Nadal is one thing, but if Federer were to have lost at Wimbledon, it would be hard for him to recover from such a blow. It is great to see a player that is not defeated before even walking out on the court against Federer. The two previous number one players in the world, Lleyton Hewitt and Andy Roddick, will probably never seriously challenge Roger Federer again, as they don’t believe they are capable of beating him. Lleyton Hewitt even said that he thought Roger was going to win the title. A Nadal victory over Federer at Wimbledon may have shown the other players that he is beatable. As it stands though, Federer has clearly displayed that he is one of the greatest players of all-time. He is now over halfway towards reaching Pete Sampras’ record of 14 grand slam titles. I believe that once he is finished with his career, Roger Federer will own the record and will be known as the greatest player to have ever picked up a tennis racquet.

Italy won their fourth World Cup and first since 1982 when they beat France 5-3 on penalties after the match finished 1-1. Zinedine Zidane opened the scoring for the French in the 7th minute. France was awarded a soft penalty after Flaurent Malouda was taken down in the box. Zidane took the penalty beautifully, chipping the ball into the goal, leaving the keeper laying on the ground after diving to his right.

After this, the French went into a shell for some reason and the Italians had the best of the action. In the 19th minute, Italy equalised through Materazzi’s beautiful header from a corner kick. French keeper Fabien Barthez could do nothing to prevent the ball finding the back of the net and the scores were levelled. The Italians continued to dominate the rest of the half and had the majority of possession leading into the break.

The French came out in the second half and played some inspired soccer, with Henry making some nice runs into the box but unable to finish any of the opportunities. At the end of regulation, France were definitely looking the better of the two teams, and in the first period of extra time, Zidane almost became the hero with a cracking header on goal that produced one of the saves of the tournament from Italian keeper Buffon. If Zidane had been able to place the header a little better, there is no doubt that the French would have gone up 2-1.

Buffon makes the most important save of the tournament

Zidane is in disbelief after Buffon produced a beautiful save to deny the headed shot

One of the most bizzare moments in the entire World Cup occurred with 10 minutes remaining in extra time. After Materazzi was holding on to Zidane in the penalty box and appear to grab him on his nipple, Zidane started walking off and all of a sudden snapped back towards Materazzi (indicating that Materazzi said something offensive) and walked towards Materazzi, lowered his head and headbutted him square in the chest. Consequently, after conferring with the side judge (and no doubt the replay on the big screen, although that is not allowed) Zidane was shown the red card and he left the field.

Zidane walks past the trophy in what will be one of the lasting images of the World Cup

The game ended locked at 1-1, and for the second time in the history of the World Cup, the champion would be decided on penalties. Unfortunately for France, they were missing four of their star players - Viera, who had been subbed out with a hamstring injury; Ribery, who was also subbed out in the ending stages of regulation; Henry, who had been subbed at the beginning of the second extra period with cramps; and Zidane, who had been sent off. Penalties are an awful way for a champion to be determined, and although Italy were the better team early on, they were not the better team overall.

Although from a personal point of view, Fabio Grosso is a dirty player, he would have to be considered one of Italy’s top 3 players in the entire tournament. Without his dive, they would not have gotten past Australia in the round of 16. Without him scoring the first goal against Germany in extra time, their game against Germany most likely would have gone to penalties. To top off his tournament, he was the player who scored the winning penalty kick for the Italians, securing their fourth World Cup title.

Grosso will be happy with his tournament

France’s Amelie Mauresmo won the women’s Wimbledon final, and in doing so, took revenge on Belgium’s Justine Henin-Hardenne, who at this year’s Australian Open, retired in the second set after being thoroughly dominated, denying Mauresmo the chance to experience winning on championship point. However, at Wimbledon today, Mauresmo was not denied that honour.

After losing the first set to Henin-Hardenne 6-2, Mauresmo never really looked troubled again in the match. The major reason Mauresmo spent 7 years between Grand Slam finals (the 1999 Australian Open through the 2006 Australian Open) was that her nerves plagued her in the big matches. Those nerves weren’t visible today, and after the first set, Mauresmo never looked like losing the match. There is no doubt that the Frenchwoman was especially motivated not to lose to Henin-Hardenne after what took place at the Australian Open. It’s amazing how a rivalry where you believe that you have been wronged by a player, whom you considered your friend, will motivate you to acheive what previously seemed out of reach. With two Grand Slam titles this year and potentially ridding herself of past demons, Mauresmo has cemented her place as the top women’s tennis player in the world - for the moment at least.

Mauresmo holds the most coveted trophy in women’s tennis

Now the French soccer team has to defeat Italy in the World Cup final tomorrow to cap off what could potentially be a fantastic weekend for France.

So much to watch, so little time! This is going to be a fantastic weekend of sport. In the World Cup, you have the third place match between Germany and Portugal, then there is the Final between France and Italy the following day. Germany should dispose of the Portuguese, and I believe that Oliver Kahn is going to have a great game in goals. I have previously spoken about the final, and I still believe that France is going to come away with the victory in what should be a great end to a fantastic World Cup. Look for Zidane to win the Golden Ball as the most outstanding player in the tournament.

Unfortunately, as luck would have it, both men’s and women’s finals at Wimbledon will be played during World Cup action - it would be nice to have picture-in-picture, but I don’t - so it will be a tough choice between watching the third place match and the women’s final tomorrow between Amelie Mauresmo and Justine Henin-Hardenne. This is a replay of this year’s controversial Australian Open final, when Henin-Hardenne retired when she was down 6-1 2-0, complaining of stomach pains - or as I like to call them ’sore loser symptoms.’ I know that is a bit harsh, but you should (short of a major injury) NEVER retire in the final of a grand slam, especially when you are getting beaten the way she was. It leaves a bad taste in supporters’ mouths, and it certainly did that for me. I’ll be hoping Mauresmo can come through for her second grand slam title, but this time it would be nice for Henin-Hardenne to take her much deserved beating with a bit of grace and let Mauresmo enjoy her time in the spotlight.

It was Mauresmo consolling Henin-Hardenne, instead of enjoying her victory

In the men’s final, it’s a rematch of the French Open final - Federer vs Nadal, the two top ranked players in the world. I read a great article at si.com yesterday about their rivalry in which Federer states that he would love to play Nadal on grass. Federer went on to say that “I’ve lost so many times against him on his favorite surface; I’ve gotten so, so close. Obviously I’d like to play him here four or five times, but grass is such a short season. I’m lucky enough my strength is also on clay, on hard court, indoor: That’s what he’s still working on. That’s also why I’m by far the No. 1 player in the world.” Although what Federer says it true, he has to be worried about facing Nadal on grass. Federer has lost 6 times to Nadal in 7 matches, and in the one match he did win, he had to came back from down 2 sets and 4-1 in the third to win. Nadal was not expected to make it to the final at Wimbledon - although he is quite capable on hard courts and is the world’s premier clay courter, he has never proven anything on grass. It’s for this reason that Federer has to be concerned. Wimbledon is Federer’s baby, rarely has he been challenged on the grass courts in the past 3 years since he made his climb to the top of the sport. If he loses to Nadal in the final of his favourite tournament, I don’t know how he will recover. I think this has all the ingredients to be one of the classic Wimbledon finals. I think Nadal is going to really trouble Federer in the final, especially if the young Spaniard can win the first set. With this being said, I still expect Federer to win, but it won’t be a dominating victory.

Defeat is something Federer has not been used to in recent years

Back in Australia, the Bledisloe Cup gets underway this weekend. New Zealand currently hold the cup, but the Aussies will be looking to win it back after losing it to the Kiwis 3 years ago. The Wallabies have been in pretty good form, but the All Blacks have been playing just as well. It should be a great game, and as soon as I see it I’ll write an update on it!

The Bledisloe Cup

Great gesture by both Jens Lehman and the German coaching staff to put Oliver Kahn back in goals for the third place match against Portugal this weekend. Lehman and Kahn are two of the greatest keepers in the world and Kahn is the reigning Golden Ball winner as the most outstanding player in the previous World Cup. Lehman and Kahn had a very tight battle for the starting position on the team, but Lehman won that competition and Kahn was relegated to the bench.

Lehman came out and stated that he would be happy for Kahn to play in the third place game, and despite the German officials saying it wasn’t a ‘thank you’ type gesture to Kahn, it’s obvious that it is because if they made the final, Kahn wouldn’t be playing. It’s nice to see that despite the heated battle to win the top spot, the two still have enough respect for each other to make a gesture like this.

Lehman of Arsenal and Kahn of Bayern Munich shake hands