Don't quote me on that...
Source: Agencies |
July 13, 2010, Tuesday
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Print Edition
Print Edition
COACHES and players are often talked about, not always because of their on-field performance, but also for comments made off the pitch. Below are some of the most memorable ones from the one-month tournament.
- "Come to your senses, people. He's not a hero, he's a trivial cheat. What hand of God? It was the hand of the devil," Ghana's Serbian coach Milovan Rajevac said about Uruguayan striker Luis Suarez who stopped a goal-bound shot with his hand on the line in the last minute of extra time in their World Cup quarterfinal. Suarez's "Hand of God" denied Ghana the prize of becoming the first African team to reach the last four of a World Cup.
- "We feel like a small footballing nation and it hurts. There's nothing to say other than it's a catastrophe," France captain Patrice Evra summed up the embarrassing display from the 2006 World Cup runner-up. France not only finished bottom of a group it was favorite to win, but also created an unseemly side-show with its protests at the expulsion of striker Nicolas Anelka.
- "This was (like) a punch from Muhammad Ali. I have no strength for anything. The day I quit playing football could (have been) similar but this is much harder," Maradona said after Argentina's 0-4 thrashing by Germany, its worst defeat since a 1-6 rout by Czechoslovakia in 1958.
- "When they show highlights from 1970, all you see are the good parts. From 1958, they just show the good parts, and from 1962, they also just show the good parts. If we take the current Brazilian team and just show the best bits, fans will think it's a spectacular team. But today, they show as many negative moments as good ones." Dunga claims Brazil's memorable 1970 team was not as good as it looked on the television.
- "I know that sometimes I go over the top. It's something I've been thinking about a lot and I know it's something that all Brazilians are worried about. My father is always on my case about this, he won't stop reminding me," said Brazil midfielder Felipe Melo before the World Cup on the importance of not receiving a red card. He was later sent off in the quarterfinal against Netherlands for stamping on an opponent.
- "We always have to win but even when we win, they are not happy because we didn't put on a show. If we put on a show, they are not happy because we didn't score six or seven goals. If we score six or seven goals, then they say that the opposition was no good," said Brazil coach Dunga, claiming media are just never satisfied.
- "Four years ago we were hailed as champions, today we are playing like billy goats," Italian midfielder Gennaro Gattuso said in an unusually brutal honest assessment of the defending champion's dreadful showing at the tournament.
- "He can't take charge of his own children. I don't know how he manages it on a football pitch," wife of World Cup final referee Howard Webb said ahead of the last match.
- "Absolutely nobody can do it like me! Mine was the first one, totally improvised. You need natural rhythm, movement of the hips. It is all about spontaneity, and it has to be personal, your own thing. Of course, you also have to score a goal first, don't forget!" said Roger Milla of his hip-shaking goal celebrations. Milla's corner-flag dance routine was as famous as his goals for Cameroon when it reached the 1990 quarterfinals.
- "Football is like a short blanket, it either covers your head or it covers your feet," Uruguay coach Oscar Tabarez said about South Korea's defense problems ahead of beating the Asians in the knockout stages.
- "We all learn from mistakes which we make and from mistakes which we have seen other people make, and we try to avoid making them. This is the process of making a mistake and avoiding making it again, seeing how others make mistakes to avoid making the same mistake, it's a process which is not stable, nor can it be measured." Chile's incomprehensible coach Marcelo Bielsa on the importance of learning from mistakes.
- "Come to your senses, people. He's not a hero, he's a trivial cheat. What hand of God? It was the hand of the devil," Ghana's Serbian coach Milovan Rajevac said about Uruguayan striker Luis Suarez who stopped a goal-bound shot with his hand on the line in the last minute of extra time in their World Cup quarterfinal. Suarez's "Hand of God" denied Ghana the prize of becoming the first African team to reach the last four of a World Cup.
- "We feel like a small footballing nation and it hurts. There's nothing to say other than it's a catastrophe," France captain Patrice Evra summed up the embarrassing display from the 2006 World Cup runner-up. France not only finished bottom of a group it was favorite to win, but also created an unseemly side-show with its protests at the expulsion of striker Nicolas Anelka.
- "This was (like) a punch from Muhammad Ali. I have no strength for anything. The day I quit playing football could (have been) similar but this is much harder," Maradona said after Argentina's 0-4 thrashing by Germany, its worst defeat since a 1-6 rout by Czechoslovakia in 1958.
- "When they show highlights from 1970, all you see are the good parts. From 1958, they just show the good parts, and from 1962, they also just show the good parts. If we take the current Brazilian team and just show the best bits, fans will think it's a spectacular team. But today, they show as many negative moments as good ones." Dunga claims Brazil's memorable 1970 team was not as good as it looked on the television.
- "I know that sometimes I go over the top. It's something I've been thinking about a lot and I know it's something that all Brazilians are worried about. My father is always on my case about this, he won't stop reminding me," said Brazil midfielder Felipe Melo before the World Cup on the importance of not receiving a red card. He was later sent off in the quarterfinal against Netherlands for stamping on an opponent.
- "We always have to win but even when we win, they are not happy because we didn't put on a show. If we put on a show, they are not happy because we didn't score six or seven goals. If we score six or seven goals, then they say that the opposition was no good," said Brazil coach Dunga, claiming media are just never satisfied.
- "Four years ago we were hailed as champions, today we are playing like billy goats," Italian midfielder Gennaro Gattuso said in an unusually brutal honest assessment of the defending champion's dreadful showing at the tournament.
- "He can't take charge of his own children. I don't know how he manages it on a football pitch," wife of World Cup final referee Howard Webb said ahead of the last match.
- "Absolutely nobody can do it like me! Mine was the first one, totally improvised. You need natural rhythm, movement of the hips. It is all about spontaneity, and it has to be personal, your own thing. Of course, you also have to score a goal first, don't forget!" said Roger Milla of his hip-shaking goal celebrations. Milla's corner-flag dance routine was as famous as his goals for Cameroon when it reached the 1990 quarterfinals.
- "Football is like a short blanket, it either covers your head or it covers your feet," Uruguay coach Oscar Tabarez said about South Korea's defense problems ahead of beating the Asians in the knockout stages.
- "We all learn from mistakes which we make and from mistakes which we have seen other people make, and we try to avoid making them. This is the process of making a mistake and avoiding making it again, seeing how others make mistakes to avoid making the same mistake, it's a process which is not stable, nor can it be measured." Chile's incomprehensible coach Marcelo Bielsa on the importance of learning from mistakes.
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