Well,
for first congratulation to Italy, although I am not sure they really deserved the prize.
I mean about the matches, and mainly the final, as they played it. They played like Brasil sometimes: there were no plans, there were not any spice in their play, and I thought they will lost in the end. But not... I hate penalties, it is not the way a match should be ended. The golden goal should be the right choice.
Although I feel sad about what Zidane did, I think the respect part should be mentioned on Materazzi and not on Zidane. I do not think that Materazzi will ever reach to a level where Zidane reached, and he will not be ever a so skilled player on the field. So he should respect Zidane first, and not telling him what he said, instead thinking on the game: FOOTBALL, and try to score the goals ! Football is about goals, and not about menthal wars. Materazzi should act like Cannavaro or Gattuzo on the playfield, and thinking about the goals. The same is true for the Portuguese. If they acted less and played more with the ball, they would reach higher !
I also feel said about Trezeguet. He did not have a real chance to show what he can. They had a fantastic shoot with Wiltord, just as they did on the last EuroChamps. I am sure if the coach let him play and let the team play with 3 strikers like, Henry, Trezeguet and Wiltord/Zidane they would tear apart the Italian defense within a minute. But this did not happen... They played the same style as the Italians, and unfortunately they could not score a goal. But at the end the camera showed Trezeguet for minutes, like the person who caused the tragedy: missed the penalty. But he was not THE reason, it was the reason of a bad tactics by the French coach...
I am not a big football fan, but I did not really like this Championship: many teams could not show their superior capabilities, because of the bad tactics, waving performances, and the mentioned things which should not appear at all on the field...