Zinedane Zidane - not just a footballing story
rehna July 11th, 2006
You may care nothing about football but this is a front page story not just a back page one.
Zinedane Zidane, arguably the greatest player of the modern era was famously sent off on Sunday night during the World Cup final. It was supposed to be his finest hour; captaining the rejuvenated French side in a final that should have brought them the coveted gold cup at the end of the game.
True to form Zidane, recently voted the greatest Frenchman ever, scored the first goal and put France ahead. And then suddenly, it all went horribly wrong. From nowhere came an incident which ended in ZZ headbutting Italian Marco Matterazzi and the red card came up. The footballing world’s last glimpse of its favourite son was as he descended the stairs to the dressing room in disgrace.
Italy’s win 20 minutes later seemed unimportant in the scheme of things.
The tabloids have had a field day. ‘ZZ blows his top’ and ‘Zid Vicious’ have been just two of the headlines.
Allegations are flying that Materazzi provoked Zidane with racial slurs and comments about his mother:
‘Shut up f****er.
Muslim terrorist bastard.
You’re the son of an Algerian terrorist whore
Your sister is a prostitute
Materazzi is also said to have told Zidane that he hoped his (Zidane’s coach who recently died) had ’suffered.’
The world seems divided on who is more to blame.
Footballers are heroes to young boys the world over
Was Zidane justified in acting as he did in the heat of the moment?
Should he have kept his cool even despite such provocation?
Should Materazzi be punished if the allegations are made out? Interestingly Materazzi has refused to say what he did actually say.
- The Life Salon
- Comments(14)
Did anybody see the snooker on BBC2?
I’m a drama queen but even i wouldn’t have behaved like that in a world cup final that’s just my view
It might not have been his finest moment but his career has been the finest I’ve seen in football in my lifetime. That’s what I will remember him for, not a moment of madness under pressure and under extreme provocation
If what was reporeted in the papers was true then Zizou did the right thing. There are always going to be people who say he shouldn’t have reacted like he did but there is only so much someone can take.
Twenty or thirty years from now, anyone who knows the slightest thing about football will rightly remember Zizou as one of the greatest players of all-time, it’s unlikely anyone will remember Materazzi’s name this time next year.
I agree with Maverick, it’s gonna be a long time before we see a player like Zizou again, players like Materazzi are ten a penny.
Zidane remains a hero. He is a genius in his field who has risen from the poorest suburbs of France where he learnt to stand up for himself against just this type of racial abuse. I’m not suggesting young boys should do as he did but he is not diminished in my estimation for his rash actions.
His opponent won the game, but will he really be proud of his”dirty” trophy? It seems awfully tarnished….
Apparently Zidane’s mother is seriously ill in hospital which can’t have helped the situation.
If you watch the footage you can see that Zidane is trying to walk away and is ignoring Materazzi. One can only assume that Materazzi must have redoubled his efforts to rattle his opponent until he succeeded.
Also Materazzi’s explanation that he doesn’t even know what a terrorist is, sounded a little lame. Zidane is due to give a press conference in the next day or two so we shall see.
I just wish he’d hit such a blinding header into the goal instead of into the other player’s chest. I had money on France to win!
Like it or not, professional footballers are role models for children and other would-be players. ZZ’s behavior was conduct unbecoming a world-class athlete, but it was understandable under the circumstances. He was under tremendous pressure in his personal life, not to mention the fact that he was playing in the World Cup finals, representing his country to the entire planet. Give him a break.
I saw him on the Sports News, and he apologized for what happened but he isn’t apologizing for what he did. Apparantly, he’s opponent made inappropriate remarks about his mother.
He’s professional ball player, he needs to act like a adult and suck it up. What he did was wrong. The other guy got what he wanted, he got the best player kicked out of the game - so who is the fool?
Remember when Mike Tyson bit the ears off of Evander Holifield? Holifield is known for head butting and butted Mike a few times before Tyson removed his ears. Now a great boxer will go down in history not for his KO’s but for the barbaric fight with Holifield.
ZZ might be a great guy and a terrific player but when he acted on Materazzi’s goading he sealed his own fate.
I feel for Zidane; he must have felt he let all of France down and wished he could have just walked away. The regret and enormity of what he did probably hit him one second after it happened, and he’ll have to carry that for the rest of his life.
I do trust his amazing career will be what people remember instead of this one incident, but I doubt it for most in the world - except perhaps the most avid of soccer fans who’ve followed his career and seen countless examples of his tremendous skill. Unfortunately, our darker sides come out in times like this and society loves to expose and exploit the worst days in a celebrity or professional athlete’s life. That scene of him head butting will keep being shown for years to come.
He is mediocre.