I thought he was a real football hero. Guess I was wrong.
Every team I have rooted for during this World Cup--USA, Netherlands, England, Germany, and finally France--has gone down almost as soon as I switched to supporting them. I have no good record of picking winners.
Still, thanks to Zidane, I thought France was a safe bet. He seemed like a man on fire. I could have sworn that I saw a polished veteran who not only knew how to put the ball in the net when it matters, but whose stellar example had lifted his entire team to another level.
Oh well, never mind.
For the record, on some level I actually feel bad for Zidane. There's not much comparison, but in the most important soccer game I ever played--the Louisiana high school state championship in 1995--I was also red carded and thrown out of the game. (I still have the card with the date written on it taped on my wall.) What I did had none of the seeming malice of Zidane's headbutt; I simply ran into a guy and knocked him over in a weird combination of aggression and clumsiness. But it was equally stupid.
And so I sat in the stands, incredibly distraught, hoping my team could hold on to its 1-0 lead. We did, and so my red card didn't really matter. By contrast, I'm convinced that France lost because Zidane, in his stupidity, was no longer on the field. They needed him, for a well placed penalty kick if nothing else. And that's something he's going to have to live with for the rest of his life.
P.S.: To see the headbutt, go here, video provided by the great new site Searchles, which you should totally check out....
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Chris,
I think you are being a little harsh on Zidane. I'm not justifying what he did - far from it - but it looks like he was provoked. More importantly, he was tireing before that point. It is questionable whether he could have rallied the troops for a goal in the 2nd overtime, and just as importantly, Trezeguet would have taken (and missed?) a kick even if Zidane was on the field. So, it's moot. Yes, Zidane was dumb. Did he cost them the game? No.
/Speaking as someone who was shouting for France.
You're very hard on Zidane. I was cheering for Italy, but I felt bad for him, and upset for the stupid thing he did. But it wasn't his fault that France lost the shootout. I know that as humans we have this deep sense of karma, but Italy netted 5/5 ... and Trezeguet, whose miss had nothing to do with Zidane, will have nightmares for years to come.
{{I thought he was a real football hero. Guess I was wrong.}}
what an awful thing to say! Particularly without irony.
What he did was bad. But no one knows the reason for what he did, even if it was a cerebral meltdown, and not exusable. (For example: fatigue, pain from his injury clouding his thoughts, or something awful mattarazzi said to him. It was reported that mattarazzi used a racial slur against Zidane right before the incident.)
Well, obviously, Chris Mooney has never watch, heard of, or played football in his life, despite his lousy Louisiana state championship game which i'm guessing you got to play max 2 minutes, b.c the coach desperately needed you to go in for a little. Go crawl back up in your cave and wait there until pigs fly. Zidane is the greatest player in the world,he is the greatest footballer EVER, he has the best vision, and despite what he did against Materazzi he is a world class player with great control on the field, he can determine the pace at any given point, he scores in the big games, he is skillful, and has mastered every single aspect of football. SOme might consider his act class-less but I support him 150%, b/c whatever materazzi said was deserving of a headbutt, maybe a headbutt in the face would have taught him a better lesson to shut his mouth!
also, i guess you weren't paying attention to the entire world cup when one of the biggest issues the players tried to fight against was racism, you know the whole anti-racism speech each captain had to make before a game? well, since fifa would never fine materazzi for what he said to zidane b.c they themselves did not hear it, zidane punished him in a very justifiable way:)
Admit it. You rooted for Australia first, didn't you?
I wonder what the Italian guy said to him that set him off? It is disappointing that arguably the most seasoned and polished player on the field threw away an opportunity he had spent his whole life pursuing in a moment of anger.
it's not like this is the first time he's headbutted another player on the pitch. but I guess Americans that don't follow football wouldn't know that...
Sometimes, those who behave recklessly and make foolish mistakes pay for them, but more often, other people do.
The hero was Buffon, who really won the game when he sent Zidane's ball over the top. As my aunt says, "che bravo ragazzo Buffon!!!!" Sorry, I was rooting for the Italians - aka, the "Campioni del Mondo." Greetings from the Marine Republic of Pisa.... (where I am now)
The word is that he was provoked by being called "a terrorist." I too was initially very disappointed by his actions in the game. But after growing up with constant racial epithets yelled at me on and off of the field as a young soccer player of color in an affluent suburb of Boston, I have to admit that I understand the urge to lash out. The fact that this was potentially his final international and national match and happened to also be the World Cup final, no doubt had a role in fanning his emotions.
I really hope that he will take the opportunity to speak out on the incident and perhaps spark a larger debate on racism in FIFA and in general. I find it particularly ironic that it happened, given that the UK read that anti-racism pledge before their game. Perhaps even more ironic is that it happened on the very same ground where Jesse Owens, in front of Hitler himself, shattered widely held views on race.
All that said, it's too bad that a 34-year-old Zidane was not able to control his emotions one more time and rise above the blatant ignorance and intential provocation. At least he got the Golden Ball anyway.
Folks,
Let's wait to find out a little more about what happened, but I doubt I will change my mind and start defending the headbutt.....Thanks for all your comments.
No matter what was said to him a headbutt is not the answer. He should have known such an action would have gotten him a red card. All this support of someone who reacts like that on the field is ridiulous. There is no excuse for it.
Sylvia,
I completely agree. Buffon really saved the game.
Chris,
When you take one action by Zidane, (and a stupid/horrible action it was) and over-interpret it's importance, (i.e. blaming the loss of the World Cup on him), you insult everyone who loves the game. That's why the reactions are a little hostile to you (too hostile I think). So I agree that there is no justification for his headbutt, however please don't mindlessly reduce the entire game into some pseudo-morality karma thing. You act like the dodo right wing morality police when you do so, and people who know better just get ticked-off.
Hey surprise, surprise people, Zidane is as human as the rest of us, vulnerable to his emotions, which got the better of him when it counted most. Sure it's not how you want a great player's swan song to end, but maybe the headbutt was needed. I'm curious as hell as to what Materazzi said.
Zidane's history is not only as a very talented player, arguably one of the best ever, but one reason he's so able is his apparently fiery temperament. But it gets him in trouble. In the '98 World Cup, he was red-carded and had to sit out two games, if I recall correctly. But he went on to lead the French to a win in the final game and the cup. Fiery and detemined people sometime lose it. It just too bad it happened to him in this particular game, although it seems clear to me that it didn't affect the outcome.
It was just reported on several news programs that Materazzi insulted Zidane's mother and sister. I was disturbed that several commentators seemed to think that it would have been OK to physically attack Materazzi if those remarks had been racial.
Since when is violence the accepted reponse to insulting speech if the subject of the insult was racial?