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FIFA to Investigate Zidane's Head Butt
France's Zineidine Zidane walks past Marco Materazzi, on the ground, after he received a red card in the final of the soccer World Cup between Italy and France in the Olympic Stadium in Berlin, Sunday, July 9, 2006. (AP Photo/Luca Bruno)
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- Public Discussion (10)
According to Soccernet, the exchange was more like:
Zidane: If you really want my shirt I'll give it to you afterwards.
Materazzi: I'd rather take the shirt off your wife.
- 9 votes
#1 - Tue Jul 11, 2006 9:49 AM EDTIf that's the case (and true), I can't blame him for getting heated.
- 3 votes
What? That sort of banter is thrown around ALL the time (especially among rival sports teams). If that's the case (and true), I can definitely blame Zidane for getting heated.
- 5 votes
I side with Apostle on this one. Straight from the article:
'It was one of those insults you're told dozens of times and that you often let fall on a pitch,' Materazzi said.
- 2 votes
I blame them both, they are like two kids in the school yard.
- 2 votes
They're both to blame, but the question is whether the "reply" by Zidane was a proportional response. If Materazzi said something about Zidane's wife, then maybe a push or a stare-down would be proportional, but not a head-butt. I expect change back from my two cents....
- 1 vote
The things that most people need to understand are Zidane's cultural background and also the more intricate workings of soccer. For anyone in North America trash talking is part of the sport. We're used to it because of American football, hockey, lacrosse, basketball, etc. The style of trash talking is very harsh but the athletes in those sports are used to it.
I'm not saying trash talking is missing in soccer but from what I can gather it's a different form of trash talking. With the European teams because there are so many different languages a good portion of the trash talk is just things they've heard from other players to which they may not know the meaning.
The cultural difference has to do with the way the Zidane was brought up. If he values his family very highly — which I've heard — then it makes sense that he wouldn't stand for blatant rips on his wife/mother/etc. To some people family is much more important than a gold statue.
Now, before I get lynched, all I'm trying to do is show another side of the story. I can understand, based on what information has be revealed so far, where Zidane is coming from. I can also see what Materazzi was trying to do, whether he knew it or not.
In the end I think it all comes down to their respective track records. Zidane has had outbursts before but they seem to be few. Materazzi on the other hand, has done some very, very questionable things and seems to be in the center of the attention fairly often.
When keeping it real goes wrong.
Zinedine Zidane was on his last day of his football career. No better day to finish his journey than on a World Cup final. With only 10 minutes to go before Penalty kicks, Zidane was not amuzed by the way Materazzi kept grabbing his jersey throughout the evening. Zidane asked him to stop, by making a joke.
Zidane: if you want my jersey that bad, I'll take it off and give it to you after the game.
but Materazzi replied with
Materazzi: Go @!$%# yourself
by which Zidane smirks and began to run away, unfortunately for him, this is when Materazzi said
Materazzi: You dirty terrorist, I hope your mom has a painful death at the hospital
Zidane could have let it go, this was in fact the last day of his career, but he decided to keep it real.
He snapped. Zidane stopped, turned around, and hit Materazzi directly in the chest using his head. A head-butt that would have made Bruce Lee proud.
It was inevitable that a red card would follow, and an end to his career. One of the greatest footballers of our lives end his last match on such shameful behavior.
You're already seen the footage but here at the Frenzy Report, we also like to keep it real, and decided to provide you with a link to the footage of the entire incident with arabic commentaries.
ps. Yallah. Praise Zizou.
#2 - Wed Jul 12, 2006 2:22 AM EDTThe real question is: If Zidane responded with violence for being called a terrorist, being Muslim, will he be sent to Guantanamo?
#3 - Wed Jul 12, 2006 5:38 AM EDTYou're in Easy Mode. If you prefer, you can use XHTML Mode instead. |
