Zidane is a hero, Materazzi is a zero

I was hugely disappointed in the outcome of Sunday’s game and still feel like the best team didn’t win. More disappointing still, was the fact that one of my favourite World Cup heroes ever, Zinédine Zidane, ended his career on a sour note.

From what I can tell, Zidane is basically the Pete Sampras of football. He’s essentially a quiet guy, who blows up on occasion. There is one other head-butting incident from his days at Juventus and his nickname is the Mad Monk. Nevertheless, the Zidane camp is saying that it takes a lot to provoke Zizou.

Apparently FIFA thinks so too as they’re now looking into Marco Materazzi’s involvement in the head-butting incident. While initially denying that he did anything to provoke such a reaction from Zidane, here is what Materazzi had to say when he found out he was being investigated:

“I did insult him, it’s true, but I categorically did not call him a terrorist,” Materazzi said. “I’m not cultured and I don’t even know what an Islamic terrorist is. I held his shirt for a few seconds only, then he turned round and spoke to me, sneering. He looked me up and down arrogantly and said, ‘If you really want my shirt, I’ll give it to you afterwards’. ”

Hmm. So now he’s being investigated, he’s coming clean about the insult, which he initially had denied. Publicly, Materazzi has, at best, a spotty disciplinary record in the sport of football.

The speculation is that the insult he uttered involved:

• An insulting comment about Zidane’s mother
• A racist remark about Zidane or his mom being a terrorist (Zidane’s parents are Algerian)

Given all the circumstantial evidence, I’m going to go ahead and make my judgement on this one. Yes, head-butting an opponent is inappropriate. However, if said opponent is insulting your family or your race than he better duck, ‘cause I’m expecting to see a swing.


Materazzi is lucky that it was Zidane he was insulting and that he only got a head-butt to the chest. If he had pulled the same shit with someone like Wayne Rooney, he would’ve gotten his ass beaten to a pulp. I hope that the rumours aren’t true and that Materazzi didn’t say what people are saying he did. But if they are, I hope Italy meets France in the finals of Euro 2008 and Theirry Henry elbows him in the face. Hockey styles.

Endquote

One of Italy’s senators, Roberto Calderoli (who once showed up to work wearing a t-shirt with the offensive Mohammed cartoons on it), comments on the French team post-World Cup:

"Italy beat a team which, in the quest for results, sacrificed its own identity by selecting blacks, Muslims and communists"

Makes you wonder. Is Italy the new Germany?