The Zidane mystery: what set him off?
By JEROME PUGMIRE, AP Sports WriterJuly 10, 2006
AP - Jul 10, 10:44 am
BERLIN (AP) -- Was it something he said?
With France and Italy tied in extra time of Sunday's World Cup final, Zinedine Zidane head-butted Marco Materazzi in the chest and was ejected. France went on to lose on penalty kicks.
The day after, still no one knew what the Italian defender might have said to the French star.
"The Italians did everything they could do to provoke Zidane," France defender William Gallas said.
Seconds before, Materazzi had grabbed a handful of Zidane's jersey just as a French attack on goal passed harmlessly by. The two exchanged words as they walked back up the field, well behind the play. Then, without warning, Zidane spun around, lowered his head and rammed Materazzi, knocking him to the ground.
The Paris-based anti-racism advocacy group SOS-Racism issued a statement Monday quoting "several very well informed sources from the world of football" as saying Materazzi called Zidane a "dirty terrorist." It demanded that FIFA, soccer's world governing body, investigate and take any appropriate action.
FIFA, which reviews all red cards at the World Cup, would not comment on the specifics.
"This is a disciplinary matter now. I can't give any statements now," FIFA spokesman Markus Siegler said.
Materazzi, meanwhile, was quoted as denying the terrorist comment.
"It is absolutely not true, I didn't call him a terrorist, I don't know anything about that," the Italian news agency ANSA quoted Materazzi as saying when he arrived with his team at an Italian military airfield.
"What happened is what all the world saw live on TV," the Italian player said, referring to the head-butting.
Zidane's agent, Alain Migliaccio, was quoted by the BBC as saying the France captain told him the Italian "said something very serious to him, but he wouldn't tell me what."
Whatever it was, it was enough to infuriate Zidane.
"Zizou is someone who reacts to things," said Aime Jacquet, Zidane's coach at the 1998 World Cup. "Unfortunately he could not control himself. It's terrible to see him leave this way."
Even with the ejection, Zidane still won the Golden Ball as the World Cup's best player.
Zidane, who came out of retirement to help France qualify for the World Cup and said he would quit soccer completely after the tournament, got 2,012 points in the vote by journalists covering the tournament. The three-time player of the year beat Fabio Cannavaro (1,977) and Andrea Pirlo (715), both of Italy.
Zidane's red card was anything but unusual. He was sent off 14 times in his career at the club and international level.
At the 1998 World Cup, he stomped on a Saudi Arabian opponent. Sitting out a two-match ban, he came back to score two goals against Brazil in the final.
Five years ago with Juventus, he head-butted an opponent in a Champions League match against Hamburger SV after being tackled from behind.
The reaction to Sunday's outburst was mixed in France. President Jacques Chirac called Zidane "a genius of world football," and former Sports Minister Marie-George Buffet said Zidane's aggressive act was unforgivable for its effect on children watching the game.
"This morning, Zinedine, what do we tell our children, and all those for whom you were the living role model for all times?" French sports daily L'Equipe wrote.
Zidane, whose parents emigrated to France from Algeria, became a proud symbol of a multicultural France and is adored in Algeria.
In the mountains where Zidane's parents grew up, Atmanne Chelouah carried off a life-size cardboard cutout of the player at "Cafe Zizou" after the red card.
"We are very disappointed," Chelouah said. "He should have kept his cool."
But lashing out is nothing new to Zidane, who grew up playing on concrete in an impoverished immigrant neighborhood of Marseille, where fouls and insults are met with instant retribution.
Perhaps he could never shake off that you-or-me mentality.
"You can take the man out of the rough neighborhood, but you can't take the rough neighborhood out of the man," striker Thierry Henry said Sunday.
At this year's World Cup, where Zidane sat out one match for getting two yellow cards in the first round, he sent a message to his teammates. In a rare television interview, he said, "We die together."
They were ready to go as far as they could for him, yet he punished them.
"He'll carry that weight for a long time," France coach Raymond Domenech said of Zidane's latest red card.
Zidane nearly won the match with a late header after giving France an early lead with a penalty, taking two steps forward to slowly chip the ball into the air while goalkeeper Gianluigi Buffon dived to his right.
It was his third goal of the tournament and sixth in the last 10 major tournament matches. He scored three at the 2004 European Championship.
Zidane's teammates had all wanted to help him to one last trophy. Failing that, they refused to kick him when he was down.
"For all that Zidane has done for the national team, you have to say 'Thank you and well done,"' said striker David Trezeguet, the only player to miss his penalty kick in the shootout.
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ZIDANE APOLOGIEZES
Zidane apologizes for violent conduct during World Cup final, says Materazzi insulted his family
Zidane apologizes for violent conduct during World Cup final, says Materazzi insulted his family
By ANGELA DOLAND, Associated Press Writer
July 12, 2006
AP - Jul 10, 10:44 am EDT
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PARIS (AP) -- An apology, but no regrets and no detailed explanation on what set him off.
That's where French soccer star Zinedine Zidane left things Wednesday during widely broadcast television interviews that attempted to decipher his ugly head-butting of an Italian opponent during the World Cup final.
He did say he was spurred by cruel insults to his mother and sister. But the exact exchange between France's captain and Marco Materazzi remains a mystery. Zidane never was specific about what enraged him. So, for the moment, the words stay between them.
"I would rather have taken a punch in the jaw than have heard that," he told the Canal-Plus television network, stressing that Materazzi's language was "very harsh," and that he uttered the insults several times.
In his first public comments since Sunday's match, Zidane repeatedly apologized to fans -- especially to children. But he said he didn't regret the abrupt, violent outburst that marked the end of his illustrious 18-year professional career.
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"I tell myself that if things happened this way, it's because somewhere up there it was decided that way," the 34-year-old midfielder said in an interview on TF1 television. "And I don't regret anything that happened, I accept it."
Zidane and Materazzi exchanged words after Italy broke up a French attack in extra-time. Seconds later, Zidane lowered his head and rammed Materazzi in the chest, knocking him to the ground.
Zidane was sent off, reducing France to 10 men. Italy went on to win in a penalty shootout with Zidane in the locker room.
The act of aggression marred the end of the World Cup, with many warning it would tarnish the legacy of Zidane, who retired after the tournament.
Wednesday, he stressed he felt no regret "because that would mean (Materazzi) was right to say all that."
"There was a serious provocation," Zidane said. "My act is not forgivable. But they must also punish the true guilty party, and the guilty party is the one who provokes."
For days, sports fans around the world have been riveted by the question: What could Materazzi have said to set Zidane off in the last few moments of his illustrious, 18-year career? Media from Brazil to Britain hired lip readers to try to figure it out, then came up with different answers.
Materazzi has acknowledged he insulted Zidane, without giving specifics. At nearly the same moment Zidane was on TV, excerpts from a Materazzi interview were posted on an Italian paper's Web site. He denied insulting Zidane's mother.
"I didn't say anything to him about racism, religion or politics," Materazzi told the Gazzetta dello Sport. "I didn't talk about his mother, either. I lost my mother when I was 15, and even now I still get emotional talking about her."
Zidane "has always been my hero," Materazzi said. "I admire him a lot."
Materazzi spoke to Zidane in Italian. Zidane, who played several years for Juventus in Turin, speaks Italian.
Despite the head-butt, Zidane was awarded the Golden Ball award for best player at the World Cup -- though FIFA president Sepp Blatter has suggested Zidane could be stripped of the honor.
"The winner of the award is not decided by FIFA, but by an international commission of journalists," Blatter said in Italian newspaper La Repubblica. "That said, FIFA's executive committee has the right, and the duty, to intervene when faced with behavior contrary to the ethics of the sport."
FIFA's disciplinary committee opened an inquiry Tuesday into Zidane's behavior. His red card was not unusual: Zidane was sent off 14 times in his career at the club and international level.
Despite his temper, Zidane is better known for his sportsmanship and dancer-like technique. He is a national hero for the French and a symbol of a young, multicultural France. Born to Algerian immigrants, Zidane grew up playing on concrete in an impoverished neighborhood of Marseille.
President Jacques Chirac has had only kind words for Zidane since the match -- reassuring him that France still "admires and loves him." Many in France already have pardoned Zidane: A poll published Tuesday in Le Parisien newspaper showed 61 percent of the 802 people questioned forgave Zidane.
Zidane said many people have asked him not to retire, but he said he would not change his mind.
"I won't go back on it, at least I hope so. ... It's definitive," he said.
Zidane told TF1 television he was "going to rest, and then move on to something else."
AP Sports Writer Andrew Dampf in Rome contributed to this report.
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