I accept that what Zidane did was wrong, no matter what provoked him, BUT, under the laws of the game, he should have stayed on the park. This was not only a sad day for the French - but - football in general.
It was agreed BEFORE the finals, that video evidence would NOT be used for ANY decisions DURING the game.
Both the French and Italian managers agreed, "in their view that the Argentinian referee only showed the red card after his assistants had studied the incident on a television monitor by the side of the pitch. It is claimed the officials then contravened Fifa regulations by informing Elizondo of a head-butt that went unseen at the time.
The referee saw nothing, the assistant referee saw nothing and then we have the fourth official seeing the video replay and telling the referee.
Even Italian coach Lippi countered: “You will realise that it was not Materazzi who got the attention of the referee. It was the fourth and fifth officials looking at the video at the edge of the pitch. We did not do anything. They saw it and they called the attention of the referee.
Ironically, Zidane should have stayed on the park, (under the agreed laws of the game) and any repercusions should have been dealt with during a post match analysis.
I wonder how many other future decisions will be decided by 'trial by television'? Can you now image the outrage at wrong penalty or off-side - with referees unwilling to use televisual evidence? Surely we either accept it 100% or not at all?
It was the fourth offical.
Fair enough, he was a cock.
It's about time we stamped down on cheats and shit, and I'm all for it as long as it doesn't turn into US style stop start.
The Zidane incident overshadows Italy's triumph.
From the BBC:
"Materazzi himself has not spoken publicly about the incident except to deny a claim by Paris-based anti-racism group SOS Racism, made on Monday, that he had called Zidane "a dirty terrorist".
"It is absolutely not true, I did not call him a terrorist. I'm ignorant. I don't even know what the word means," the Italian news agency Ansa quoted Materazzi as saying after the Italian team returned to Rome."
How ignorant can a man be to not know the meaning of the word "terrorist" ? Sorry but this sounds like lying. I hope we know the truth soon or this case will always blacken Italy's victory.
They were talking on the news this morning before I left for work about what a forensic lip reader said that Mater-whatsit had said to turn our beloved Zizou from the most cool calm and collected man in football into Ram-Man from the He-Man cartoons!
I missed the item as it was on after 7:20, but I just found an article relating to it. I can kind of see why Zidane lost his cool:
"London - Italy's Marco Materazzi called Zinedine Zidane a "son of a terrorist whore" just before the France captain gave him a brutal headbutt in the World Cup final, Britain's top forensic lip reader says.
The Times newspaper hired Jessica Rees, whose skill has seen her summoned as an expert witness at criminal trials, to study a tape of Sunday's match that saw Zidane get a red card for his seemingly spontaneous assault.
"After an exhaustive study of the match video, and with the help of an Italian translator, Rees claimed that Materazzi called Zidane 'the son of a terrorist whore' before adding 'so just f*** off' for good measure," it said.
Materazzi on Monday denied calling Zidane a terrorist, adding that "I don't even know what the word means".
The Daily Mail - who wrongly described Marseilles native Zidane as "Algeria-born" - said on Tuesday that it too engaged the services of a lip reader, whom it did not identify, who reached the exact same conclusion as Rees."
You must understand! Zidane got excited when the guys from Square Enix told him he will apear in the next Final Fantasy game!
So he was trying the new moves! link
And this is his special attack (Ultimate HeadButt) link
xD
Serry... wrote: Football is not the game of gentlemen anymore. Since the 80s I think. Proved by Materazzi and FIFA.
Football has been an aggressive game with dirty players since the day one.
Anyone remember the 1962 World Cup match between Italy and Chile?
I remember how few players told to the ref that there wasn't goal. And it were the guys who scored the goal. I remember how footballers didn't scored penalties, because they knew that ref made mistake...
