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Zidane-Materazzi Incident in FIFA World Cup Final
-- A Closer Look |
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I am not a hardcore football fan, and my favorite football team is neither Italy nor France, but I was drawn to watch the final of the FIFA World Cup 2006 between Italy and France on Sunday, July 9. Part of the magnetic pull was Zinedine Zidane, a great football player who exemplified the best in sportsmanship, civility and citizenship.
Zinedine Zidane rose to prominence in the football world despite the many obstacles in his way. He came to be loved by the French, in fact, to be considered quintessentially French. He proudly bore the hopes and dreams of his nation on his shoulders, delivered well when he won the World Cup for France in 1998. He is often spoken of in terms of endearment, lovingly called 'Zissou' by his French countrymen, respected by colleagues and opponents alike for his civility and restraint.
In this World Cup he brilliantly carried France all the way to the finals against Italy. This was to be his last match before retirement, and France was proudly holding its breath for a send-off that would have honoured his distinguished career as football great. Instead, the world was shocked when towards the end of the game, Zidane, apparently after trading some words with another Italian player, turned, took two steps forward and head-butted him in the chest, sending him falling backwards to the ground.
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I was shocked and alarmed. Shocked at his conduct in such a public space and alarmed at what the implications would be. I felt betrayed by this great man, who I never knew, yet whom I felt drawn to after reading about him. I immediately thought that he must have been provoked. Materazzi must have said something disgusting to make Zidane react in such a manner. At the same time, I felt that out of respect to his own self and his legacy, and to the millions of people who regard him in high esteem, he should have shown restraint, no matter how ugly the remarks were.
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The midfield star, who has now retired from football, appeared on French television on the last Wednesday to explain his actions. Here is a translation of what he told the TV channel Canal Plus about the Materazzi incident in the world cup final : |
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Interviewer : You know the Italian players well because you played in Italy for five years. Did you have any problem with any of them beforehand? |
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Zinedine Zidane : Not at all. You always have friction with certain players...that is the game, it has always been like that. But I never had any clashes with anyone.
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Interviewer : Nor Materazzi ? |
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Zinedine Zidane : No, never. There was nothing beforehand and nothing in the match until he started pulling my jersey.
He grabbed my shirt and I told him to stop. I told him if he wanted I'd swap it with him at the end of the match.
That is when he said some very hard words, which were harder than gestures. He repeated them several times. It all happened very quickly and he spoke about things which hurt me deep down.
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Interviewer : Everyone wants to know exactly what he said... |
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Zinedine Zidane : They were very serious things, very personal things.
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Interviewer : About your mother and your sister? |
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Zinedine Zidane : Yes. They were very hard words. You hear them once and you try to move away...
But then you hear them twice, and then a third time... I am a man and some words are harder to hear than actions. I would rather have taken a blow to the face than hear that.
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Interviewer : He said these things about your mother and sister two or three times ? |
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Zinedine Zidane : Yes. I reacted and of course it is not a gesture you should do. I must say that strongly.
It was seen by two or three billion people watching on television and millions and millions of children.
It was an inexcusable gesture and to them, and the people in education whose job it is to show children what they should and shouldn't do, I want to apologise.
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Interviewer : You apologise to them but do you really regret having done it ? |
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Zinedine Zidane : I can't regret it because if I do it would be like admitting that he was right to say all that. And above all, it was not right.
We always talk about the reaction, and inevitably it must be punished. But if there is no provocation, there is no reaction.
First of all you have to say there is provocation, and the guilty one is the one who does the provoking. The response is to always punish the reaction, but if I react, something has happened.
Do you imagine that in a World Cup final like that, with just 10 minutes to go to the end of my career, I am going to do something like that because it gives me pleasure?
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Interviewer : No of course not. But at the moment you exploded... |
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Zinedine Zidane : There was provocation, and it was very serious, that is all. My action was inexcusable but you have to punish the real culprit, and the real culprit is the one who provoked it. Voila.
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Different people may have different opinions about this Zidane-Materazzi incident... but my personal opinion is : I have trusted every single word Zidane said in this interview. FIFA has recently started investigating the incident with the help of some world famous lip-readers... and as far as I know, most lip-readers are saying the same thing as Zidane said. The interesting thing is : I haven't been shocked at all at the sick provocation Materazzi did to Zidane because of his famous (or ugly?) footballing records in Italian League, I heard that Materazzi is well known as 'bad boy' (only bad ?) in his country... and I think, Italy is so lucky and so proud, producing a player like Materazzi. Yap... they should feel proud...they won the World Cup Trophy with the help of players like him. May be, Materazzi will remain as one of the famous heroes in Italian History, but he will remain as one of the ugliest football player in my dictionary. You people can argue against me... but I'm sorry... that's the way I think....
Related Links :
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Finally, I think, most of you have already heard about the match fixing scandal of the top four teams in Italian Football League (AC Milan, Juventus, Lazio and Fiorentina)... Most of the players of the World Cup Winning Italian Team play for those teams... After a long investigation, Italian Football Federation found this scandal true and gave them a severe punishment for conspiring to rig matches in the top division during the 2004/05 season. Read more about their match fixing scandal and their punishment from here. |
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Source of the Zidane Interview: BBC Sports |
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Herramientas 
Ayuda
