Zinedine Zidane

Nomad asked about the Zidane head butt incident at the World Cup Final. We were at the Palisades Mall with some friends (celebrating a birthday party for one) watching the final. It was a pretty good game, especially at the beginning. Zidane had gotten a penalty kick (another player fouled him pretty badly) and got a goal. Italy countered by getting a goal about 10 minutes later... and that was it for scoring until the penalty kicks at the end.

One reason that Italy won those kicks, some say, is that Zidane was given a red card in the last half of overtime. In soccer, the clock doesn't stop, and when they are done with regulation time (90 minutes) they go into overtime, two periods of 15 minutes each. If there is still a dead lock, they go to penalty kicks to decide the winner. This is only true in elimination tournaments, otherwise soccer allows tie scores.

Anyway, in the last half of the overtime, Zidane was walking away from an Italian player, when he inexplicably stopped, turned around, and head butted the guy! You can see video here. The official didn't see it, but another of the officials saw an instant replay, and called the refs attention to it, and he then gave Zidane the red card (which means he is out of the game). France had used up all its substitutions, and had to finish play with 1 man out. Then, in the penalty round, one French player missed the goal, and the Italians won.

Controversy has sprung up over the use of instant replay, and the reason that Zidane head butted the guy (one story says he was called a terrorist by the other player), and the impact that this had on the game, and on Zidane's legend if you will.

This was Zidane's last game. He had made it known that he was retiring after this world cup. He is widely regarded as the best player in the game, and he had pretty much single handedly rallied France in the cup, and brought them to the final.

So this was a really stupid move. Alot of people will remember him as the guy who did the head butt, and will only see the stupid move he made, and not the brilliant career he had before. The news shows and sports shows will always mention that when talking about him.

So it was sad to see it happen, and see such a brilliant career end that way.

As for the use of instant replay, who cares. He didn't deny he did it, it was pretty obvious. Others saw it. And it was a pretty serious head butt.

And as for the reasons... it shouldn't matter what you are called. Certain things are against the rules, and are just plain unsportsmanlike. If he was called a terrorist, he should respond graciously, and tell someone in authority who could do something about it.

So... there are my thoughts. It was a fun game, and a fun time. There were ALOT of people in the sports bar where we were, and there was a mix of French and Italian fans, which made for alot of fun.

And yes, we were rooting for Italy. Bravi Azzurri! Viva Italia!

Now if only the American team could get it together...