Was it something he said?
With France and Italy level in extra time of Sunday's World Cup final,
Zinedine Zidane head-butted Marco Materazzi in the chest and was sent off.
France went on to lose on penalty kicks.
Italy's Marco
Materazzi falls on the pitch after being head-butted by France's Zinedine
Zidane (R) during their World Cup 2006 final soccer match in Berlin July
9, 2006. [Reuters] |
The day after, still no one knew what the Italian defender might have said to
the French captain.
"The Italians did everything they could do to provoke Zidane," France
defender William Gallas said.
Seconds before, Materazzi had wrapped his arm around Zidane 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
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.
