Or worse, for Zinedine Zidane to freaking headbutt him in the chest:
A rather inauspicious way to end a career, to put it mildly.
UPDATE: And Italy wins on PKs. Bravo, Zizou.
The Italian mafia have won. congrat, Italian corrupted soccer games have won,
Materazzi - according to another board I read - allegedly used a racial slur against Zidane, probably regarding his Algerian ancestry. Still no excuse for a player of his experience to lose his cool. He should've made a note of it and found Materazzi in the parking lot after the game, if he so desired.
And I don't agree that this is all he'll be remembered for. Maradona is still revered, after all.
What a let down at the end! It really detracted from the enjoyment of the rest of the game, and France's excellent play through the entire series. All I kept thinking of during the penalty kicks was that a sure goal was gone when Zidane got the boot, and that could have made all the difference.
On a related note. Although I do believe that Zidane should have been kicked out for the headbutt, I don't think any of the refs actually saw the infraction. I think the side ref only saw it on the jumbo-tron when they showed the replay.
I love the French announcer's version of WTF: "mais por quois? mais por quois? MAIS POR QUOIS?"
According to Wikipedia:
"Since both players refused to comment on the incident, there are various allegations about what led to Zidane's violent outburst. His agent, Alain Migliaccio has claimed that a "very serious" comment by Materazzi provoked the attack.[7] Reportedly, the deaf forensic lip-reader Jessica Rees was employed to analyze the video sequences with the help of an Italian translator. According to these reports, Materazzi spoke in Italian - a language understood by Zidane due to his time spent with Juventus F.C. - and first told him: "Hold on, wait, that one's not for a nigger like you." As the players walked forward, Materazzi allegedly said: "We all know you are the son of a terrorist whore." Then, just before the headbutt, he was seen saying: "So just fuck off." [8] [9] According to Brazilian TV Rede Globo, a lip-reader claimed that Materazzi twice called Zidane's sister a prostitute.[10] Earlier claims about Materazzi having called his opponent a "dirty terrorist" have been denied by Materazzi, who reportedly said: "It is absolutely not true, I did not call him a terrorist. I'm ignorant. I don't even know what the word means.""
I hope the truth will out. May Mater-Nazzi be shown for the racist litle bastard he is. I hope the Italian fans are very proud.
Thanks to Materazzi, Now we wouldn't know whether Italy are deserved winners a not? For with Zidane on the pitch, 1 min is all he needs to score a goal and end Italy's misery during the second half of extra time. Italy is so sluggish and tired at the extra time that they din even bother to attack when they're a man up. Materazzi should be recognised for the dirty, racist player that he is. FIFA should set a ban for him too!!!! Just remember that there are more to life than just soccer alone. Whatever Materazzi had done on the pitch will come back to haunt him forever. For when the story is out of what he said to Zidane, he'll definitely go down in the history books for not being a good defender, but more of a racist bast*** that he really is. Just check out on his tackles on other players in youtube and you'll know. More dirty tackles videos than his skills on a simple search ANYWHERE on the www.
The very shame is about all people who judge without knowing anything. Are you all serious? Are you all honest in your comments? I hear mafia and other stupid stereotypes about Italians, isn't that RACISM for you? Or maybe you think racism is just what you like should be?
And, about blaming Materazzi's words, what evidence do we have? How can you know that Materazzi really said that words? The one to blames are the trash reporters that are just speculating about it. In fact, tonight Zidane admitted that there was no RACISM in what Materazzi said. It was personal. That's different matter.Now what do you all says? Where is the racism if not in your mind! Do you know that Arabs newspaper are reporting comments of people that says Materazzi deserve to be killed for what he said?(that actually is what he NEVER said!).Would it be fine to you if you were accused to racism when you never said anything about it? Now a fair journalist would APOLOGISE for spreading a such fake news that, as the able reporter well know, its just meant to touch the sensitivity of Arab comunity, in order to have a more selling news. What A SHAME! They just use them and this situation to speculate. What they wrote, knowing it was fake,is even worse that Zidane's headbutt. They want drive a personal matter into a racism or politic matter just to sell more.Is that ethical? What kind of man is someone that act like that? I blame them more than Zidane or Materazzi.
And, to be back to the fact, Zidane is not new of that behaviour.He did something like that in the past,too. Just see what he did in France 98 or in Champion's league.And how many red cards he collected for that fairplay. No word can justify what he did. Players insults each other every minute in the game.
And to the ones that says France lost just because of Zidane's red card, i want remember that Zidane didn't play a very good match and was tired. At the end of the second half, Zidane asked to go out, because was tired and injuried. Just review the match. And France scored just on a penalty, five minutes after beginning.If they were superior, why they didn't score anymore in the other 100 minutes, when Zidane was still there and fresh?Why we didn't see 3 or 4 goals? While, at the other side, an italian player (Toni) hit the bar,and it was just unlucky he didnt score. I dont think France would have scored in last minutes, since they were already all tired. At the contrary, Zidane red card give French players just more strenght because they became mad for what happened.
Finally, to you, soccer experts, if you really think France was that great team, review again France vs Portugal semifilan and see what kind of game French player made... Catenaccio would be a compliment! They were just lucky Portugal was tired after previous match...
They were just lucky Portugal was tired after previous match...
Jesus, will you shut up? Portugal, like Italy, are a bunch of diving crybabies. I have no love for the French team, but to argue that Ronaldo and his gang of flopping shitheads deserved better is patently hilarious.
Thank christ I don't have to write about soccer again until 2010.
Materazzi 1 - Terrorist 0
Italian mafia will kick your ass again!
It is the first time I see that someone wants to know what a football player said to another.
Is it because someone offended Zidane?
Why don't you want to know what the other football players said to ZZ when he hit them in the head or walked on their body?
It is not the first time he has such violent reactions, he is a dangerous person and France does not want to admit it because they have some racial problems in their country.
Dear guys, I see so many intolerants and racist fucks sending insults and hateful sentences against italians.
for those i prove pity.. for the long comment against italy....if u are a girl you probably taste italians in the past, you werent probabbly good enough and he cheated on you many times and you were dumb and let him do. if you are a guy you probably got ur girlfriend stolen by an italian with much more style and brain than you....that must be the truth and you know it hurts. wjhat you dnt know is that the danish press put 30 cameras on totti and said to poulsen to hurt him, insult him and tackle him(as we saw in the game) and whatever his reaction is we will have it filmed, great players, uaooo those danish were really tricky, cheaters if i didnt know he is danish i wudt say he is italian..fuck u
i CANT UNDERSTAND UR RACISM AND HATE AGAINST ITALIAN AND ITALIAN CULTURE, u hate us so bad, u made it a life fight, i cant understand , we hhave pizzas, wine, nice music, the best beaches, the best food, girls, country, nad we also have bad things such as corruption, mafia, high crime, anbd of course fascists....but guerss what, the actual government is a left coalition...
fuck di canio, he is an asshole....
I cannot understand how some people can have so many prjudices against italians, it makes me laugh and then understand how some are so ignorants....
you like itly, you eat always our food, you drink our wine, you listen to our music whjen u want to be romaaantic, you wear our clothes, you drive our cars, you dress like mafiosi at halloween or carnival, u maakkke fuunne offe ourr aceeent, and then u spit hate at us in the way that ignorant did,, with the long comment, anti-italin bible, u are ridiculous, we are all the same in the world, blacks, whites, italians , americans, everybody, we just have a very nice culture,
dnt be so jealous, and by the way we are CAMPIONI DEL MONDO and we fully deserved it, usa were not good enough, australia were quite unlucky i must say, but footbal is that too, italy beat germany and the whole world was partying, italy beat france and the entire universe was partying in the streets,...
where i leave i was in the streets wif italian friends and we were partying with africans, poruguese, spanish ita was a big victory for everybody, everybody loves italian...
and by the way, we made our ass off, we built many things, we emigrated and took italian culture to usa, and u f*** love it
we emigrated to everywhere and were beaten, insulted, hated and now we r everywhere and everybody loves us...
go home man , ur a shame for america, evrybody..
peace out, emanuele
CAMPIONI DEL MONDO....
ciao,,,,
That was the most inexplicable meltdown since Colonel Jessup admitted to ordering manslaughter under questioning from that pansy-ass Tom Cruise.
The Italians dive more than Greg Louganis and flop more than Kevin Costner at the box office. But they at least can keep their cool and maintain professional self-control. They deserved to win this game -- and Zidane deserves the scorn and the complete elimination of his legacy that he's just committed.
The only thing the man will be remembered for now is this childish, unprofessional meltdown that cost his team and nation a championship. And that's as it should be.