FIFA: Germany 2006

[Terracosmo]

I would focus even more on the game at hand and try to make my mother proud of her son. How do you think she feels now?

You are a professional player in your last game. The game is tied, and you are giving it your all to finish your career in a good way, to win the championship. The stress you are feeling is out of this world, and of the kind that most men will never experience in their lives. All your fans are watching. All your friends. Enemies. Everybody.

In this extreme moment of stress, where everything is literally about life and death, a person who doesn't even know you calls the ones you love the most degrading things. This person just shot you, on the battlefield which is a soccer final. What would you do, take the shot and retreat, or shoot back?

Don't be so sure that you'd behave as rational as you think.

You know what I don't like? People who just sit there, spouting their "bah, that was dumb!" bullshit. You don't even know a fraction of what he felt in that moment.

Oh and for the reference, Zidane's mother apparently wanted the italian player's "balls on a plate". So I don't think she was all that pissed off about Zidane retaliating...

[Splash!]

You are a professional player in your last game. The game is tied, and you are giving it your all to finish your career in a good way, to win the championship. The stress you are feeling is out of this world, and of the kind that most men will never experience in their lives. All your fans are watching. All your friends. Enemies. Everybody.

In this extreme moment of stress, where everything is literally about life and death, a person who doesn't even know you calls the ones you love the most degrading things. This person just shot you, on the battlefield which is a soccer final. What would you do, take the shot and retreat, or shoot back?

You seem to take the theory that materazzi insulted zidane's mother as an undisputed fact. I dont think that happened at all. Yes, zidane cracked under the burden of pressure and frustration when materazzi insulted him but i would stop right there. There is no proof that materazzi insulted zidane's mother and frankly i dont believe it because of the way zidane has acted throughout this whole situation. At first he was unwilling to make any sort of comment (Which is understandable in light of the frustration he suffered). But then the media started speculating without any considerable evidence that materazzi either called zidane a terrorist or insulted his mother or sister. All of a sudden, the very next day, zidane who didn't want to talk about the entire incident said the exact same thing. He dare not utter exactly what materazzi said but he kept on insisting that materazzi said some very harsh words about his mother or sister. Do i smell something here? Of course i do, what human being in their sane mind wouldn't?
Also, he can't seem to make up his mind about whether he was right or wrong in what he did. One day he says his actions were completely unforgivable because of the situation he put his team in and the next day he says he cannot say his actions were wrong because that would be admitting that materazzi was justified in saying what he did.

According to materazzi the incident occured as follows:
I was tugging on zidane's shirt and he gave me a look at which i let go. He then said to me in an arrogant way, " If you want my shirt so much, ill give it to you after the game ". (Up to this point i believe materazzi's version of events because it seems very believable when you put it together with the video footage)
After this, I did indeed insult him but i did not call him a terrorist. I am not cultured and do not even know what an Islamic terrorist is. I also did not insult his mother. To me, a mother is sacred. I lost my mother at the age of 15 and i still get emotional talking about her.

Now i just wanted to put materazzi's side of the story up because it seems that everyone has forgotten that materazzi is innocent until proven guilty. Let us not jump to conclusions about what materazzi said and wait for FIFA to finish the inquiry that they have launched into the matter. Let us also not feel sorry for zidane because he won the golden ball for the tournament despite all this, which i personally believe he did not deserve. Although he was a good player, he was not THE player of the tournament. However, that is a whole other argument

A similar incident like this occured in 1998 where zidane served a two match suspension for hitting a saudi arabian player. According to zidane, the saudi player made racial remarks against him (Yeah Right!). Also zidane has had several problems with over the years while playing for juventus and real madrid as well. This incident isnt the first of its kind. I actually find it quite surprising that people easily believe zidane despite his questionable reputation.

[Edort4]

I think that a lot of people misunderstands when its said that zidane was dumb. We are not saying that what materazzi did was ok, those kind of verbal agressions should be punished. Usually referees show red cards to players that insult them or even answer them in wrong ways. This should extended to every other player but right now this is not the case so you have to bear with it.

Zidane has been for like 10 years in the best world leagues, being insulted and hit in almost all of his matches, he knows what you can find and he wins about 6 million € to do his job, make goals, give his all and dont be kicked out in stupid ways.

Materazzi was a bastard and zidane stupìd enough to fell for it. But the worst thing is that he surpassed the verbal agression to physical making himself more guilty. Its hard to keep your head cool but its part of your job, your paid to stand the preassure.

In this situations is where you see what kind of players they are, some of them are geniuses with his feets but dont have any brains (if you leave school at the age of 12 to play football is normal to end being mentally weak in some cases).

[FrogKing]

I actually think it was quite funny that Zidane waited to tell the world his story. I love how he is so quick to point his finger to FIFA and call for a review of the events. Hell, if FIFA started to rule on all 'verbal' conflicts then there would be a sh!t load more red cards for word not actions. What Zidane did was wrong. You are not allowed to strike another player! You can say whatever you want, but in the end Zidane was given a red card for his actions and rightfully so. He is an athlete playing a game that has certain rules. He broke them, he paid.
I would have had more respect for Zidane if he would have just owned up to his mistake and not commented at all on what Materazzi said. He could have simply stated, "What Marco said was between me and Marco. Marco knows what he said, and he knows how I responded. I let it get to me and it cost my team. I apologize to the French fans for disappointing them. I am not sorry for hitting Marco." None of this BS about his mother and his sister crap and how FIFA should review what was said. Just own up like a man for Christ's sake. Quit acting like a Frenchman...oh, wait he is...
@Terra: If your argument was valid. Then would Materazzi had been justified to punch Zidane after Zidane made comments about wanting his shirt so much. Hell, Materazzi was under alot of pressure too. His country is under fire for match fixing, many of his teammates may be stripped of titles and demoted leagues. Even Inter Milian may see some repercussions. So was he justified to hit Zidane?! I don't think the referee would think so and he would be tossed just like Zidane was. I have been on both sides of the situation and have played many sports in the past in which I have lost my cool under certain situations. I understand the statement that you are making about blowing it when under immense pressure, but I am not a professional getting paid millions to NOT blow up and start hitting people. Just ask Ron Artest about losing your cool and blowing up..."Malice at the Palace"

[Swallow Your Soul]

Regardless of what Materazzi said, Zidane was dumb to react. I can totally understand that in a game of that size and stress, you can lose your composure very easily, especially if someone says something as offensive as Zidane claims Materazzi said. But people wind others up in football all the time, it is a tactic to make people lose it and possibly get them sent off. It's obviously not right, but if there is an opposition player who is short tempered or has been known to lash out in the past, people often target them and try to wind them up, by committing little niggling fouls, kicks and saying stuff to wind them up.

The reason Zidane was dumb, was that lashing out at Materazzi was probably what Materazzi wanted, so reacting like that is just a good thing from Italy's point of view.

Yeah, if what was said IS as bad as the press is saying (especially if it involves racism) then Materazzi was out of order and should be punished, assuming they have any evidence. Like splash said, everyone, including people on TV (at least in England) seem to be talking about the 'terrorist whore' thing like it's an absolute truth.

[FrogKing]

Funniest one i have seen yet considering the remarks that may have been said:



edit: I need to resize it somehow...any suggestions?

[DB_Hunter]

Well the punishment has been handed out now. So much for FIFA's fair play rules, with a combined fine of somehthing like £6000. Either one of them could make that in half a day.

I think Matterazi deserved what he got, wrtt headbutt. I think Zidane did the right thing by defending his honour and showing a principled stance. He had nothing left to prove anyway, he has done it all before so it isnt as if he has lost out. France on the other hand... well if they trully are aspiring to football greatness then its bad luck what happened but they should be able to challenge again for the title.