Argentine President Presented with Zidane’s Red Card

ZZ will have to live with his shamefull and cowardly act for the rest of his life.

Does anyone know if he apologised to Materazzi yet?

4…….the punk hasn’t said sorry to Mat yet….and people think he’s a class act….please.

how much would the card’s value go up if you could get Materazzi to sign it :-D

what does he have to apologized about?
being awesome?

Hobart ….are you joking? he should say sorry for the cowardly sucker type headbutt attack, and about not quashing immediately the rumours that Mat made a racist statement towards him.

nicko …..that would be cool if mat signed the card.

What? Apologise to Materazzi for him being a cowardly dog who doesn’t know how to shut his mouth? right.

apologise for WHAT! yes just for head butting, he shld had slapped him three times (like forlan) for repeatedly insulting mother & sister.

“apologise for What?”
it looks like you are completely out of mind or you never played soccer (more likley).
Bad words, provocation in the field (remeber Poulsen with Totti- the game Potugal-England in the last WC) always happened and it will continue.
Be serious man!!! insulting mother and sister so what? Was Materazzi telling the truth? Yes! so what?
Not! so what?
There is not excuse for what ZZ did, whatever type of insults ZZ received he should not have reacted. Otherwise in the future we (YOU) will justify also someone with a gun killing people because of provocation.

you got your WC didn’t you Italians.. Now go back to those cheat houses you call clubs and learn to perform more convicing dives and more violent nose crunching punches. And come back in 4 years.

To be beaten blue and blue.

Apologize…? Why did FIFA ban your posterboy too…?

What is it with you italians hating zidane so much? zidane’s argument was with Maggot Thug Materazzi, not Italy. Several of those italian players were former teammates of Zidane’s and they’re all still friends. Buffon (who knows him personally) even defended him, saying Zidane was provoked and saying that Zidane is indeed a classy guy. Lippi was his coach at Juve for five years and loved him – he’s always called Zizou a class act, a wonderful person, and a brilliant player. Lippi, Zambrotta, del Piero, Buffon and other italian players all remain friends of zidane’s. So what the hell is your problem?

Anyone who defends a serial brutalizer like Materazzi is an incredible hypocrite when he disses Zizou. Real classy guy that MaggotMatti lowlife scumbag – the guy hurls personal obscene insults during the final of a world cup at the captain of the opposing team while billions of people are watching just to provoke the guy to get him kicked off the pitch. And you hypocritical italians have the gall to talk about honor and morals. Give me a break.

And does it ever occur to you all that Zidane in his 18 years must have heard many many of the worst kinds of taunts throughout his career and is used to them? He played for 5 years in italy’s Juventus club and became close friends with his fellow italian players, so he’s quite used to the kind of violence and taunting that goes on in italian football. During the infamous match between France and Algeria (which had to be stopped in the middle of the game) Zizou was the subject of death threats and vicious insults and he never lost his cool.

So why don’t you ask yourselves why was Materazzi’s taunts were so particularly enraging, so unique, so different as to make Zizou lose control 10 minutes before the end of his career, in front of billions of people, at the end of a final of a world cup, just before penalties? What was different this time? What had been going on throughout that match to make Zizou reach that point?

You’re incapable of asking that question because all you want to do is feed off of a brilliant player’s professional carcass. That’s how armchair holier-than-thou moralizers like you get your jollies. Decades from now Zizou will be remembered for being one of the finest players in the game, ever. No one will remember that maggot guy.

Zizou fell for a filthy trick from a worthless scumbag who shouldn’t even be allowed anywhere near a football pitch – and so italy won. What the hell are you complaining about? Isn’t winning enough for you? The only thing worse than a sore loser is a graceless winner – are italian capable of being gracious dignified winners? Haven’t seen any evidence of it yet so far.

Coleman are you serious? Whaever you think of Materazzi he told the truth from day 1.

He said after that innocent play were he held ZZ shirt that ZZ turned sneered at him looked him up and down and said arroganty if you want my shirt i’ll give it to you at the end of the game…..watch the video and thats what happened…..i would have told ZZ where to go after he said and looked at me like that.

He said he made no racial slur against ZZ …Fifa confirmed.

He said he didnt refer to ZZ mom because he lost his at age 15….truth….so that leaves his sister and telling the arrogant bald head to fuck off

What was going on during the match to infuriate ZZ was nothing…..as in he was doing nothing. The Italian midfield shut him down….except for a great header at the end of the game…saved by BUFFON.

So a simple sorry to Materazzi is in order.

To: Simon (first)
OK understood next World Cup all players with a weapon to be used in case of bad words or provocation. About Italy soccer and clubs just to remind you that we have 4 stars 4, and I cannot remember how many Champions League and Club world cups. I do not know where you come from but I do not think you can claim the same unless you are Brazilian and in this case……CHAPEAU!!! and my respect since only Brazil can claim palmares superior than Italy.

To: Colman (last but not the least)
I do not hate ZZ at all, on the contrary being a Juventus fan I always admired him. What I cannot accept is that ZZ is becoming a hero and all responsibility is falling over the shoulders of MM.
Ask yourself having MM head butting ZZ, what would have happened? Do you think that we would have had all these people justifying him?
Further, I want to remember you that ZZ is not new to such type of reaction (Champions league Juventus-Hamburg head butting german midfielder, WC’98 walking over a Saudi player) and in his career he got about 14 red cards (looks a bit too much -isn’t?)
Recall that when Totti spit to Poulsen, we Italians have been the first blaming him for his bad reaction to the provocation. And I did not see anyone justifying him, despite Poulsen acted a scientifical provocation for the entire match.
Once more nothing against ZZ , he has been already punished by the final result and for the fact he ended the career in this very bad way. But whatever it is said during a soccer game among players does not justify violent reaction (First rule of soccer that normally kids learn).

testing…1, 2 , 3 Testing.

“But whatever it is said during a soccer game among players does not justify violent reaction”

I’m glad you don’t hate Zidane but I have to admit I’m sick and tired of this argument. Trying to understand WHY something happens is not the same thing as approving. I don’t know why people can’t understand this basic concept. Even the police investigate motives and context of a crime, they don’t just say “the why question is irrelevant.” The “why” question is very relevant. Kids or adults who are bullied and tormented day after day sometimes lose control and blow up. There’s nothing wrong at all in trying to understand WHY they lose control. That doesn’t mean you APPROVE of their violent reaction. Learn to distinguish between the two.

And please don’t tell me about Zizou’s record, I know it well. I’ve seen the instances you mention myself. Zizou is a player who throughout his career had to deal with very heavy marking and provocation (verbal and physical) because of opposing teams trying to shut him down. If you recall in one championship game against Italy Silvio Berlusconi and the media criticized the italian coach because his players couldn’t control Zizou enough (even tho in that match Zizou wasn’t at his best). The coach resigned because of all the criticism. Certain players are always singled out for heavy fouling and provocation and Zizou has to deal with that in every single game he plays. Many times the referee does nothing about this, just just lets it go on.

Zizou’s coach Aimee Jacquet once said “it’s not right of course but if you’re a player who every single time you go out onto the pitch–every single time–your opponents try to destroy you, because that’s what they’re trying to do, and you have NO protection whatsoever, isn’t it understandable that sometimes you will lose control and react?”

Why can’t you understand that that explanation is just that — an explanation, and not a justification?

Also, one has to ask why SO MUCH hysterical attention on this one incident? I’m going to quote a poster on the France blog (where I lurk), I hope the person doesn’t mind:

Zidane “is being singled out in the world criticism on blogs, by pundits, etc. for one violent act. Tell me, out of all the violent acts in all of football that have occurred in, say, the last 50 years, how many have attracted this much attention, this much fixation, this much hysteria? Yes he got treated well by FIFA, I agree entirely. Not much they can do since he’s retiring. And frankly I wish that part of his “atonement” hadn’t been just an official 3 days with FIFA’s humanitarian work (actually he has been and will be doing much more). My point is that had all of this occurred in, say, 1982 or 1970 or any other past World Cup, the attention to the headbutt would not have been so intense. But globalized media and the internet have made us all focus so intensely on a single act that is not unique.
This sort of violence goes on the pitch all the time, but this one player at this one time is the subject of so much vitriol and condemnation by sports pundits around the globe, by pundits in countries where football isn’t even a popular sport. It’s as if Zizou is uniquely violent. Was Pele remembered for bloodying an opponent at the World Cup in 1962? No, because a couple of billion people weren’t watching and they weren’t all connected to each other instantaneously thru the internet. Neither act is justifiable, and no, this has nothing to do with equating Pele as a player and Zidane as a player. I am merely pointing out the UNIQUENESS of the hysterical moral outrage (and the hysterical rush to defend him, which I have been a part of) on a GLOBAL scale and in its attendant intensity – something not seen for any other act of violence by any other athlete in history.”

Finally, I’ll quote from a letter writer in London’s Independent newspaper: “in rugby all but the most brutal assaults are perfectly within the rules. Barging, kicking, elbowing are accepted as part and parcel of a good match. No wonder players leave the field, winners or losers, in a state of catharsis. Cricketers spend large parts of each game standing idle, able to contemplate the game. Rarely does emotion rise above an impassioned plea to an umpire. To play football at the highest level, players are required to sustain an intense level of focused physical and mental energy through the entire match while at the same time being constantly penalised and censured for the smallest of phyiscial contact. In short, they are fired up but de-barred from firing off. Is it really any wonder that this frustration leads to the outpouring of raw emotion, not just when things go wrong but after a success as well?”

And when that level of intense focus has reached its mental and physical limits at the final of a world cup game with 10 minutes left to go, and you are a player under intense pressure, dealing with 90 minutes of verbal and physical abuse from the opposing team WITH NO PROTECTION from the referee, there might well be a chance that you could crack. You might not, but you may. Nobody is a superman.

Zidane is a great player. What he did was very stupid.

As I said before in these blogs: A MALE reacts like he did, a MAN would have said, “I represent my country, my fellow-players who are here with me, so, Materazzi, get ready, because when this game is over, I am going to make you sorry for what you said.”

By the way, what Elizondo did was also kind of stupid: Cashing in on an unfortunate event, glamorizing it, when in fact, it’s a sorry fact of the history of soccer. I wouldn’t want him to referee a final, just like I didn’t like the idea before the game Italy-France.

Archundia or the Swiss referee of Argentina-Mexico would have done a better job in keeping everybody cool.

France is a great team, and deserve credit for hitching out Brasil (which Italy always had trouble doing) but they have trouble scoring more than one goal per game. Ribery is one of my favorite players of this World Cup, together with the English-cool radiant Cannavaro, a real class act.

It looks like the Zidane head-butt story will never end…

Materazzi should sign the ball he buried the second PK with and give it ZZ sister.

That would be the gentlemanly thing to do and would put an end to this story.

good video check it out…..puts everything in perspevtive.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Qw3j08aEPSs

4,

I would appreciate that gesture.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ReBHRssha30&mode=related&search=

4… just shut up mate, you spit venom.

Thanks ZZ….what’s your problem Mat?

ZZ asked Mat if he wanted his shirt during the game, how about if Mat gives ZZ his championship shirt…. autographed to his sister?

Then that would be that.

That would be a beautuful gesture 4.

The shirt could be hung from the ceiling so every nite there will always be stars regardless of the weather.

I think im going to cry.

ha ha france lost

hey the french are pullin up old matarazzi videos oooooh. don’t you people have jobs to go to. give it up.

horacio elizondo can go to hell as far as im concerned

zidane mighta deserved this red card, but rooney’s was bullshit

Colman:
Just a comment to your answer.
ZZ reaction captured a so huge attention because:
1. A lot of people are trying to justify him and as reaction a lot of people are blaming him
2. On the contrary of what has been happened in the recent past he got only 3 games out (pls compare to the 4 games out given to De Rossi do you think that this is fair?) I also rememeber Tassotti commiting a violent fault (while playing and proven by video) during the WC’94 against Spain was punished with 8 games out
3. for the first time FIFA punished also the player getting the reaction more or less with the same dimension (2 games out). Maybe it is right to do but this create a dangerous rule for the future
4. In a world of globalization while distance are nothing due to Media tools for sure such type of events catch easily attention of everybody (agree with you). Have a nice day.

I beleive that what made this story so big are just 2 reasons.

1. Zidane was involved who was one of the best players in his generation, and no soccer fan wanted to see him leave the game the way he did.

2. The Zidane apologists who are so blinded by their love for him that they scrambled to find excuses for his behaviour.

azzurro …i agree with you 100% that the punishments handed out by Fifa added flames to the already burning fire. I can take the other side of almost any arguement but could not defend Fifa’s decision in this matter.

Is this a blog about pissing Zidane and Materazzi all over?

I thought the introduction was about Helizondo’s gesture…

4: You got it all wrong. I really don’t see all this blaming Zidane around. Very much the other way around. There was an idiot on ZNet who started spitting all this crap about Italian soccer players and fans being racists, and Materazzi being one of them, etc., etc., and he is a published sports author.

Zidane came out as the “poor Algerian who had to avenge the insults made to him.”

You know what I feel angry about? That instead of talking about a well-deserved victory (with its ups and downs, by golly) we are talking about two morons who make millions of dollars who couldn’t act like gentlemen and call each other publicly to apologize to each other…

…while I have to bust my rear every day in an office.

Hey mj,

Didn’t Wayne “Imaoveratedsonofabitch” Rooney get kicked out playing for ManU against Porto yesterday?
He might be getting into a bad habbit, the lad needs to go to rehab or do some anger management.

From Foxsports: “In the tournament’s opening match, Manchester United was dominant in the first half before Rooney received his marching orders after smashing his arm into Pepe Ferreira’s face”

Omg has this become another “should he have done it?” post? Please say it hasnt. Ive ben in too many of them (at least 2 on this very website)and they’re fun at first but they REALLY suck you in.

Okay back to the actual article. I think its funny that the red card can be used as a gift. And yes it would probably go well on ebay. maybe it should be used in that auction-ma-bobber. get it signed by Zidane perhaps :-P lol

Does anyone know if ZZ returned the Golden Ball yet?

Thanks

I read ZZ wants things to die down a bit and then return the golden ball. It’s already been arranged and just the timing of it to be finalized. Apparently it will prior to to the end of this year.

mancol …Thanks for the info. I always thought that the sooner ZZ returns the Golden Ball the better, but as long as he gives it up thats ok. It should really have gone to someone deserving I think but to late now.

Well he had no chance of being presented with the world cup so I guess this will have to do.

guns…I agree that zidane should return the Golden Ball….shameful choice

I am an French soccer fan and am ashamed of Zidane. He turned himself into a punchline.

Congrats Italy and look forward to playing you in the Euro.

ZZ reputation just keeps taking hits…..and deservedly so.

No argentine Prez has to worry about being presented a world cup trophy any time soon so i guess ZZ red card will have to do.

PS return the golden ball zidane, you dishonour it as well as all the previous winners.

LikeZidane.com displays the act of the World Cup of Soccer Headbutt heard around the world by French player Zinedine Zidane on Italian player Macro Materazzi.
The site contains comical and real media, videos, files, games, and more on the event.

Actually Mat did date ZZ sister a few years ago. So when he said to ZZ ” I dont want your shirt i still have your sisters” he was telling the truth.

ZZ was still mad that Mat dumped her after he sobered up and got a good look at her. Hence that is why he snapped.