Zizou! What did you do?

The World Cup has come to an end, and for most of us, the feeling of withdrawal will last until South Africa hosts four years from now. With Brasil being knocked out in the quarterfinals last week, I have to admit that this tournament was not the same for me, as all my energy and concentration has been with the World's 2nd favorite team from the start. I can't spoil France's victory over Brasil, however, as they were hands down the better side and were rewarded a well-deserved path into the finals against Italy, the nation on the heels of their defence, conceding only 1 goals (unfortuantely, it was an own goal) all the way into the finals.

It was Zinedine Zidane, a maestro midfielder, regarded as a legend by all, who came out of international retirement to lead the French against the Italians in the final of the biggest sporting event in the World. Highly respected and adored, Zidane is one of the best players in the World and is a supestar class act. Having scored early on a penalty kick in the final game, this was Zidane's last match of a glorious career. Win or lose, he was destined to go down as the greatest player of our era, but then something crazy happened...


If you haven't seen Zidane's headbutt to Marco Materazzi's chest by now, you're missing out. The more you watch it, the harder it is to understand. Zidane appeared to be minutes away from leading France to the World Cup title for the second time, and then he committed the biggest and most bizarre moment in sports history. In the 110th minute, Materazzi apparently said something that really got to Zidane. Zidane responded with an amazing and forceful blow to Materazzi's chest using nothing but his head!


It has been reported that maybe Materazzi uttered a racial slur, although we'll probably never know. If so, is this excusable? Could this have waited 10 more mins off the pitch away from live television where more than 1 billion would witness this madness?! Only time will tell what might have really happened out there, but it is a shame that Zidane had to end his career this way. Not only was he red carded, but he left his team a man down, demoralized, and in shock as they made their way into penalty kicks a few minutes later. Zidane may have magically led his team to the World Cup finals, but in the end, everyone will remember how it was Zidane who lost his cool and robbed France of their 2nd World Cup trophy.