Brad

Just recovered about 500 posts.

This is a rather well thought out article by Rob Hughes, who writes for the International Herald Tribune, Hughes on Zidane.

Probably getting tiresome, but here's an interesting little article from the BBC, Zidane: Victim or Villain?

Based on Zidane's comments, FIFA have now opened an investigation on Materazzi. The saga continues. I'd be surprised if he doesn't get handed a couple of games suspension.

I think I lost about a 1000 or so.

Maybe he's thinking that's a bad way to end a career and he'll keep in shape for a possible Euro 2008 farewell. Of course, he'd probably have to serve a ban of probably four matches.

From the BBC, here is a translation of the statement given by Zidane: Interviewer: You know the Italian players well because you played in Italy for five years. Did you have any problem with any of them beforehand? Zinedine Zidane: Not at all. You always have friction with certain players...that is the game, it has always been like that. But I never had any clashes with anyone. Interviewer: Nor Materazzi? Zinedine Zidane: No, never. There was nothing beforehand and nothing in the match until he started pulling my jersey. He grabbed my shirt and I told him to stop. I told him if he wanted I'd swap it with him at the end of the match. That is when he said some very hard words, which were harder than gestures. He repeated them several times. It all happened very quickly and he spoke about things which hurt me deep down. Interviewer: Everyone wants to know exactly what he said... Zinedine Zidane: They were very serious things, very personal things. Interviewer: About your mother and your sister? Zinedine Zidane: Yes. They were very hard words. You hear them once and you try to move away. But then you hear them twice, and then a third time... I am a man and some words are harder to hear than actions. I would rather have taken a blow to the face than hear that. Interviewer: He said these things about your mother and sister two or three times? Zinedine Zidane: Yes. I reacted and of course it is not a gesture you should do. I must say that strongly. It was seen by two or three billion people watching on television and millions and millions of children. It was an inexcusable gesture and to them, and the people in education whose job it is to show children what they should and shouldn't do, I want to apologise. Interviewer: You apologise to them but do you really regret having done it? Zinedine Zidane: I can't regret it because if I do it would be like admitting that he was right to say all that. And above all, it was not right. We always talk about the reaction, and inevitably it must be punished. But if there is no provocation, there is no reaction. First of all you have to say there is provocation, and the guilty one is the one who does the provoking. The response is to always punish the reaction, but if I react, something has happened. Do you imagine that in a World Cup final like that, with just 10 minutes to go to the end of my career, I am going to do something like that because it gives me pleasure? Interviewer: No of course not. But at the moment you exploded... Zinedine Zidane: There was provocation, and it was very serious, that is all. My action was inexcusable but you have to punish the real culprit, and the real culprit is the one who provoked it. Voila

As a result, the whole World Cup tournament will have to be replayed .... and maybe the Dutch won't make it to the second round!! Probably not, with manager Marco van Basten's attitude; he's convinced he did very well... As long as they don't have that card happy referee, they should make it to the quarters!

Well, he hasn't explained his position much beyond what we already knew through his agent the morning after the incident. And before that television worldwide had shows that obviously Materazzi had said something to upset him. The only new part now is that he apologises to Materazzi. As I understand it all, he was first very ashamed and denied to go out for the medal ceremony as he felt undeserving of a medal. Then I gather he went home and visited his mother in the hospital. Yesterday evening the statement came that he would talk on the telly today, so why do it earlier. He certainly is not proud of what he did and I can very well imagine he is not eager to talk about it. So he chose his own venue instead of a horde of screaming journalists. There really is not much to say to make up for what he did. He did not apologise to Materazzi. He apologised to all the children who watched the game and people educating these children as 'this is not something to do'. But he said that he did not regret what he did to him. He said that regreting his gesture would mean that Materazzi was right to do what he did and to say what he said. He also said that Materazzi had been extremely rude to his mother and sister and that he would rather have been punched in the face than hearing these words. Materazzi has reacted to the statement by denying that he said anything about his mother because he lost his when he was 15, BBC Story

From the BBC: Zidane makes apology for headbutt Zidane reacted to Materazzi's insult by headbutting the defender. Zinedine Zidane has apologised for the headbutt on Italy's Marco Materazzi which earned him a red card in Sunday's World Cup final penalty shoot-out loss. But the France legend did not reveal what Materazzi said, only confirming that it was "very personal and concerned his mother and his sister". In a French TV interview, Zidane, 34, said: "I want to ask for forgiveness from all the children who watched that. "There was no excuse for it. I want to be open and honest about it." Zidane was sent-off for the headbutt to Materazzi's chest in the second period of extra-time in Sunday's final in Berlin. His words contradict Materazzi's take on the incident, in which the Italian admitted making an insulting remark to the midfielder, but denied he made reference to Zidane's mother. Fifa is to investigate Zidane's sending off and the organisation's president Sepp Blatter has hinted that the France star could be stripped of his World Cup best player award. More to follow.

Interesting column: Zizou's legacy snuffed out in 7 seconds

According to the BBC, Blatter has hinted that FIFA may take away the Golden Ball award from Zidane, depending on the results of the investigation.

This is what I love. Guys who have just decided to watch football becoming instant experts all of a sudden. What sport is without its imperfections. Very few. If we started detailing what's wrong with American football (a misnomer, by the way, if I've ever heard one since there's very little action with the foot until a football-styled kicker comes into the game), we'd probably be here for awhile. BTW, hockey draws few crowds and ratings are minimal. Throughout the planet, ratings are huge for football and not just for the World Cup. Teams like Manchester United, Real Madrid, Bayern Munich, Juventus, etc. have millions of supporters and not just in their own countries but in all parts of the world, with tons of supporter clubs. People will get up at all hours in China and the east to watch their favorite European team play. We're talking about real fans here. I suggest you get hooked up with Fox Soccer Channel and follow the English Premier League not just for a few matches or even for a full month but a whole year. It starts in August so you'll have your chance pretty soon. Then while you're doing that, also follow the Champions League. Starting in the fall, there's a steady diet of matches to decide the best team in European club football. When you've done all that, come back and make observations. Now, if you don't like the sport, that's fine, but don't come on here and blast a sport which you don't know a lot about until you know a lot more.

I agree. Instead of going to penalty kicks they should switch to overtime 'sudden death' like they do in hockey. They had overtime sudden death in the knock-out stages of WC 2002, but it didn't work and they changed it back to the current, "old" system of penalties after overtime. The only thing that would work is probably a replay of the game but in this age of tv, that just won't happen. Sudden death isn't a good option. I don't like it in American football and I like it less here.

I'm not sure I agree with the unlimited subs idea but I know that one of the US commentators mentioned about having an extra sub in overtime. I would probably make that two and perhaps extend the overtime to 45 minutes. There are probably ideas that FIFA could come up with if they have any creativity. Cited as a factor in going to PKs is the ability of the players to keep playing after 120 minutes. In Germany this was a factor because of the heat. This may not be the case in South Africa where I believe it will be early fall.

That's some post. I guess he thinks his you-know-what doesn't stink.

Excellent post. Unfortunately, it's more of an apology to the rest of the world.

As an American, I don't ask you to like football but these kind of stupid comments just show the rest of the world that we are ugly Americans. Americans seem to have a hang up with big scores but a low scoring game, be it football or baseball, creates its own tension. If you don't have anything to contribute, why bother?

Hans, Thanks. Without that site, I'm dead.

I was looking through Jazzmatazz this morning and noticed that there are basically no weekly updates for the rest of the year. Any idea of what's going on?

FIFA have announced that they are opening an investigation (FWIW) into the red card. I presume they're doing this in light of Materazzi's admission that he did insult Zidane.

In today's BBC: Italy defender Marco Materazzi says he did insult France's Zinedine Zidane during the World Cup final, just before Zidane was sent off for a headbutt. But Materazzi denied reports he called Zidane a "terrorist" or used insulting language towards Zidane's mother. "It was the kind of insult you will hear dozens of times and just slips out of the ground," Materazzi is quoted in Italian paper La Gazetta dello Sport. "I didn't call Zidane a terrorist and certainly didn't mention his mother." Zidane looked at me with super arrogance... it's true I shot back with an insult Marco Materazzi Zidane, who was born and grew up in Marseille, is the son of Algerian immigrants and has suffered taunts about his heritage throughout his football career. But Materazzi added: "I am ignorant, I don't even know what an Islamic terrorist is; my only terrorist is her," he said pointing to his 10-month-old daughter. "I did not bring up Zidane's mother; for me a mother is sacred." Materazzi and Zidane became involved in a verbal spat with 10 minutes to go in extra-time with France and Italy drawing 1-1 in the World Cup final. After Materazzi's insult Zidane shoved his head into the Italian's chest and was sent off, with Italy going on to win the match 5-3 on penalties. "I held his shirt, for only a few seconds," said Materazzi, who had scored Italy's equaliser after Zidane put France ahead from the penalty spot. "He turned towards me and scoffed at me, looking at me with super arrogance, up and down. "He said 'if you really want my shirt, you can have it later.' "It's true, I shot back with an insult." Just what did Materazzi say to provoke this reaction from Zidane? Media organisations across Europe have been trying to decipher what Materazzi said to provoke such an extreme reaction from Zidane. But it remains unclear exactly what was said and the BBC has broadcast two different versions. BBC Radio Five Live asked for help from a deaf lip reader, Jessica Rees, who read the words phonetically to an Italian translator. She deciphered the insult as being "you're the son of a terrorist whore" - a translation also carried by many national newspapers in Britain on Tuesday. The BBC's Ten O'Clock News also called in experts to study the television footage of the incident and determined the following: Materazzi's first word to Zidane was "no" before he then told him to "calm down". He then accused him of being a "liar" and wished "an ugly death to you and your family" on the day the Frenchman's mother had been taken to hospital ill. This was followed by "Go f*** yourself". Zidane's agent, Alain Migliaccio, has hinted that Zidane will soon reveal exactly what was said by Materazzi. Piara Powar, national co-ordinator for the anti-racism group Kick It Out told Five Live, said: "If there was a racial slur then Fifa needs to act." Keith Hackett, head of referees in England, said that if it can be proved that Matterazzi racially abused the Frenchman, then Fifa should take retrospective action for "the good of the game."

17. Sheez. I'm closer to 71 than to 17. Oh, god don't remind me. Anyway, happy birthday, kitty

This is something we can all enjoy. I just heard that Portugal was voted the most entertaining team of this World Cup Aye, that they were.

When they write the history of football and look at the pantheon of heroes, Zidane's will rank up with the great names (although slightly tarnished by this incident) whereas Matarazzi will only be remembered for his one goal and his attempts to bring Zidane down. I would agree EXCEPT that this isn't the first time Zidane has done something like this. Admittedly, I'm not the world's biggest football fan, but isn't this the same player that stomped on another player in '98? This is obviously someone who has issues, not someone who accidently lost it one time... Yes, he did that and under circumstances he won't discuss. However, that didn't diminish his stature. Saying he has issues is a little strong. Contrary to what most Americans think, this is a tough game and things happen out there, as we've seen from this match and others. I will never forget some of the things he did out there such as beat Brasil in 98 and the rocket he fired past Bayer Leverkusen to win the Champions League for Real Madrid. Outside of the World Cup and the European Championship, that is the most prestigious title there is and in the world of club football (as opposed to national teams), that is THE title.