No doubt this world cup will be remembered for wrong reasons. Nobody knows what Materazzi told Zidane that provoked such a great player to act in such a shameful manner. But people are suspectiing that materrazi said something nasty about Zidane's mother. Some say Materazzi called Zidane "a dirty terrorist". Italian football have been long marred with racism from some players, fans and some officials. lets hope truth comes out in this case. People are expecting that Zidane will speak about this some time next week. lets hope all these mysteries will be solved soon...

read http://news.bbc.co.uk/sport2/hi/football/world_cup_2006/teams/france/5164094.stm

whatever it doesnot explains what zidane did. he was representing france and made them shame.

i saw one french newspaper where it was written " zidane is god turned into devil".

on the same bbc source that you have given matrazzi father and other members have differnet presptective. nobody knows what matrazzi said. what zidane did was unexplicable.

HE WANTED TO KILL MATARAZZZI.

Bidhan,

How about a rematch of the final? what say buddy? ;)


Loote

P.S. BTW, it's "materazzi" and NOT "matrazzi" or "MATARAZZZI". normally i don't go this technical but since you are THE fan of Italy, thought i should tell ya. ;)

I am not a fan of French or Italian football. I agree that whatever Zidane did was plain WRONG. BUT no one is fool to accept that Zidane did that without any provoking act from materazzi... And do we expect materazzi's father to say that his son is a bad person? He would never say that. So whatever his father said holds no significance here.

My point is racism has affected European football for a long time. people like Thiery Henry are getting racist remarks from some players and some fans. That has to stop. And these racist remarks are so common in Italy and Spain. If you remember, some Spanish fans booed while French national anthem was being played (coz most of the French players are black) in France-Spain match... and many players have bitter experience from some Italian players and fans. That has to stop. There is no doubt Materazzi said something bad to Zidane. And if it is a serious thing like racist remarks, then FIFA should be serious about this.

Zidane stood up for himself, didnt take crap ( IF INDEED HE HAD CURSED HIM).

i think all of us would have done the same thing , if someone had cursed us regarding our heritage, culture or family.

as for his tarnished image,due to his actions...well It's not the size of the dog that matters in a fight, its the size of the fight within a dog that matters.

And if anything, this incident apart, Zidane is and always be one of the best player the world has seen, and will continue to inspire millions of soccor loving fans .

The legacy continues...well boyond the final.

The main theme of this WC has been 'say no to rascism', but European football has been plagued by rascism for a long time. In some club matches, there were even some Spanish fans with nazi signs on their arms.

In Germany, they have banned all things pertaining to nazicism, you cannot even say 'holocaust was fake' there. But, I am not sure if fascism has been banned or completely wiped out in Italy. I had heard that there is a Fascist party in Italy. So, Materazzi saying out rascist and fascist remarks cannot be completely denied until the verbatim remarks are unveiled.

and rein do you expect zidane and french players to tell the truth like matrazzi father. what matarazii did was not even 1 % of what zidane did. he disgraced french football yesterday.verbal abuse is very common in football. even zidane made offensive remarks on buffon after his header was stopped by buffon . so what ........................what zidane did came from the fact that italian defence was too good yesterday and he was regularly frustrated.

even zidane may have provoked matarazzi which inturn may have provoked matarazzi who knows?

bidhan... if Materazzi assaulted Zidane with racist remarks or with nasty remarks on his mother, then that may be "1% of what Zidane did " to u, but to me, that would be a HUGE UNFORGIVABLE CRIME. but anyway we dont know what Materazzi said to Zidane... I simply cannot believe Zidane would head-butt materazz's chest with common abuses though. it must have been something nasty...lets see if Zidane speaks out...

french did not win but they certainly kicked Italian's b()TT ..:D:D

rein nasty or not. when 2-3 billion people are watching you and you are representing your country.Zidan let his team down. disgraced . its simply unjustifiable whatever may be the comment. and of course nobody knows about he comment except zidane and matarrazi.

zidane reaction came because matarazzi was playing magnificently . he wasnt giving zidane any chance. he was the one who scored and equalise. zidane was frustrated by italian defence.

it does not matter whether there are 2-3 billion people watching or just 2-3 people watching. Whatever Zidane did cannot be justified.. but if materazzi provoked Zidane with racist remarks or some bad slandering, that has to be investigated. i dont think Zidane reacted that way just out of frustation... that is so hard to believe

Racism among Italians and Spaniards are starting to become common in Football. And FIFA is the main culprit. They should have banned the Spanish coach for his racial slur against Thiery Henry. They should have also suspended Spanish team from international Football when they were calling monkey and throwing bananas to the black french players and to Samuel Eto. Never has there been fans except for Spaniards booing and whistling during the national anthem of another country. There are already many problems that have arisen from globalization. And players who bring racism on the football field need to be punished.
Whatever Zidane did was wrong, but again like he has showed many times the great ways to score goal and win matches, he showed a great way to get a red card. No clumsy tackle or no minor brushing off, but a real head butt that would inflict pain to those who deserve.

"zidane reaction came because matarazzi was playing magnificently . he wasnt giving zidane any chance".
Oye Bidhan, don't talk out of your arse. How the hell did you know where ZZ's reaction came from? From your empty brain?????
Yes French kicked Italians ass. The most undeserved team to win the world cup ever.

"Guradian " suspects that Materazzi called Zidane "a terrorist" may be coz of his Algerian descent. read the follwing article from http://commentisfree.guardian.co.uk/matt_foot/2006/07/zidane_an_injustice_waiting_to.html

Race, rage and the red card

If Zidane's headbutt was in reaction to a racist taunt, what does that mean for Fifa's campaign to kick bigotry out of football?

What a very sad end to the World Cup Final. We do not yet know for certain why Zinédine Zidane, the calmest, most skilful and most graceful footballer at the World Cup chose, 10 minutes from time, to take three steps up to Marco Materazzi and headbutt him in the chest. We know that seconds before, he had been laughing at the hulking centre-half, having just received a pinch in the chest.

In their condemnation last night, the commentators last night, Shearer, Lineker and Hansen, showed no interest in what had caused this calm man to fly into such a rage.

The Guardian today suggests that Materazzi called Zidane a "terrorist", presumably in some disgusting reference to his Algerian descent. This seems a compelling explanation for the anger of such an otherwise calm and collected player.

If the account is true, Materazzi would be guilty of an offence in this country: racially aggravated disorderly conduct, on the basis of abuse of someone because of their nationality. Why should footballers put up with racist abuse or racially aggravated insults without protection? If it is crime off the pitch, why (if indeed it has happened) should Matterazi feel he can insult the best player in the world for his nationality?

It is interesting to see that Shearer and his ilk can be sympathetic to Wayne Rooney, who kicked another centre-half in the gonads without any verbal provocation, but completely unsympathetic to Zidane, who may be reacting to racially aggravated abuse. Shearer actually responded to the Rooney incident by suggesting that the Manchester forward may want to stick one on his Portuguese colleague Ronaldo.

If the Guardian account is true, what action will Fifa be taking against Matterazi, given its promotion throughout this World Cup of the Say No to Racism campaign?

This is not the first incident in European football history where racism has been used to provoke the opponent players.
But Italians have hit rock bottom and opened a pandora's box .
I wish this case is thoroughly investigated and Italians are disqualified as a world cup winner.
Shame on you Italians.

Check this out.
http://news.bbc.co.uk/sport1/hi/football/europe/4316079.stm

hey Bidhan bro.
i think you are taking this argument to different level.
Zidane is human being afterall what nonsense are you talking all this time.He shows sportsmanship in some games some not that doesn't matter now.He deserves a great respect for entertaining all the football fans for so many years.

Again:what was the motto of the world cup"SAY NO TO RACISM" people who pass racist remarks do not deserve gold medals around their necks!!!

Again.. most of the people who have some italians and french friends know who is more racist and abusive.So stop defending italians just like you say everyone stop supporting zidane.

He is the best player of the touranament and italians are the world champs .Game over.Discussion is over!!

The Paris-based anti-racism advocacy group SOS-Racism issued a statement Monday quoting "several very well informed sources from the world of football" as saying Materazzi called Zidane a "dirty terrorist." It demanded that FIFA, soccer's world governing body, investigate and take any appropriate action.

FIFA, which reviews all red cards at the World Cup, would not comment on the specifics.

"This is a disciplinary matter now," FIFA spokesman Markus Siegler said. "I can't give any statements now."

source:http://www.cbc.ca/cp/sports/060710/s071046.html

wat a racist loser

Those 'MAFIAS' were really lucky this time.