"Italian defender Marco Materazzi has acknowledged that he insulted Zinedine Zidane in Monday morning's (AEST) World Cup final, saying he did so because the French skipper was "super arrogant".
Zidane, 34, floored Materazzi with a headbutt to the chest in the second half of extra-time in Monday's final and was sent off, missing a penalty shoot-out in which he would have been expected to take one of France's spot-kicks.
"I held his shirt ... for only a few seconds, he turned toward me and scoffed at me, looking at me with super arrogance up and down [and said]: 'If you really want my shirt, you can have it later.' It's true, I shot back with an insult," Italian newspaper La Gazzetta dello Sport quoted Materazzi as saying.
Pete's Points:
So there you have it! An admission by Materazzi that he "held his shirt" and "I shot back with an insult".
As noted by this observer, Zidane was held and what has yet to emerge is WHEN he was held - namely during a corner kick.
Why did the linesman and/or referee not take this infraction of the rules into account?
I still think that the head butt was inappropriate, however in the heat of the final few minutes of extended time in a tense world final when every opportunity counts, with the score absolutely even, and the French team outplaying the Italians, just think of how YOU would be feeling if this happened to you?
I think that Materazzi's version of Zidane's initial response to being held and hence unable to participate in potentially a crucial moment in the game, namely 'If you really want my shirt, you can have it later.' was not only not "super arrogant", but a really mild response to what must have been a most aggravating interference with his game.
The fact that Materazzi then compounded his initial lack of fair play by adding what must have been a mortal insult including the lip reader's version that suggests that it included the words "go F yourself" (no doubt in Italian), was probably what broke the camel's back (and no, this is NOT an inappropriate reference to Zidane's heritage) and resulted in the "moment of madness" that reporters keep referring to.
Personally I think Materazzi owes Zidane an apology. This should not be too hard considering how by his own admission Italy won the cup as a consequence of several acts of bad sportsmanship and rudeness!
Not the most glorious way to win at sports in my view!
PS for a late addition to this saga from the BBC take a look at http://news.bbc.co.uk/go/rss/-/sport1/hi/football/world_cup_2006/5169342.stm
PPS - then if you want to see people who are already capitalising on this story just visit this site:
http://www.management-issues.com/display_page.asp?section=blog&id=3387
No comments:
Post a Comment