Lost in Translation: What has Zidane done?

Mikaela says:
The world is still trying to figure that out, and now FIFA is on the case! Why does it matter? This guy was a GIANT, a HERO, the one to watch, the Emmitt Smith of soccer, the Michael Jordan, the little engine that could, the old guy, the underdog -- all rolled into a nice, French package. Ahem. Pardon!



There will be an investigation, hopefully filling in the blanks about why the much-hailed hero left his teammates on the pitch and slouched away into disgrace (after the voting for most valuable World Cup player had been closed but before his victory was announced -- doh!).



For an on-again off-again world football fan, the final of the World Cup was all I could have hoped for -- scoring in the first 10 minutes (Zidane on penalty shot), tied score early on for more suspense, intense play, not TOO many dives (but damn, they are annoying!), and helluva lot of shots on goal.

Even I, a total football newbie, could see clearly that France was dominating. The Italian defense was great (clearly), but France was on FIRE, especially in the first half. When the time had ticked steadily away, and the possibility of decision by penalty kick loomed, my stomach dropped. Italy was going to win, but they didn't deserve it! 120 minutes would be thrown away, and a victory would be handed over based on ... one player vs. a goalie? Weird. Bad, bad, bad.

(There's heavy-duty debate everywhere about this, so I won't pretend to know ANYTHING about it. For those with even less knowledge than me, apparently the World Cup is one of only a few tournaments that ends this way. The other popular tie-breaker is sudden-death overtime. That sounds much more logical (and fair) to me... not that my opinion counts for diddly.)


And then the REAL kicker... Zidane and another player get into it. Other guy holds Zidane's jersey on a play. They exchange words. Zidane walks off, the other player apparently says something majorly offensive, and Zidane turns around and head-butts the guy in the chest! Craziness!


Turns out Zidane's done this before, but still -- everyone's shocked. The main ref didn't see him do it. The fourth ref did and tells the others, and Zidane gets thrown out of the match with a redcard. He leaves the pitch and stays gone, abandoning his career and his teammates in their time of need. He was one of the best penalty shot kickers (the technical term, I'm sure!). Guess what? France loses by one penalty shot. Yeah.

So the story since then (if you're done following the non-deserving Italy) is: WHAT DID THAT GUY SAY TO HIM??? What was so bad that he threw away a championship, his career, and his responsibilities to the team?

No one's talking, but FIFA has decided to launch an investigation (thank god).

It's better than speculating what Bill Murray said to Scarlett Johanssen at the end of Lost in Translation!

Here's the latest I've heard (couresty ESPN Soccer):

Materazzi, 32, told Gazzetta dello Sport: 'I held his shirt for a few seconds only, then he turned to me and talked to me, jeering.'

He looked at me with a huge arrogance and said, 'If you really want my shirt I'll give it to you afterwards'.

I replied with an insult, that's true.'

Materazzi has not elaborated on what he did say, but one report suggested he responded to this with: 'I'd rather take the shirt off your wife'.

He has denied, however, some of the more vile insults being reported which refer to Zidane's wife or sister or calling him a terrorist.

'It was one of those insults you're told dozens of times and that you often let fall on a pitch,' Materazzi said. 'I did not call him a terrorist. I am not a cultured person and I don't even know what an Islamist terrorist is.'

He added: 'For me the mother is sacred, you know that.'