July 9, 2006
Italy: 1
France: 1
Zidane 7' PEN; Materazzi 19'; Italy wins 5-3 on penalties.
Going into this match, I'd been pulling for France. Mostly pulling for Zidane and the old guard to stump the critics and walk home with a second world cup. Zizou's last game - the frogs could win one for the old man, and everything would be golden.
I wanted the fairy tale.
Being a soccer fan, I know that fairy tales have no place in soccer - and I'd prepared for an Italy win. No matter what, Zidane had shown his quality - and the world would have to give him his due.
Win or lose, he still walks off the field a hero, right?
Enter soccer -the cruelest sport of all.
France's early lead forces the Italians to play, which they do very well for about a half an hour - deservedly scoring and dominating play in the first half. Then France pulls out the stops and starts running the show. Italy turtles in, and just gets shelled.
Henry's a madman, the French midfield is dominating, but nothing's going in. Zidane's playing hurt, the fairy tale is all queued up.
Extra time, France is driving - subbing in two forwards doing everything right. Italy's looking ragged, they could lose at any moment -
-and Zidane headbutts Materazzi. Materazzi (having played in the Serie A) drops to the ground like he's been shot.
I'm looking at the screen, trying to figure out why in God's name Zizou would do something so blatantly unforgivable, when I realize that the ref hasn't seen it. Impossible, it's on the replay, as blatant as the Hand of God - maybe he'll -
No, the fourth official's looking at the same replay as the rest of the world - and the ref reaches into his pocket.
Win or lose, Zidane, you just lost your legacy. One of four men on earth to score a goal in two World Cup finals, and you will forever be remembered for this stupid act.
A ten-man France plays valiantly, managing to dominate the Italians. Two quality chance don't go France's way - but it doesn't really matter anymore. Even a win won't redeem Zizou. He blew it, and when it goes to penalties, two of the three worst outcomes have already happened.
The PK coin toss comes up Italy, and provides the third.
Losing is nothing, and PKs are an evil of the game that need to be rooted out and destroyed (replay, anyone?) but Zidane's flame out is just the worst.
It undoes all the nobility of France's run to the final - and guarantees that whenever Zidane's name is mentioned, the next sentence will be about him headbutting his way into a red card. It's been said that a man is more than the worst thing he's ever done, and while that's surely true - truth has no foothold in the mass media.
Zidane didn't lose a game, he lost everything.
Dammit. Dammit. Dammit.
3 comments:
No, they really didn't.
The Italians won because more of their penalty kicks went into the net.
I wonder if the ref actually saw what he did or he saw it on the replay like everyone else. There ought to be a rule to keep replays like that being shown until 30 seconds after the fact to keep the refs unbiased. I don't think the ref saw it as it happened, even though he said he did...and even though it was inexcusable, it shouldn't have been penalized.
My understanding is that the referee did not see the incident, however the referee's assistant conferred with the ref, and the red card ensued. My question is, did the ref. asst. see it as it happened, or did he see the jumbotron replay in the stadium. Regardless, Zidane got his just desserts. I wanted France to win as well.
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