World Cup Finals: Zizou & His Golden Crown



Zinedin Zidane or affectionately known as Zizou could have ended his career by raising the World Cup high amongst adoring crowd and flashing cameras. He could. But he didn’t.

At the 111^th minute of the game, he used his bald crown to butt head Materazzi `s chest after some heated exchange of words. It was a brilliant header, if only it could help France lead the game after a 1-1 draw. But, you should head the ball, Zizou, not Materazzi `s chest!

“Oh my god, I cannot see this,”
4 guys at the table, one happened to be my hubby, guffawed loudly.
“Aww…Gee, the worst that can happen is, our Mr Zizou gets the Red,”

The worst indeed happened. Zizou walked out of the field, heading towards the locker room. “What could Zidane be doing in the locker room? Crying? Reflecting on how his career ended?” That was the commentator, trying to be Dr. Phil and a sports commentator at the same time.

It was a dramatic Final. Marred to a certain extent by many tragic episodes. But next to the Italians exorcising the ghost of ’94 as they perfected all the penalty shoots, no other episodes could match Zizou`s header.

“If it was Rooney, I would not be surprised,"
“Look, who ask him to lose his cool? Angry or not, he is putting France`s chance of winning at stake,”
“I wonder what Materazzi said which in the end inspire that beautiful header.”

Everyone wants to be a soccer analyst after Zizou`s tragic incident.

Zizou has remarkable and sophisticated ways of controlling the ball. But I am afraid when it comes to unleashing his anger, his ability to “control” fade to the background. He did in fact earned 2 red cards before this. While with Juventus, he butted Jochen Kientz of Hamburger SV in a Champions League match. He gets his second when he stomped a Saudi Arabia player years back. At this World Cup he collected two yellow cards and was suspended for France's third group match against Togo. He is not as cool as people think he is after all.

I had to say the game yesterday was sloppy and melodramatic most of the time. I would happily name the match between Argentina and German or France and Brazil as the better games compared to the soccer soap opera I witnessed yesterday. Well, whatever I say now, the Italians could still be euphoric about the victory and yet to finish their dancing and pulling of each other `s shorts for all we know. After Trezeguet`s spot kick hit the bar, an empty bottle narrowly missed my head as some fanatic asshole thinks its funny to see my head bleeding. If it had, Zidane will not be the only person butt heading someone `s chest that night. Chewah!

I end my posting with a quote from Raymond Domenech, who never looked sadder than yesterday night:

“All I can think about now is the disappointment. My own future is not important at the moment. I'm sad for Zidane because he was always there for us during this competition. I'd have preferred substituting him five minutes before the end so he could have received a different ovation from the crowd to the one he got.”

Ugly exit it is for our great Zizou.

So, we wait again for another 4 years for the world to conjure another World Cup in South Africa. Well, enough time for me to advocate for plus sized Argentina`s cotton jersey for the next World Cup!