THE HEAD THAT SHOOK THE WORLD !!!

When the GREATS go down in a way by which they normally aren't identified, the whole world comes to a halt... jaws drop... & there's a sudden spurt of emotions... emotions raising a big, big question - WHY ?

Why...why zizou why ??? the world did come to a halt, jaws did drop, emotions did spurt, & the question too was raised... the missing link now is the 'answer'. The world witnessed one of the most infamous incidents in the history of the most popular sport in the world. The most famous personality in French Football delivering probably the most famous headbutt to a not so famous Italian counterpart.

Things to keep in mind before we go deep into the discussion-

1) Italy conceded just 2 goals in the whole World Cup (a total of 7 matches), which includes 1 in the final. The 3 goals scored during the penalty shoot-out in the final not being considered. No other team had a better defensive record in this WC.
2) Italy scored 12 goals in their 7 matches while France scored 9 in as many matches. These numbers again do not include the goals scored during the penalty shoot-out in the final.
3) I backed Italy to take away the cup considering their recent form in the WC, which stats prove (not just points 1 & 2), was better than France's.
4) I too have been, for a long time now, one of those 'big-time' Zizou admirers.
5) At the end of first half, the scoreline read FRA 1-1 ITA. 2nd half could not yield any goals & neither could extra-time. The Italians finally won 5-3 on penalties.

source: espn

As the true reason unfolds, the speculations have started doing their rounds. The most accepted & common one being- Materazzi abused Zidane, irked him, got him furious & the rest is history. Here i'd like you to roll your thought-process over on a different path. How about putting it this way - probably Zizou did say something to Materazzi (Matty) earlier, in response to which Matty said some unwanted words, as a result Zizou did wht he did n got sent-off. Or, perhaps, what if Matty had delivered a header into Zizou's chest? Would the blame then had be thrown on to Zizou, just as it is now being on Matty. Now these thoughts come to me when i look at it as an unbiased spectator. But they generally don't, 'coz... Zidane's the best player of his generation, the national dailies are carrying his photographs on every edition with headlines roaring something like- 'ZIDANE MAGIC'...'ZIZOU:THE ETERNAL GENIUS'...'PELE, MARADONA...ZIDANE?'. We get so absorbed in them, they actually make us believe that Zidane can do no evil!!! Spare a thought... he too is human !!!

Nothing against Zizou-the champ (keep in mind point 4), but this kind of hysteria causes one to ignore the possibility that maybe the 'great one' himself might be at fault. To actually quote Matty- '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.' He has denied, however, some of the more vile insults referring to his 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. Now isn't that a reason enough to shift your sympathies towards Matty. If you aren't a student of favoritism, u'd surely do that. I'm just trying to give Matty a fair chance.

My whole point in bringing this issue up is that this was just an incident, & a very unfortunate one that led to the departure of one of Football's most favorite sons in the most disappointing of ways. Let us all treat it as an incident ONLY & not as some ploy by the Italians to get rid of Zizou so that they can clinch the cup... 'coz mind you, the Azzuris have got the potential which they very well displayed when they beat the original favorites - Germany & the proposed fact that one man can beat them alone is highly unacceptable. They need not plan any negative plot for Zidane, or any player for that matter, 'coz their sheer brilliance on the field could've won them the cup, which it did !!! Carrying their impeccable defensive record in the finals too & possessing the ball for 55-60 % of the time, they looked rock-solid in defence yet again. They had answers to every French attack after ofcourse, the 7th minute penalty, which Zidane converted (Here i'd like to bring to those readers' kind notice, who in Matty's case talk about playing a fair game with complete honesty n integrity - replays clearly showed that there was no contact between the defenders n Malouda, who then finally fell inside the penalty box for no reason due to which the referee awarded a penalty to the French. If that had not happened, the match would probably have ended in the first half itself, forget about extra-time n penalties.).

All these factors strongly tilted the match in the Azzuris' favour, but the French hung-on. Les Bleus are a talented bunch, lets make no bones about it. They had one of the most famous line-ups in the WC... with names like Henry, Vieira, Trezeguet, Sagnol... and ofcourse our very own Zizou. So stating that only 'coz Zidane got red-carded in the final minutes of extra-time, France lost the cup is, to be very honest, absurd. As Henry rightly said 'We won together, we lost together', it isn't apt to give the credit of a team's defeat or victory to just one player. It was a very evenly fought contest & probably i wudn't be wrong in saying that a FIFA WC final couldn't have been better.

Let's not crucify Marco Materazzi for what happened that night neither let the grandeur of The Magician fade away like this. Both were playing for their respective countries, a slip-up here & there is justified. Let's accept that the better team won !!!

France has given the world a reason to celebrate, & the reason is 'Zinedine Zidane'. Let the reason not disappear without notice.
HAIL ZIZOU !!!