footballspectator

I am talking here about two examples - Claude Makelele and Theo Zagorakis. Makelele said that he wanted to retire after Germany 2006. Fair enough - he is 33 after all and no one can say he has not given his all for Les Bleus. In fact he has already retired once before, after Euro 2004, but Domenech convinced him to reconsider. Without his presence and that of ZZ and Thuram (who also came out of retirement) France would probably not have qualified for Germany. You would have thought therefore that the least Makelele could expect would be for his wish to retire this time to be respected. Instead Domenech (who in my opinion was more of a hindrance than a help during France’s World Cup run) picks him .

Let’s now turn to Zagorakis who hasn’t had a decent game in over a year. He was surprised to be called up by Rehhagel having intimated that he no longer thought he was up to the task of playing international football and wanted to go out on a high. He was even more shocked to see his name in the starting line-up of Greece’s qualifier away to Moldova. Clearly off the pace, he asked to be substituted at half-time. Again, here is a player that has given his all for the national cause and who has earned the right to leave at the top of his game, but is not being allowed to.

Let me ask you this. If your employer were to give you a new and exciting piece of work to do once you had resigned, would you give your all? would you be motivated to do your best and bust a gut? probably not. Your mind would be focussed on your new job. You would have no incentive. However, because of their fame and the fact that patriotism is a strong emotion, these players are being forced to. The stigma of being unpariotic is too great.

So why do these coaches do this? Maybe they are worried about a lack of alternatives - more believable in the case of Greece but unlikely. For me it shows a lack of respect toward players who have helped them achieve their success.

In football, timing is everything. As if they did not have enough motivation to beat Italy, Marco Materazzi’s ill-timed revelation of the words he used to provoke ZZ’s headbutt in July’s World Cup final on the eve of tonight’s encounter, to further fan the flames of French fury.

France were relentless. Sidney Govou opened the socring in only the second minute lashing in Gallas‘ cross with an angled drive. Sixteen minutes later it was two as Henry reacted quickest to Buffon’s save from Malouda to place the ball in the net with the aid of a deflection. Gilardino’s header shortly after gave Italy hope but in truth they were never in the game. Cassano hardly got a sniff of the ball and Semioli looked out of his depth. France created further chances in the second half and deservedly made it 3-1 through Govou’s header. They then had chances to further extend their lead but could not convert.

Italy looked like a group of players still on holiday, justifiably so given that their domestic league is yet to restart. New coach Roberto Donadoni is going to be in for a tough time if performances like this and the draw against Lithuania are repeated. His record of no wins in his first three matches in charge is one of the worst starts ever made by an Italian national coach. He will be hoping that by the time these sides next meet, most of the World Cup stars will be back and in form. For the French, tonight’s performance will go a small way towards healing the wounds inflicted on July 9th. However, the reality remains that it is Italy who proudly wear an extra star on their shirt.

Zinedine Zidane may not have finished his career as he would have liked - by lifting the World Cup - but its not all bad news. Zizou is currently topping the French music charts through a song dedicated to his headbutt! Amazingly the song was being broadcast over the internet less than an hour after the now infamous incident, attracting thousands of fans. As a result its creators decided to make a more polished recording and also produced an accompanying video. The words (in French) go, “Zidane hit him, the ref saw it on TV, we lost the cup but at least we laughed..“…I guess you can’t expect too much from something made in an hour..maybe it loses something in translation. See what you think:

FIFA passed its sentence on Marco Materazzi and Zinedine Zidane today. Zidane was fined €5,000 and banned for 3 matches. Materazzi was fined €3,500 and banned for 2 games, meaning he will miss the World Cup final repeat - Italy’s qualifier for Euro 2008 at the Stade de France, in September. FIFA confirmed that Materazzi’s verbal abuse was not racist.

Our verdict? Bizarre. Zidane’s punishment: what’s the point of banning someone who has retired? Zidane has pledged to spent 3 days doing community service instead but still, if Zizou had done what he did on the street he would be facing a jail term. The fine is pathetic. It sends out the message that it’s OK to head-butt. Materazzi’s punishment: its disproportionate. How many times do players insult each other on the pitch? How many are punished? An insult is being deemedto be almost as bad as a head-butt!
The decision is obviously politically motivated. FIFA wants to appease the French and preserve the image of Zidane as the greatest player of his generation. It’s too much of a “coincidence” that the Matrix is banned from the match in France where he was likley to receive a “special” welcome. Blatter and Co have made a mess of this one…

Manchester United are apparently interested in 6 Juventus players: Gianluigi Buffon, Gianluca Zambrotta, Patrick Vieira, Fabio Cannavaro, Emerson and Lilian Thuram. Alex Ferguson said, “We were waiting to see what the situation with Juventus was. Now we know in which direction to go in terms of inquiries and, possibly, definitive offers for one or two players“.

However, according to AS, Ferguson may be too late for at least three of these. Real Madrid’s Sporting Director Predrag Mijatovic is in Turin to finalise the signings of Cannavaro, Emerson and Zambrotta. He will meet with Juve officials tomorrow to negotiate the final price - Juve are asking for €40 million and Real’s current offer is €30 million for all three. Mijatovic may also pick up Cristiano Zanetti, a favourite of Capello. These players may be joined at Real by Ruud Van Nistelrooy and Kaka.
To add a further twist Zambrotta’s agent says that his client would rather stay in Italy with AC Milan his destination. He may be joined there by Zlatan Ibrahimovic, who Carlo Ancelotti believes is the ideal partner for Alberto Gilardino.

Inter have had a €38 million bid for Fernando Torres rejected by Real Madrid. Torres is also wanted by Manchester United to replace the outgoing Van Nistelrooy. But new coach Javier Aguirre has insisted that Torres is not for sale. Marseille chairman Pape Diouf has issued similar statement regarding World Cup star Franck Ribery.

Javier Saviola’s agent has said that his client will either stay at Sevilla or move to Panathinaikos after Arsene Wenger declared yesterday that he was not interested in signing the player. Saviola spent last year on loan in Seville from Barcelona who are keen to offload the Argentine. Other players on the way are Jared Borgetti from Bolton to possibly Racing Santander and Liverpool duo Jan Kromkamp (a PSV target) and Djimi Traore who may go to Bolton or Charlton.

Finally tow players who completed moves today were Holland’s Denny Landzaat who joins Wigan from AZ Alkmaar and Croatian World Cup playmaker Niko Kranjcar who is moving to Celta Vigo from Hajduk Split.

OK, OK we said we would put this to bed, but then we found this “photo” which made us re-think. Maybe Zidane just suffers from a nervous tick…

A lot of our articles over the past few days have focussed on the now infamous Zidane head-butt on Marco Materazzi in Sunday’s World Cup final. We have heard what the two protagonists have had to say. It is now time to put the incident to bed. Here we take one last look at how the incident was reported in different parts of the world. Remember, a picture is worth a thousand words…

According to Japanese TV:

According to Italian TV:

According to French TV:

According to American TV:

According to British TV:

According to Al Jazeera TV

Accodring to the anti-Italian German press:

Zinedine Zidane finally gave his version of the events which lead to his sending off. Speaking to Canal Plus earlier this evening, ZZ apologised especially to the children and viewing public for his behaviour but said that he did not regret what he had done. Zizou said that Materazzi had used “some very strong words” and that the insults were directed at his mother and his sister. However, he did not reveal what everyone was waiting to hear - the exact words Materazzi used. This looks now looks like becoming one of those football mysteries that will never be resolved, such as why Ronaldo suffered convulsions before the final at France 1998.

Speaking to Gazzetta Dello Sport, World Cup hero (and villain) Marco Materazzi admitted that he insulted ZZ, prior to being headbutted in the chest. However, he denied calling him a “dirty terrorist” or bringing ZZ’s mother into it because as he put it “for me a mother is sacred“. Materazzi lost his own mother when he was 14.

According to “the Matrix” as Inter fans call him, he held Zidane’s shirt for a few seconds  which irritated Zidane who turned around and looked him up and down before saying arrogantly, “if you really want my shirt, I’ll give it to you after the match“. Materazzi responded to this with an insult. When specifically asked whether he targeted ZZ’s sister, he described the insult as “one of those insults which one often says and which sometimes comes out during a match“….No denial then - sounds like the theory of the “sister” jibe (which we reported yesterday) wins it then!

Love Zidane? Hate Materazzi? Want to emulate your hero? Now all you need is an internet connection and you can headbutt away to your heart’s content with “Zidane - The Video Game“!

[click on picture for link. NB traffic restrictions may mean that site is not always accessible]

There is a consensus that Zinedine Zidane, normally a quiet man, must have been provoked into headbutting Marco Materazzi. Speculation is now growing as to what Materazzi said or did. Two versions are gathering pace. The first, according to L’Equipe is that Materazzi called Zizou a “dirty terrorist” because of his Algerian roots. The second, according to Brazilian TV channel Globo is that Materazzi insulted Zizou’s sister, Lila, and called her a “prostitute” twice. The channel had lip-reading experts examine the video evidence and this is the conclusion they reached.

France’s Florent Malouda said later that Zizou told the French players in the dressing room what Materazzi had said but did not divulge any details. Zizou’s agent Alain Migliaccio, told BBC Radio Five Live that his client’s reaction was provoked by some “very serious comments“. The rumours are likely to continue over the coming days and unless Zizou himself makes a statement we are never likely to know the truth.

When Zinedine Zidane stepped up and nonchalantly chipped his penalty over Gianluigi Buffon, he seemed destined to write the perfect ending to his glorious career. The World Cup final is the most high-pressured match in sport, played in front of a global audience of 2.5 billion. Yet here was the greatest player since Diego Maradona shrugging off the pressure, showing supreme confidence in his own ability and delivering. The message was clear, “I am at the top of my game“. Gennaro Gattuso, who when asked before the game how he was going to prepare to mark Zidane, responded, “Pray“, must have been worried. The doors to footballing immortality beckoned. Zidane was on the path to usurping the great Johan Cruyff and becoming the third member of the Holy Trinity of football - Maradona, Pele and now Zizou.

Fast forward 102 minutes. The score was 1-1 but France were in control. Zidane was the conductor of France’s orchestra. Italy were hanging on. They had dominated the first half and deservedly equalised through Materazzi. They should have been ahead but Toni’s header hit the bar. Gattuso had kept ZZ subdued, but the difficulty of marking him had taken its toll. He had broken free from Gattuso’s shackles in the second half and his influence had grown.

Then, in a moment of madness everything changed. There was a verbal exchange with Materazzi, a smile, and suddenly Zizou turned and headbutted Materazzi in the chest. The inevitable red card followed. This is was not the first time Zidane had lost his temper and succumbed to an an act of violence. At France 1998, he was sent off for a stamp on Saudi Arabia’s Fuad Amin and missed the next 2 matches. In 2000, while playing for Juventus against Hamburg, he was sent off for headbutting Jochen Kientz. The difference was that on both those occasions he had time to redeem himself and remind us of his wonderful quality as a player. He isnpired France to victory in the final of 1998 with two goals. In the Champions League, the abiding memory is of his athletic volley against Leverkusen in 2002 which gave Real Madrid the title. This time there would be no time for redemption - Zidane walked off the pitch and out of football. The glorious ending became a tragic one.

Without their leader, confidence drained from the French side. They seemed as shocked as football fans around the globe were. Defeat was inevitable. Fabio Grosso stepped up to complete his fine tournament and hammered the ball past the hapless Barthez in the penalty shootout. Italy were champions for the fourth time. They had not reached the heights of their semi-final performance and looked drained, but they did enough and deserved their victory for the manner in which they had won over football fans by moving away from catenaccio playing the attacking football that their talented forward line craved.

This morning Zidane was controversially given the Golden Ball, awarded to the torunament’s MVP. Fabio Cannavaro was probably a more deserving winner. He lead his team all the way, whereas Zidane let his down at the crucial moment.

In time, as the furore over his dismissal subsides, the most vivid memories of ZZ will be of his silky touch, his unrivalled skill and his ability to control a game. It has happened before: Maradona, despite his “hand of God” is remembered as a footballing genius. For what he has achieved through his career Zidane deserves his place in the pantheon of football greats as the defining player of his generation. I for one would elevate him above Cruyff as the third best player the world has seen. But today, my memory of Zidane the player is tinged. Why is genius always flawed?