Why did Zidane butt his head into Marco? Here are two possible interpretations from an email from my friend, Howard Davis – a Yoga Teacher in LA. The first one is from a lip reader..
An Italian lip-reader last night claimed to have deciphered the words Marco Materazzi said to Zindine Zidane that provoked the French captain into butting him in the chest during Sunday’s World Cup final, the great midfielder’s final act before a red card ended his career in top-level football. According to the BBC, Materazzi said, “I wish an ugly death to you and all your family,” and then told Zidane to “go fuck yourself”.
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and the second one from a blog.
Rumor has it that Materazzi called Zidane’s father a ‘harki’ – the Arabic term for Algerians who fought for France against Algeria during the occupation. It’s beyond all insults, the ultimate traitor.
If this is true it means that they did their research – Le Pen suggested the same thing 9 years ago and in the next game Zidane stomped on a Saudi player who repeated it.
I’d be surprised if Zizou ever talks about it. He’ll disappear for a while then hopefully reemerge as France’s manager for 2010. It’s an ignominous end to his playing career – if the header which Buffon brilliantly saved 6 minutes earlier had gone in this would have become probably the greatest retirement in the history of any sport. Instead it’s close to the opposite.
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Take your pick, but you have to admit it was a superbly timed and executed headbutt. Imagine the damage and the subsequent outcry if Zizou had gone for the Italian’s nose.