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What does it look like when a national hero falls from grace?
Before this World Cup, Zinedine Zidane was widely considered to one of the best midfielders to ever play the game. His already mythical status in France rose to even greater acclaim when he somehow managed to recapture his youth and carry the team all the way to the World Cup final.
Having publicly declared that he would retire at the end of the World Cup, Zidane enjoyed increasingly lavish praise from the media after each victory, and even he had played poorly in a French loss, he would have still been lifted into the pantheon of all-time greats with the likes of Pelé, Franz Beckenbauer, and Diego Maradona.
His stock rose even higher when he scored the opening goal on a ballsy chip shot after France won a dubious penalty in the first few minutes of the match. Italy scored a deserved equalizer a little bit later, but as the game went on the Italians began to look tired, and Zidane was in his usual role as the mastermind of the French attack. He forced an excellent save out of Buffon in extra-time, and it looked like the Italians had run out of gas after having already endured an exhausting extra-time victory over Germany in their semifinal match. France was able to bring on some fresh legs and looked like they could just keep applying pressure for the final ten minutes.
Then in the 110th minute, Marco Materazzi said something to Zidane. There was no rough contact, no cheap shot, not even any shouting, but whatever Materazzi said, it was enough to make the French captain, a veteran of three World Cups and three-time world player of the year, match straight at him and deliver a vicious head-butt to the chest. Zidane was sent off, depriving France of both his leadership and his excellent penalty-taking skills. Italy won on penalties, and the memory of Zidane's glorious career will now be tainted with shame of costing his country the World Cup by committing an inexcusably savage attack in front of a billion people around the world.
Before this World Cup, Zinedine Zidane was widely considered to one of the best midfielders to ever play the game. His already mythical status in France rose to even greater acclaim when he somehow managed to recapture his youth and carry the team all the way to the World Cup final.
Having publicly declared that he would retire at the end of the World Cup, Zidane enjoyed increasingly lavish praise from the media after each victory, and even he had played poorly in a French loss, he would have still been lifted into the pantheon of all-time greats with the likes of Pelé, Franz Beckenbauer, and Diego Maradona.
His stock rose even higher when he scored the opening goal on a ballsy chip shot after France won a dubious penalty in the first few minutes of the match. Italy scored a deserved equalizer a little bit later, but as the game went on the Italians began to look tired, and Zidane was in his usual role as the mastermind of the French attack. He forced an excellent save out of Buffon in extra-time, and it looked like the Italians had run out of gas after having already endured an exhausting extra-time victory over Germany in their semifinal match. France was able to bring on some fresh legs and looked like they could just keep applying pressure for the final ten minutes.
Then in the 110th minute, Marco Materazzi said something to Zidane. There was no rough contact, no cheap shot, not even any shouting, but whatever Materazzi said, it was enough to make the French captain, a veteran of three World Cups and three-time world player of the year, match straight at him and deliver a vicious head-butt to the chest. Zidane was sent off, depriving France of both his leadership and his excellent penalty-taking skills. Italy won on penalties, and the memory of Zidane's glorious career will now be tainted with shame of costing his country the World Cup by committing an inexcusably savage attack in front of a billion people around the world.