ZIDANE: HE HEADED FRANCE TO BOTH HEAVEN AND HELL

France '98 World Cup Finals, against Brazil, Zinedine Zidane was the man of the moment as he headed in two goals to seal the first ever World Cup title to the Les Bleus. 8 years on and his one moment of folly has almost single-handedly destroyed France and a sudden rush of blood to the head means Zidane himself, pushed the button of self-destruction as he have to watch his team destroyed along wth him in the tunnels. What has happened to the player of our decade, what made him snapped and did something so stupid and ridiculous out of the blues?

He is arguably the best player for a decade, since his rise of stardom back in 1998, when he played an integral part in the French success. His grace and his touch on the football field is something many of us loves to see, as nowadays, footballers are not getting any better to the players back in the days of Pele and Maradona. Who can safely say that during the past decade, the footballing world have came up with another greater legend than Zizou himself. Ronaldinho is the closest, but he's still yet to peak and he's being found out this World Cup, when he was utterly disappointing.


Correct Decisions? Ref?

Is it a correct decision to sent him off? A definite yes from my point of view. It was disgraceful and violent. No footballers, including Zidane himself, could be excused from doing such a thing. But again refereeing standard has been put to scrutiny once again as there has been murmurs that the 4th official actually used video replays to make the decisions.

According to the rulebook, the referees are NOT allowed to use any video technology in their aid for decisions making. Even Italian coach, Marcello Lippi came out and said that the referee only took action after getting a report from the 4th and 5th officials. And he added that all the 3 officials on the field were not aware of the going-ons and what happened.

I'm not trying to say that sending Zidane off is a mistake, but what IF really, the 4th and 5th officials used the TV replays for evidence. Didn't they broke they rules and regulations? I for one thinks that football's rules, guidelines and refereeing standards are backward, obsolete and makes absolutely no sense. Is this not a time to start introducing video technology already, Mr Blatter and to those footballing 'gods'? We're already in the 21st century for god's sake and why can't technology be incoporated into the beautiful game?

I stand by my view that, Zidane deserves the red card. But the most worrying thing should be the guidelines of the game and also the overall refereeing standard. It's only becoming a joke and it all happens at the biggest stage, World Cup. Time to redraw the plans again I reckon. Now is the time.


What Of Materazzi?

Good defender he is, an absolute t**t in terms of personality. Not like I know him personally, but anyone with half a brain and watches him play knows he's someone that not many people look up to. I'll always remember his elbow on Juan Pablo Sorin in this year's Champions League, when he smashed his elbow into Sorin's face and got away with it scott-free. There has been speculations about what he said to Zizou, that made him go bonkers and give him a head in the chest.

Latest news would be that he said something 'very serious' and provoked Zidane, according to Zidane's agent, Alain Migliaccio. Various newspaper speculations were that Materrazzi called him 'a terrorist' while other reports claimed he asked Zidane to 'play for his own country', which is Algeria. To me, it's more likely that the latter one is the speculated one and the 'terrorist' one sounds more evident to me.


Final Words...

But let's hope Zidane would come out and say something within the next few days and end all speculations. I think he have to personally stand out and give his team, the French and of course all football fans around the world an answer to his disgraceful act. Not only did he let his team down, but as a captain, he did something that he shouldn't do and of course, disappointed a whole load of people, including me.

He might be a player with legendary status, but he's a human after all, as I like to say. You need to understand the pressure he's under at that very moment, when there were 17 cameras on him, the hope and expectations of the millions back home in France on his shoulder and of course it might be a little hard for him to accept the fact that his glittering career is ending. It's so, so sad to watch a player of his calibre doing that and I feel so gutted for him. But I believe that people will forgive him faster than expected, because the beauty and goodness he brought to the game far outweights that moment of folly, or let's just say, momentS.

Tags: Zinedine Zidane