Algerians - Heads Like Rocks, I've Always Said
Sadly, Les Bleus did not win the World Cup last Sunday. It was a curious and fun experience for me, as I watched the game with fervent Algerian fans transplanted to New York, all of whom have closely followed the fortunes of the team as a whole and also the career of Zinedine Zidane. Much has been written so far this week about the headbutting episode.
Our first reaction, I admit, was shock, awe and laughter. Whatever it was or wasn't, it decisively knocked the Italian flat on his ass. (The you tube footage has 1,754-odd views at the time I'm writing this.)
I always joke with Mr. Fresh Hell that Algerians are so stubborn that they have heads like rocks - who knew how prophetic the jest would be?
Word on the net is that Materazzi said something egregiously foul to Zidane - that Zizou was provoked beyond his patience - at a time, we can all admit, when his patience was probably remarkably thin. Still, Zidane appears at the moment directly before the headbutt quite calm and composed, which makes the ensuing violence so surprising and unexpected.
I haven't decided how I feel about it. Lip readers have been employed to decipher what Materazzi said; sports journalists and soccer fans worldwide have been weighing in with written opinions pro and con.
A lot of folks have written that regardless of what Materazzi said, Zidane could have (and the should have is implied) dealt with it later, outside the confines of the World Cup final. Those of a condemnatory nature have written that it debased Zidane's final career game. Some people have defended his action, claiming that he was provoked beyond endurance, that soccer is a passionate game and often not clean, certainly not built for pansies, and that there has always been a thuggish quality to the sport. Zidane is guilty on occasions during the course of his career of a few violent responses.
Did Italy play a clean game in the final? I personally don't think so. The shin-clutching flop was way too much in evidence during regulation play to lead me to believe otherwise.
But until Zidane publishes a definitive statement - which I predict will be carefully crafted by his agent to dispense a reasonably bland explanation which will in essence explain nothing - we'll not really know what happened.
We may never know - but everyone who saw that game won't forget it soon, will they? Won't we always remember the final of World Cup 2006?
posted by Miliana at 8:44 PM
4 Comments:
Apparently, hard heads, temper tantrums, and the violent outbursts of adults playing children's games know no nationality. Such a prejudice free action should be reassuring. Alas, it isn't - even as it is often understandable.
Soccer games, enthusiasts, scores, and the passions of the moment have always had a history of violence. I've had the opportunity to hear Europeans at a Yankee's baseball game condemn the violence of Americans when the bench emptied over an errant pitch to a player crowding the plate. I found the European's reaction soooo hypocritical, especially since there had been a riot among spectators in Leeds (?) the previous week, following a different riot at another location just a few days before.
Perhaps it's only the arena mentality at work, the result of all the self-delusion about phony gladitorial combat. Oh well, it does prove one thing. A head can be used for many more things than holding a hat - or a brain.
Ilonas - I think you're being a little harsh on Zidane but I know where it's coming from - I too wish he hadn't done what he did but DAMN! he didn't do it halfway then, huh?
Kaz- There is terribly hypocrisy by the British about their reactions to sport as opposed to Americans - I think we can sum it up with the word hooligan?
I still hold firm that Zidane was provoked beyond provacation by Materazzi and I think my opinion will be borne out - will ZZ apologize? I doubt he'll apologize for responding but deplore the way he chose to respond. But if it's true that he received repeated personal and familial slurs on the field I can't fault him too much for losing his head (joke?) on the field and letting the moment carry him away.
But, the larger thought: will any of us who watched that final WC game of 2006 forget it? I think not!
Well, his apology wasn't really an apology, more like an explanation; although I did like the fact that he made the point that what the Italian said just simply wasn't to be countenanced, trash talk on the field or no.
By the way, the headbutt has spawned countless video, a video GAME, and has been constructed out of online LEGO. ZZ may have ruined his reputation at the last minute, but damn if he's not more famous than ever.
I'm not 100% sure about the LEGO, but I think they have a virtual portal or something to create things that only get posted online and maybe..oh, whatever.
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