Zidane finally responds...

[mhl12]

http://news.yahoo.com/s/nm/20060712/...ld_zidane_dc_2

Apparently, Zidane accuses Materazzi of insulting his mother and sister and he still does not regret headbutting Materazzi. He does, however, apologize to children and all his fans.

update:

and according to this: http://today.reuters.co.uk/news/news...-MATERAZZI.XML

Materazzi denies saying any insults about Zidane's family.

[TaytoTheFirst]

This is what lip readers made of it.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=vhmN_...elated&search=

Apparantly Zidane said something along the lines of "If you want my *deleted* shirt i'll give it to you after the game.

Materazzi is just making it worse for himself by denying it, but i can't see Italian's being bothered about it at all.

Tayto,

Do not bypass the word filter again

Freet

[EliManning]

Materazzi did admit to insulting him though. That Reuters article isn't very clear about that. It actually makes it out like Materazzi worships Zidane and would never insult him or something.

It's sort of a red flag to me that he's saying "I didn't know his mother was in the hospital" and claiming he didn't insult her. Why would you even mention that if you didn't say anything about her?

[Draconis]

The fact that he claims to be so ignorant that he couldn't call Zidane a terrorist because 'I don't even know what a terrorist is' also rings about as false as it gets.

[Cdnexpat]

This is what Materazzi said:
"I said nothing to him about race, religion or politics. I did not talk about his mother either," the defender was quoted as saying.

"I lost my mother when I was 15 and it still upsets me to talk about it. Of course I didn't know that his mother was in hospital. I send her my best wishes."

He is responding to the things that people have speculated he said. Even Zindane says Materazzi did not call him a terrorist, so I would think speculation about that would be dead. "Zidane denied Materazzi called him an Islamic "terrorist," as was reported by a Paris-based anti-racism group."


You guys can dissect what happened all day, in the end regardless of what Materazzi said Zidane did not have the right to head butt him. Zidane deserved to be red carded and he should be stripped of the "best player" award. While I am at it, if that half assed apology (I am sorry but it isn't my fault) was the best he can do he shouldn't have bothered.

[WebDragon]

Well at the very least that does indeed kill the terrorist remark garbage. In fact, had it been proven that this indeed was the insult, the rules of FIFA have a clause in them that would make the offender's team automatically lose a game for remarks such as those. That's why there was some talk the last couple of days about stripping the title from the Italians.

As long as Zizou admitted that this wasn't the case, then the Italians can be secure in the knowledge that their title is indeed safe.

As for Zidane himself, if that's the insult that got him ticked off then it must be the arabic blood in him. From what I understand, insults like that get thrown around ALL the time in football, in all levels of play.

[Cdnexpat]

Well at the very least that does indeed kill the terrorist remark garbage. In fact, had it been proven that this indeed was the insult, the rules of FIFA have a clause in them that would make the offender's team automatically lose a game for remarks such as those. That's why there was some talk the last couple of days about stripping the title from the Italians.

As long as Zizou admitted that this wasn't the case, then the Italians can be secure in the knowledge that their title is indeed safe.

As for Zidane himself, if that's the insult that got him ticked off then it must be the arabic blood in him. From what I understand, insults like that get thrown around ALL the time in football, in all levels of play.

Insults like that get thrown around in sport at all levels of play.

[EliManning]

What I'm hearing from someone who saw the actual interview is that Zidane said Materazzi's insults were ones that struck at the very core of his being and his mother and sister were sort of thrown in as afterthoughts to that. Maybe the specific word "terrorist" wasn't used but it sounds pretty ominous, especially with Materazzi admitting to insulting Zidane but not revealing what the insult was.

Zidane deserved to be red carded and he should be stripped of the "best player" award.

FALSE. Getting a red card doesn't make you a lesser player. He's already served the punishment that goes with a red card.

[PatMaGroin]

FALSE. Getting a red card doesn't make you a lesser player. He's already served the punishment that goes with a red card.

Agreed.

In a separate news story, I saw Materazzi say thast to him 'the mother is sacred' which, coupled with the story of his own mother, I doubt that was the insult used. Yes, Zidane did say that he could have his shirt, as Materazzi was holding on to it for dear life.

Regardless, Zidane headbutted the guy and was red carded. Words were said, a response was made, and consquences were faced. What's the big deal?

[Drosselmeier]

Regardless, Zidane headbutted the guy and was red carded. Words were said, a response was made, and consquences were faced. What's the big deal?

That's what I was thinking. Materazzi probably earned it. Zidane violated the rules and got his punishment. Let it go.

I laughed when I saw it. The good part of me loved it, and loved Zidane for it. Great as it was though, this will not ruin football, and it won't ruin his career.