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Marco Materazzi is a known neofascist. He idolizes Mussolini and sympathizes with Hitler. Look at all the tatoos he has on his arms. On the other hand Zinedine Zidane is an Arab from Algeria. Draw your own conclusions. (EDIT: Hmm, it seems I confused Materazzi with some other player, maybe Di Canio, but still, Materazzi is a complete and total asshole).

I think Materazzi should be banned from international football for life. After this I only have more respect for Zidane. He stood up against a fascist bully. I just wish he punched him properly in the face, preferably taking a few teeth out, hockey style.

This World Cup ended up as being a complete farce. The main motto of the competition was fight against racism and in the end a fascist rasist wins while the only person who stands up against them gets sent off with a red card.

PS: Don't close this thread yet. There will be pictures in a day or two!

Tough text you write, miran. If that is true, I really hope Zidane will expose it all for the press. And I hope Materazzi would me a man enough to do the same.

Three more posts before this thread becomes 1337!

If it was a racist or fascist comment I applaud zizou for knocking the snotbag on his ass. I expect to see a FIFA follow up to this incident and appropriate actions to be taken. This year we saw a big campaign to end racism by FIFA.

Following hockey most of the year and watching the premier and league 1 games that air here in canada i normally don't see all the press, hoopla, and crap that goes on behind the scenes. A month ago at the start of the world cup i saw a news report commenting on FIFA's efforts to end racism. I did not know that it could be a problem in this day and age in europe of all places where there's a different culture every 100 km's or so. I saw di canio doing fascist salutes to large roaring crowds in the stands, i saw tatoos of various players, i saw banana's being thrown at black players including henry, i saw video of the spanish coach calling him a fucking monkey and all kinds of other stuff. Not impressed one bit. At least the problems seem confined to a few clubs of a few countries. Though it seems in general that the zero tolerance policy has worked thus far during the world cup. Perhaps its just news blowing it out of proportion.

I do suspect it was a racist comment because even hotheaded hockey players are capable of ignoring hecklers and comments until it gets to a personal level like that. It also seemed like zizou ignored the few comments that were exchanged.

But it matters! My interpretation of the event is that Zidane had heard enough of some insults of somekind and he simply didn't find the game and the Cup worth anything anymore. Sure he would have let it be undone, if he could have held his temper, but at that moment he weighed it differently. He didn't want to continue the dirty game. And a dirty game it is! I find it very sad that a great player like Materazzi can't be satisfied with what he got. Playing fair and getting to the semi-finals should be more worth for a player than winning the Cup using methods like diving and racist insults.

Does Materazzi go around showing people his medal and saying: "Look, guys. I'm the World Champion in being a donkey hole!"

[edit]
I'm picking on Materazzi here, but he may represent anyone, who doesn't understand the idea of fair play, anyone who goes on diving and acting and doping and anything else, but playing fair.

Basically France dominated Italy in the 2nd half because they played 3-6-1...which shows that the formation you chose plays an important role in modern football.

But France could not score many goals because they do not have the players to do so. It is only Henry that has the ability to easily score a goal. The other guys are fine players but they do not have it as easy.

I really hoped Zidane's header in the extra time went in...it would be a great end for a great footballer. But now that this incident has happened, I am even more proud of Zidane, because not only he is one of the greatest footballers ever lived but also a truly important personality in the athletics world. Not many people would sacrifise their reputation in such a way that they would prove honour and dignity is above any cup, even if that cup is the world cup. And I am saying this because most probably the Italian said some very nasty words.

Wow, some of you are wayyyy off! It doesn't matter at all what was said to Zidane. You can't headbutt some one on the pitch, especially not in such a brutal way.

Some of you seem to be praising Zidane when you should be disappointed in him!

I'm sure it's very very hard! But on this issue for me personally it's black and white. You don't do it on a football pitch.

Richard: you seem to hit the nail on the head. What was said to Zidane was doubtlessly abominable. But it's a hardly an excuse for what he did, because what he did was unforgivable and he deserved a red card for that. That we shall agree. On the other hand it would be damn good if FIFA would inspect what exactly happened. I heard that he said to him: "terrorist".

Right now, it is being stated down here that Materazzi said "shitty algerian" or something alike. I am not sure if Zidane will say exactly what he was being told, as usually what happens in the field stays in the field, at least down here.

It seems he was chosen the best player of the world cup, nevertheless of that last action.