Berlin – Behind all the big goals and big titles and big awards, Zinedine Zidane enters retirement today with a large bit of notoriety: a big temper. And it may have cost his beloved France a second World Cup title.
His red card with 11 minutes left in overtime Sunday may have led to France’s shootout loss to Italy. His vicious head-butt of Marco Materazzi also was merely the tip of a fuse that many know sizzles in Zidane’s head.
This wasn’t the first time Zidane, 34, was ordered off a field. Earlier in this tournament, the three-time FIFA world player of the year received two yellow cards and was suspended for the third match against Togo, which France needed to beat.
Five years ago while with Juventus of Turin, Zidane head-butted Jochen Kientz of Hamburg SV and got tossed from a Champions League match. Zidane also received a red card eight years ago when he stomped on a player from Saudi Arabia.
But no walking papers hurt more than Sunday’s card, which left France a man short for the final minutes, and then it couldn’t use him in the shootout. Without Zidane, who put France up 1-0 in the seventh minute with a penalty kick, and star Arsenal striker Thierry Henry, pulled after 106 minutes, France lost the shootout 5-3.
It wasn’t known what provoked Zidane to belt Materazzi. Zidane didn’t talk after the game, and even his coach, Raymond Domenech, wasn’t sure.
“I have not seen the replays, but if it’s voluntary then there’s nothing you can say,” he said. “But it’s a shame. It’s sad. He (Materazzi) did a lot of acting, and for such a big man, a gust of wind made him fall over.”
However, in a tournament noted for trigger-happy refereeing, this was one red card no one could argue. But the rest of the game was played amid a chorus of whistles that turned the neutral crowd into decidedly French partisans.
Whatever the justice, one image will remain in French minds: Zidane walking off the field, never to return but also refusing to look his coach’s way or even at the gold World Cup trophy he passed on the way to the locker room.
His penalty kick gave him 31 goals in 108 games for France, and he became the fourth man with three goals in World Cup finals. His two goals in the 3-0 win for the 1998 title in Paris forever etched him in international lore.
However, he had been a French star even before that. The son of Algerian immigrants, he learned the game in the backstreets of Marseilles. He signed with Cannes at the age of 14, and in his first cap with France at 22 he scored two goals against the Czech Republic.
In the 1995-96 season, he led Bordeaux to the UEFA Cup final, then won Italian league titles with Juventus in 1997 and 1998 before the huge World Cup crown. After leading France to the 2000 European Championship, he signed with Real Madrid for $90 million in 1999.
Sunday’s red card ended what could have been his storybook sendoff. The French media had blamed him, along with Domenech, for much of France’s struggles in group play. Zidane stopped talking to the media.
Then Zidane scored in the second-round game against Spain and was the most brilliant player on the field in the quarterfinal upset of Brazil. His trademark spin move dumbfounded the more legendary Brazilians, and it appeared he’d carry France on his shoulders once again. He scored on a penalty kick in the semifinals against Portugal.
But his exit left his team shorthanded and his nation dumbfounded. The man they called Zizou left the field with the World Cup on the line.
ITALY 1, FRANCE 1
Italy won 5-3 on penalty kicks
At Berlin
Italy 1 0 0 – 1
France 1 0 0 – 1
First half – 1, France, Zidane 3, seventh minute (penalty kick). 2, Italy, Materazzi 2, 19th minute.
Second half – None. Extra time – None.
Penalty kicks – Italy 5 (Pirlo G, Materazzi G, De Rossi G, Del Piero G, Grosso G); France 3 (Wiltord G, Trezeguet NG, Abidal G, Sagnol G).
Shots – Italy 5, France 13. Shots on goal – Italy 3, France 5.
Yellow cards – Italy, Zambrotta, fifth. France, Sagnol, 12th; Diarra, 76th; Malouda, 111th. Red card – France, Zidane, 110th.
Offsides – Italy 4, France 2.
Fouls – Italy 17, France 24. Referee – Horacio Elizondo, Argentina. Linesmen – Dario Garcia, Argentina; Rodolfo Otero, Argentina. A – 69,000.
Italy lineup: Gianluigi Buffon, Gianluca Zambrotta, Fabio Cannavaro, Marco Materazzi, Fabio Grosso, Mauro Camoranesi (Alessandro Del Piero, 86th), Gennaro Gattuso, Andrea Pirlo, Simone Perrotta (Vicenzo Iaquinta, 61st), Francesco Totti (Daniele De Rossi, 61st), Luca Toni.
France lineup: Fabien Barthez, Willy Sagnol, Lilian Thuram, William Gallas, Eric Abidal, Patrick Vieira (Alou Diarra, 56th), Claude Makelele, Franck Ribery (David Trezeguet, 100th), Florent Malouda, Zinedine Zidane, Thierry Henry (Sylvain Wiltord, 107th).
Championship history
2006 Italy 2-1 France
2002 Brazil 2-0 Germany
1998 France 3-0 Brazil
1994 Brazil 3-2 Italy
1990 West Germany 1-0 Argentina
1986 Argentina 3-2 West Germany
1982 Italy 3-1 West Germany
1978 Argentina 3-1 Netherlands
1974 West Germany 2-1 Netherlands
1970 Brazil 4-1 Italy
1966 England 4-2 West Germany
1962 Brazil 3-1 Czechoslovakia
1958 Brazil 5-2 Sweden
1954 West Germany 3-2 Hungary
1950 Uruguay 2-1 Brazil
1938 Italy 4-2 Hungary
1934 Italy 2-1 Czechoslovakia
1930 Uruguay 4-2 Argentina
Next World Cup
2010 – South Africa
