Rose Cantine

What exactly did Materazzi say to Zizou at the World Cup final? A TV interview with Zidane last week that drew a record audience provided few clues about the incident. Zidane claims that Materazzi insulted his mother and sister (from Le Monde):

Il a dit des mots très durs, des mots plus durs que des gestes, des mots qui me touchaient au plus profond de moi et qui concernaient ma maman et ma soeur, avait déclaré Zinédine Zidane pour justifier le geste qui lui a valu un carton rouge à 10 minutes de la fin de France-Italie. “Le coupable, c’est celui qui provoque”, avait accusé l’ancien meneur de jeu des Bleus.

This is hard to believe since football players are always insulting each other’s female relatives. A cousin of Zidane says that Materazzi called Zizou a terrorist or a “harki” (Algerians who collaborated with the French). I seriously doubt that Materazzi’s knowledge of French history is that good. Finally, one of the Italian newspapers reports that Materazzi only said, “come play with us at Inter Milan”. Bizarre.

FIFA will determine what disiciplinary action to take after the meeting (with Materazzi and Zidane) on 20 July 2006.

Update: FIFA suspended Zizou and Materazzi for several games, which is irrelevant to Zizou because he has retired. It also imposed fines on the two players.