July 09, 2006
Next stop, JohannesburgSports
A couple of hours from now, 22 handsome men of various shapes and hues will peel off their sweat-drenched jerseys and exchange them, amid hugs and kisses and mussing of hair, before a crowd of tens of thousands and a television audience of billions. And just like that, the World Cup will be over.
As the sporting winner emerges from the final pairing of France and Italy, so shall the competitions winning narrative, the storyline of storylines that best succeeds in taking events on the field and giving them interpretive power to tell us something about the world we live in.
It is interesting that we are having discussions right now at the Mutiny about nationalism, jingoism, patriotism, anti-nationalism, and matters of that sort, at the same time that the worlds quadriennial celebration of national identities wraps up. The World Cup is a curious beast, it is a time when national loyalties are expressed, loudly and even virulently, yet in a choreographed manner and by universally recognized rules of engagement and fair play, for a limited duration and all at the same time.
Its as much a celebration of the porousness of national barriers as it is of their continued relevance. Its an event that inherently applauds globalization the demographic flows, the internationalization of the business of sports, the diffusion of popular culture, the technological advances that permit billions of people to watch the same high-quality image feeds, the ease of travel that permits delegations of supporters to travel from the far corners of the planet. And its also an opportunity to wrap oneself in ones flag or that of another country to which one feels loyalty, or kinship, or just a whimsical fancy.
The resurgence of the France team, which no one (including myself, a longtime France supporter who grew up in Paris) had given any shot of getting past the quarter-finals, has pushed back into the limelight the narratives of nationhood and cultural and demographic integration. By far the most multicultural team in the field this year I mean that at the primitive, united-colors-of-Benetton level Les Bleus offer a fantasy portrait of diversity in action, thrilling sporting action at that.
But since the teams famous triumph in 1998, much of the luster has been taken off the easy black-blanc-beur sentiment. Culpable squabbling within the centre-left in the 2002 election resulted in the overtly racist right-wing politician Jean-Marie Le Pen qualifying for the second round of the presidential election, forcing a national rallying around the mediocre and fatigued Jacques Chirac.
Last year, severe riots and disturbances in the squalid working-class suburbs of Paris and other cities reminded France and the world that the daily lives of people of color in France are fraught with obstacles and discrimination; not that the complacent political class and intellectual elite seem much interested in doing anything about it.
With impeccable timing, Le Pen inveighed a couple of weeks ago that Frances poor showing in the tournaments first round was due to the presence of too many players of color, suggesting that the coach had gone for political correctness over actual footballing skill. (Sound familiar?) Then the team started winning games against tough opponents in fine fashion, Zidane-mania began its second coming, and Le Pen as usual looked like the fool that he is. Best yet, it was revealed that the great white hope of French football, Franck Ribéry, a scruffy working class kid from the depressed port city Boulogne, on paper just the kind of type to support Le Pen, is a proud convert to Islam.
Whether France wins or loses the match about to begin, the teams run has put the question of making diversity work back under the spotlight a healthy improvement over the spirit of 1998, which was all celebration and self-congratulation. That was before the clash of civilizations, the horrific events that we know, the emergence of the new flavors of bigotry, chauvinism and know-nothingness that feel today like the norm. Today, the problems are more sharply posed, the stakes in Europe, America, South Asia, the world immeasurably higher.
A football tournament wont solve the worlds problems, far from it. But the narrative harvest of this years World Cup has only just begun. Four years from now, the next World Cup will be held in South Africa, which virtually guarantees good material from now til then. Ill be following intently, and so will many of you. Thanks to the futbolistic caucus within the Mutiny for adding to the World Cup experience this year — from Bong Breaker to Sahej, Flygirl to Football Fan, AfroDesiAc to Kobayashi, and all the regulars and lurkers in between.
Ill be rooting for France. I think Italy is actually the better side, futbolisticamente hablando, but the spiritual edge is with the multi-hued crew. So long as the féticheurs have been paid their fee and the chickens buried in the proper spots, this one is for Zizou and the boys.
Much respect to all. Next stop, Johannesburg!
siddhartha on July 9, 2006 01:06 PM in Sports · T·r·a·c·k·b·a·c·k address · Direct link · Email post
¤ Ultrabrown said: Footballer Aaron Winter
I've cheered for Italia for half my life, but in my heart of hearts, I hope his image is projected on the Arc de Triomphe once again.
cheering for france. among the reasons: zinedine zidane is one of the coolest sounding names on earth and a pleasure to just say out loud and i'm so jealous of it!
Viva France ;).... I have a HUGE crush on Z^2..
My dad wants France to win too.. his reasoning was pretty humorous... he dislikes Sonia Gandhi..which sends his love for Italy out the window... too funny..
Although I hate Charles de Gaulle (the worst airport ever) and the French can be oh so snobby...and I (heart) Italy, gelatto, and the people...but in the end I have to go with my bald crush ;)
Okay, i'm over and out, no and not to watch the game (sigh).
Gotta cram.
IT COUNTS!!!!!!!!! Gooooooooooooooooooal! w00t Zidane!
I guess the rest of you are watching where there's no wifi. Or, unlike me, other people are actually capable of leaving home without their laptop/being away from the internets. ;)
I guess the rest of you are watching where there's no wifi. Or, unlike me, other people are actually capable of leaving home without their laptop/being away from the internets. ;)
I'm watching. I think that was a cheap penalty that Zidane went on to score on. The rest of the game has been very even. The French are controlling the ball better and the Italians are looking more dangerous.
Siddhartha,
I disagree with you on several points:
Point 1: By far the most multicultural team in the field this year Les Bleus offer a fantasy portrait of diversity in action, thrilling sporting action at that.
France like Israel and Japan (but unlike America, Australia, Britain and Canada) defines itself against multiculturalism. French citizens (white, black, brown, yellow, purple, pokka-dot etc.) are encouraged in schools and in civil society to embrace ancient traditions, buy local produce, adhere to local custom, internalise the basics of French history, and master tricky nuances of the French language. Unlike my own country, France is not ashamed of its culture.
Point 2: Last year, severe riots and disturbances in the squalid working-class suburbs of Paris and other cities reminded France and the world that the daily lives of people of color in France are fraught with obstacles and discrimination.
Well, for starters, many of the rioters were not coloured. Id describe them as beige or yellow: petty thugs of Algerian and Moroccan and Turkish decent. Secondly, you tacitly assume that the banlieue riots were a sporadic response to white racism against blacks? Again: not so. Angry young people from the Maghreb (northwestern Africa) hated Jews, Gypsies, Africans and Asians. They burned synagogues and attacked neighbours belonging to other ethnic groups. So I hope you can appreciate the irony in what youre saying.
Point 3: With impeccable timing, Le Pen inveighed a couple of weeks ago
Would it surprise you to learn that many coloured people voted for Le Pen? The FNs anti-Semitic rhetoric appealed to a huge bloc of anti-Semitic voters of coloured complexion.
Point 4 I think Italy is actually the better side, futbolisticamente hablando, but the spiritual edge is with the multi-hued crew.
I couldnt care less about the colour of a footballers skin. I believe in a colour-blind society not one based on colour-consciousness.
Amir
Vive le Francais!!!!!!!
Although at the end of the day I just want to see a good game, I'm hoping france wins. Let's be honest here, today has been an excellent game thus far!
The worldcup, international competitive sports in general, with their nationalistic spirit really may be the last frontier of such sentiment, one of the few arenas where individuals embrace the emotion as strongly as they did fifty or sixty years ago. Really makes you think. So does the involvement of money in competitive sports...this is a true alienation of man's labor at one of the basest levels. On that note, we're in second overtime.
France used its last substitution and it wasn't to put in Vikash. There will be no Great Brown Hope in this World Cup.
Zidane out on a Red Card!
Holy S**T!!!! Z red carded!!! TOtally deserved. What a shame to end a career with that kind of lack of sportsmanship.
Oh, Zidane...for shame. No matter what he said to you (and it must have been terrible for you to react like that), it wasn't worth it. Au revoir, Zizou.
Total lack of class by Zidane. A leader cannot behave that way. He literally has gone from potential hero to "goat." Did you see the goat like head butt?
Au revoir Zidane...
Boy, are the French crowd whistling?
Jeez
That's so unlike him, though. I wish I knew what was said, to inspire such a violent, reckless reaction. :(
I guess in a momentary lapse of reason he just let it go. Still, I think if France wins he's going to be mentioned in the same breath as Pele and Maradona.
as the bbc put it: "From hero to villain in one moment of lunacy."
what was he thinking??? no matter what materazzi said to him, how could he let his team down in the last stages of a world cup final like that? and now if it goes to penalties, no zidane.
While I like the thrill of a game ending in PKs, it's a shame when it happens. Two teams working so hard and you end up essentially deciding the winner of the tournament on what could be the flip of a coin.
I'm not condoning what Zidane just did but my sister and I think that Materazzi must have said something pretty bad.
I'm not condoning what Zidane just did but my sister and I think that Materazzi must have said something pretty bad.
I think that either he called Zidane a "Froggy," or he opined that "French fries suck."
Barmaid, I'm sure it was pretty bad. Still, Zidane needs to keep his head.
I'm sure it was pretty bad. Still, Zidane needs to keep his head.
That's easy for us to say...we're not the focus of 2 billion eyes. :)
I think that either he called Zidane a "Froggy," or he opined that "French fries suck."
No. Obviously it had something to do with the need for French accents at Dunkin' Donuts.
Sigh. Italia. Pauvre Marthez.
oh well, a poor ending to an overall poor world cup. the better team on the whole in the final done in by colossal stupidity.
Sigh. Italia.
So beautiful.
Viva Italia
That's easy for us to say...we're not the focus of 2 billion eyes. :)
Fair enough, but let's keep in mind that we're talking about a man watched by two million eyes multiple times. He's spent his adult life playing at this level, he's the captain of his team, and one of the all time greats. He needs to keep it together.
We can analyze this to death, we can blame Zidane, bad referees, etc. In the end the REAL reason that France lost is because they left the Great Brown Hope on the bench. Always bet on brown.
but let's keep in mind that we're talking about a man watched by two million eyes multiple times.
...playing in the final game of his career, at the world cup. mitigating circumstance. can you imagine the pressure??
Zidane shouldnt have done that. Italians in earlier match were diving a lot but thats no excuse for what Zidane did. France lost!! Sucks !!! Nothing good is happening in last few weeks
I'm just so sad for him...this will haunt him forever. He lost his cool and as a result, his team had to play one man down, when they totally needed him. I feel like he's a good guy and THAT truth will totally bother him.
Can't wait for Le Pen to say something stupid about it.
...playing in the final game of his career, at the world cup. mitigating circumstance. can you imagine the pressure??
Of course I can't. That's why they call it armchair quarterbacking. The closest experience I've got is...well...ummm...okay I there's nothing in my life that's even remotely analagous. But, I don't fault people, like myself, who believe that he exercised very poor judgment at a key moment.
None of the black players missed a penalty kick so Im not sure whether Le Pen is entitled to say anything!
Gattuso and Cannavaro were superb.
Im not so sure how big of a difference Zidanes red card actually made.
Steps of Rome must be going nuts right now. I mean, they lose their shit on any day that ends with "Y", I can't imagine what type of party is going on after this.
so far 0-2 today: nadal fails to unseat federer in a match-up that didn't live up to its hype, france fails to capitalize against italy. now singh just bogeyed the 13th at the western open :(
Im not so sure how big of a difference Zidanes red card actually made.I agree Amir, I dont think Zidane's exit made that much of difference, as it was penalties anyway. Penalties are a lot dependant on luck. One huge thing that mattered was that Patrick Vierra had to leave, Henry left and my other fav. player Ribery was called back. So all these top players were not available for the "los penales" and that ended up costing France.
Also why no love for our man Dhorasoo?? Why ?? May be thats why France lost :-)
France lost. The God is in Heaven and all's well with the world.
M. Nam
"One huge thing that mattered was that Patrick Vierra had to leave, Henry left and my other fav. player Ribery was called back."
true, but zidane is a good penalty taker. plus his presence affects the rest of the team.
@ amir (#7)
i shall reply to your points just once.
1. you did not notice that i qualified the use of "multicultural" by putting it in quotation marks AND by stating i meant it in the superficial Benetton sense. second, i was talking about a "fantasy picture" of diversity. in other words, i was not endorsing any kind of cheap multiculturalism, in fact i was critiquing it. no one else here ever has any trouble udnerstanding my writing, so it must be you.
2. you have a weird definition of "coloured." i won't even go there. however, your interpretation of what happened last year in france is completely tendentious and wrong. you attempt to set up "algerian, moroccan and turkish" immigrants (gee, i wonder what they have in common?) against the others. completely outrageous distortion of the facts.
3. thank you for educating me about the dynamics of neo-fascist party popularity. unfortunately, you are pulling assertions out of your arse.
4. you don't get writing. you have no imagination.
zidane has blown up several times in the past. he was red carded for stomping a saudi player in 1998. clearly materazzi did or said soemthing ill to provoke him, but that's all part of the game. you know these guys have detailed form sheets on the psychological weaknesses and tendencies of their adversaries. some guys dive, some are susceptible to different kinds of provocaiton, etc. they had the form sheet on zidane and used it well. deeply sad, but there you have it.
italy were the better team on the night and in the tournament. they did not rob their victory. congratulations to them.
Siddhartha-
Cool post. I'm not a fan (of futbol) but you almost make me wish I were. I especially love it when a dark horse team/player makes it to the finals, no matter what the game.
Amir-
You seem to have your colours mixed. Are people of the Mahgreb coloured or not (assuming you are referring to North Africans voting for Le Pen)?
I googled and can find only a single mention of a single synagogue "door blackened by a fire bomb" was the phrase. That's hardly "burned synagogues." Only one fatality (non-specified) was reported other than the deaths of two young men killed by entering the power station which likely sparked the riots and no mention of attacks, other than on cars, businesses, and French police and firefighters. Certainly not the same as "attacked neighbours belonging to other ethnic groups." I did note that one mosque was also fire-bombed and that a fatwa against the rioting was ineffectual.
Here are the stories I found:
http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/europe/4405620.stm
http://www.jewishsf.com/content/2-0-/module/displaystory/story_id/27565/edition_id/527/format/html/displaystory.html
Finally, you will have to work harder on becoming colour-blind. Your fine distinctions between yellow, beige, black and brown give you away.
And how does this:
I couldnt care less about the colour of a footballers skin. I believe in a colour-blind society not one based on colour-consciousness.
jibe with this:
None of the black players missed a penalty kick so Im not sure whether Le Pen is entitled to say anything!
??
Thanks, though, for spurring me to read up on the 2005 riots in France. I found this article useful:
http://riotsfrance.ssrc.org/Cesari/
(though a French professor at Harvard might well be biased in addition to being very well-informed)
and enjoyed the many posts at Wikipedia (Talk:2005 civil unrest in France) regarding POV in the Wiki article on the riots.
zidane has blown up several times in the past. he was red carded for stomping a saudi player in 1998. clearly materazzi did or said soemthing ill to provoke him, but that's all part of the game. you know these guys have detailed form sheets on the psychological weaknesses and tendencies of their adversaries. some guys dive, some are susceptible to different kinds of provocaiton, etc. they had the form sheet on zidane and used it well. deeply sad, but there you have it
that makes sense, probably there is a lot of knowledge particularly about someone like Zidane who has played so long. but its so disappointing. thanks for putting some perspective on it. it would hurt more to if Italy didn't deserve the win, but i guess they did deserve it. it was a hard fought game and i guess Italy has played that way the whole tournement....along with diving shamelessly that is. Well, its always been a complex game, and today was the same. no easy answers.
I thought this was a great article Siddhartha btw, thanks for the great coverage, and to everyone who has posted on the WC threads.
hahaha
Zidane - what a punk rock way to go out of the World Cup final. What the hell happened? It wasn't even anythig discreet, but a full on head charge to the ribcage. Amazing. Anyway, on balance I preferred Italy to win. Forza Italia!
truth be told i think Italy were a great team through the whole thing and they deserve to be the champions. France tried their best and i don't think Italy were cheap. it was a well fought game
Gitanjali,
Thank you very much for the response. Now, let me offer a rejoinder:
Number 1: You seem to have your colours mixed. Are people of the Mahgreb coloured or not (assuming you are referring to North Africans voting for Le Pen)?
I have not got my colours mixed up. North Africans [bar Sudan] (Algeria, Libya, Egypt, Morocco) are considerably paler than the inhabitants of Southern Africa. And yes: extremist elements of the Mahgreb diaspora in France voted for Le Pen. The world is full of complex ironies.
Number 2: jibe like this: None of the black players missed a penalty kick so Im not sure whether Le Pen is entitled to say anything!
It wasnt a jibe: I was responding to Annas #31. She said: Can't wait for Le Pen to say something stupid about it. (i.e. Zidane being of Algerian descent). It was a light-hearted riposte. Chill out.
Number 3: Finally, you will have to work harder on becoming colour-blind. Your fine distinctions between yellow, beige, black and brown give you away.
How do these distinctions give me a way? The word coloured is too vague and imprecise it is used, typically, as a catch-all phrase for anyone who isnt white. Be that as it may, the term colour blind, in a political context, is less literal, and more metaphorical. Basically, it refers to the conservative ideal of a meritocratic society: we should judge people by their dispositions of character, as opposed to their physical and/or hereditary characteristics.
in the end italy won fair and square, but i disagree about them being the better team on the night. i agree with the reporter who said italy let france do everything except win the game. i wonder if zidane will make public what was said that enraged him so much?
At Indigo in Colaba, Bombay, upstairs was Italia and downstairs was France. A man with an excessively large tricolore paced outside.
My World Cup fantasy involved Vikash Dhorasoo scoring the winning goal in the final minutes of extra time. Other than that, viva Italia!
in the end italy won fair and square, but i disagree about them being the better team on the night. i agree with the reporter who said italy let france do everything except win the game. i wonder if zidane will make public what was said that enraged him so much
maybe he was frustrated overall that France was not in the lead? he was also pretty upset to have missed the goal earlier. he seemed to be in a bad mood through the game, maybe this was the last straw. people with tempers lose them at the wrong time, maybe Zizou has a temper. i feel badly for him, but i'm sure he will be all right
as someone who supported France, the game went to extra time, if France was convincingly going to win, they had enough time. Italy played much better early on, after the first goal for sure
but i do agree, France were in position to win, but se la vie. sorry to multi post
c'est la vie, even. ;)
oh, i'm not making excuses for zidane. it was stupendously silly behavior at that stage (although quite an impressive head butt, if such ugly behavior can be called impressive). and i'm not taking anything away from italy's victory. but i did feel that france, after a sluggish start came back, especially after the first half, as the stronger team. even in extra time, i think france had the upper edge for most of the time. but thems the breaks. overall, this was not a world cup filled with scintillating awe-inspiring football and the first world cup i've seen that really tested and tried my patience for a sport that usually delights.
:-) appreciated
It doesn't surprise me that MoorNam is on the side I opposed. Ha!
And I do think that Zidane's red card affected France. France dominated possession in the second half. They played amazingly well, but just didn't score. They were doing well in the 1st 15-minute OT, but in the second, after Zidane was ejected, France was barely staying in the game. I can understand; their best player and captain had just been ejected.
I think if Zidane had been in, with the French having more energy at the end than the Italians, the French were very likely to have scored in the second 15-minute OT. My two cents.
Zidane was the greatest player since Maradona, and he is one of the greatest of all time. Like Maradona, genius comes with a dark side, and we saw that tonight. Nobody will know what intimate rage caused him to have a virtual blackout and carry out that piece of violence, totally losing the plot for a second. Very sad. The sad thing is, that even if France had won the penalties, Zidane would not have been allowed to raise the trophy.
On balance, I actually think that France had the edge tonight. But as soon as I saw the reply, I wanted Italy to win. Sad end to an enjoyable month of the beautiful game. Italy are now the greatest football nation after Brazil, having won it 4 times now.
The Italian league, Serie A, is in the middle of the biggest scandal in modern European club football, and next week four of the biggest clubs are going to be relegated and investigated for match fixing. Talk about the stereotype of Italian corruption, dodgy dealings and mafia attitudes in Italian life. But they showed the beauty that lies behind their calcio, and they have a magnificent and beautiful tradition of football. Their match against Germany in the semi was a superb example of their blend of solid defence and counter attack and was their best match. Well done Italy!
Amir-
I'm pretty chill. I was using jibe in this sense:
from www.thefreedictionary.com
jibe 2
intr.v. jibed, jib·ing, jibes Informal
To be in accord; agree: Your figures jibe with mine.
to show inconsistency.
Meritocracy- so the "black players" merited your praise, but still got listed only by colour.
that summation package they did at the end to U2 music - where they show the back of the red-carded zidane going into the tunnel with the cup on the side and then italy's victory-sealing penalty was quite sad (to me at least). there's no guarantee france would have won if zidane had stayed, but it just reinforced the lost possibilities.
Gitanjali,
Stop being so silly. I dont judge a footballer by his/her skin colour. Other people do i.e. Le Pen.
I was responding to Annas suggestion on #31 that Le Pen (i.e. a racist) might use Z. Zidanes Algerian descent as material proof of Caucasian superiority. So I responded:
None of the black players missed a penalty kick so Im not sure whether Le Pen is entitled to say anything!
In the United Kingdom, us limeys frequently joke about Americans needing a sense of humour bypass because they dont get irony.
Until today, I always disapproved of the joke.
Materazzi appears to tweak Zidane's nipple, Zidane takes him down. Watch.
Materazzi appears to tweak Zidane's nipple
That may have justified a head butt then. Never touch another man's nipple unless you are invited to do so. If there was a twisting motion involved then that was Red Card worthy. Every school boy knows this.
Zizou's tits--
Off-limits!
We must, we must,
we must protect our bust.
Zizous tits off limits?
Youve just destroyed three of my wildest fantasies. :-(
Never touch another man's nipple unless you are invited to do so. If there was a twisting motion involved then that was Red Card worthy
I'll take a french nipple with a twist.
I was waiting for an explanation of apparently bizzare behaviour from Zidane. I guess this explains it. I am waiting for Zidane to explain himself in a press conference. That can be fun.
Never touch another man's nipple unless you are invited to do so. If there was a twisting motion involved then that was Red Card worthy.Truer words have never been spoken Abhi.
Thanks for the YouTube clip Manish. Zidane's reaction makes a little more sense now.
Can we please have a mourning post? France should have won and I am totally into this nipple twist theory. They had the game stolen from under them by reckless nipple twisting Italians :(
Long live Zuzu.....
Is it my loser Bharatiya mentality(honed to perfection by decades of watching the national cricket team lose) that I always end-up backing the loser..??
But anyways,unimpressed by Italy...sorry for France......hats/turbans off to Zuzu(headbutt sheadbutt notwithstanding).....this was the first world cup I followed closely since the 1990 one and unlike this time,the deserving team won the finals then.
Siddhartha,
[Note: Abhi has kindly deleted your comments about me being a fool and an idiot as if I have done anything outrageous to provoke such a response. On that front, however, Id just like to say one thing: Have a bit of humility. A worthy interlocutor is sometimes aware that he may be wrong. And, as such, is willing to learn from his mistakes and prejudices.]
Now, let me respond to your counter-punch:
Number 1: you attempt to set up "algerian, moroccan and turkish" immigrants (gee, i wonder what they have in common?) against the others. completely outrageous distortion of the facts.
Turkish was an error on my part. I meant to say Libyan. Notwithstanding this momentary lapse of concentration, however, I shall say just one thing: anyone with a scintilla of knowledge about French society will tell you that the relationship between North-African immigrants and indigenous French people is fraught with difficulty. And yes: culture/counter-culture is important [not just economics]. There are hundreds of thousands of deprived communities all across Europe poorer than the ones in the French ghettos who do not resort to violence and vandalism. Now, ask yourself this: why? Poverty and discrimination have undoubtedly played a role, but it needed something else for it to materialise into a full-blown riot: i.e. a criminal/extremist element. A lot of these ghetto suburbs lack security and policing. Gangs, running the suburbs, have slowly pushed out police presence. In Seine-Saint-Denis, security personnel have fallen from 468 in 2000 to 205 in 2005. Let me put it to this way, Sid: if these thugs err, sorry, I mean Marxist revolutionaries are fighting for the greater good, then why did they set a disabled woman ablaze? Yes: they burnt her alive.
Number 2: thank you for educating me about the dynamics of neo-fascist party popularity. unfortunately, you are pulling assertions out of your arse.
What assertions are you referring to Sid? Ad homonym abuse is the tool of a militant flat-earther who cant see beyond his own idee fixes.
Number 3: you don't get writing. you have no imagination.
An acquaintance of mine once referred to this as the Salvador Dali approach to culture. E.g. Ignore the facts, just so long as youre amusing, original or provocative. Im a bit more old-fashioned in that I actually believe in truth and falsehood (although they come in starts and stops; shrouded in mystery and obfuscation). Politics, according to your imaginative self, is very much like a David Lynch movie.
Amir
(although quite an impressive head butt, if such ugly behavior can be called impressive).
I agree - totally impressive head butt. Knocked the guy right down. There was nothing ugly or dark about it either. It was open, devil may care, honest and not some kind of slimy, sleazy or underhand behavior in the least. I love him all the more for not caring about his image. He probably knew his absense wouldn't make a difference at this point so it wasn't irresponsible of him either.
Note: Abhi has kindly deleted your comments about me being a fool and an idiot as if I have done anything outrageous to provoke such a response.
Red Card on the play. Abhi did not delete anything.
Maybe he retracted the comments
Or did I just hallucinate?
No, I didnt!! Surely not
Ive been watching too many re-runs of Twin Peaks. Ahhhhh!!
"I agree - totally impressive head butt. Knocked the guy right down. There was nothing ugly or dark about it either. It was open, devil may care, honest and not some kind of slimy, sleazy or underhand behavior in the least. I love him all the more for not caring about his image. He probably knew his absense wouldn't make a difference at this point so it wasn't irresponsible of him either."
divya, several people on the bbc have your say are actually calling zidane's headbutt one of the best moments of the world cup! here is what one person said: "Best moment? A perfectly delivered headbutt. Timing, disguise, targetting, precision. Frnch panache. A keeper! only zz could have delivered such a blow. Poetry."
zidane being zidane, even his bad behavior (and i agree that at least it was out in the open and not underhanded, but nevertheless, no matter what the provocation from materazzi, it doesn' t have a place on the football field) is getting rave reviews!
You guys don't get it at all. The match was obviously fixed. If only you followed european football, you would see the obvious.
Guess what team Trezeguet plays for, and guess which team 6 members of the Italian team belong to, and guess which team is involved in the recent match fixing controversy - JUVENTUS.
Obviously he was made an offer he couldnt refuse ;)
P.S - I detest the Italian style of football, but have a grudging admiration for them. Their league is definitely the most brutal of all. They play hard, fall hard ;) and dont have a problem tweaking the rules; or nipples for that matter :)
i guess Zizou has style even when doing something like that. maybe you have to take into account he comes from a tough life, he's not used to prancing around. i think he was frustrated through-out the match, he was denied a penalty a few times by the ref, which for a player who has a rep as not diving, had to make him mad. there are people wondering what materrazi must have said. i think Zizou got very used to not taking anything from anybody and maybe this caught up with him because the Italian team was not kissing his a%%. unless something really horrible was said by Materazzi
P.P.S - I couldnt help noticing that the Italians dint go over and shake hands or exchange jerseys with the French(Not even the coach!!). Maybe I missed it, but I wouldnt be surprised at all if they dint. And if indeed they did not, it is highly unusual and very unsportsmanly and totally against the spirit of what the world cup means to people across the globe.
some might find this composite of the french and italian national teams of interest.
no nipple twist, just like there was no second gunman....
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=zoADvPC7IvI
Anyone here thinks Italy's second goal was not 'offside' and is infact a valid goal..???
Anyone here thinks Italy's second goal was not 'offside' and is infact a valid goal..???
Ponniyin Selvan, I saw a replay, and it sure looked offside to me. Then again, since the ridiculous Australia-Italy game, Italy is the only team in the WorldCup that I wanted to lose, which may (thanks to the glory that is beer) have clouded my judgement.
Excellent article Siddhartha. On point, as always.
It has been a strange, slightly surreal day of futbolism, but in the end, it is what it is. I have just returned from the streets of Little Italy in lower Manhattan, which are thick with revellers and hangers on, the honks of horns, the tireless flapping of the il tricolore.
Zinedine Zidane: the greatest footballer I've ever seen. He's in a class only with Maradona and Pele. In my opinion, he's at the very head of that class. As for the headbutt, even the ugly thing is done with heartbreaking beauty. That is the legacy of the great Zidane: he takes the breath away, always.
Congratulations to the Azzurri, the most complete team of the 2006 World Cup.
Great article, Siddharta. Devastated that France lost.
Congratulations Italy. Oh, to be on Lygon St
Brooklyn Brown: "Then again, since the ridiculous Australia-Italy game, Italy is the only team in the WorldCup that I wanted to lose"
Tell me about it. Have no love for the Italians this tournament but they did well in the second stage.
Excuse me while I go drown my bitterness in something...
Ponniyin Selvan, I saw a replay, and it sure looked offside to me. Then again, since the ridiculous Australia-Italy game, Italy is the only team in the WorldCup that I wanted to lose, which may (thanks to the glory that is beer) have clouded my judgement.
Thanks BrooklynBrown,
I think FIFA folks should use 'technology' (TV replays) to take care of the 'oscar' winning acting performances from the players.. Even in cricket we have 'third' umpires to take care of 'controversial' decisions..
Personally, i don't like both the teams, way too defensive.. I'd have liked Argentina / Germany.
Anyone here thinks Italy's second goal was not 'offside' and is infact a valid goal..???As valid as Thierry Henry's goal on Portugal. He definitely looked offside then. He is a famous offside offender. Luca looked offside few seconds before the ball was kicked to him. When he received it, he was onside.
WHY Zizou.......
Anything he says now will sound like a phony excuse!
the il tricolore
Double article! Well, you get my drift...
Can we call this nipple gate ?
dude, that totally was a nipple-twist and no man should have to ever live that down. not even the french.
Zizou's head butt was awesome. Divya said it well - honest. Sometimes, standing up for your dignity (not only did he tweak his nipple, but it bet he said something terribly racist) is far more important. It's easy to call him a fool, but sometimes enough is enough. And, trust me, the other time he got a red card was against a Saudi player (I am sure you can guess what racial slurs that player might have used). Sometime, you have to face the consequences when you do the right thing - it's a pity; those who profess their love for Zizou, change their heart on trivial things, when they should respect him even more for being a better man. But futbol is better game merely because he played it.
By any stretch, his headbutt did not cost France the cup. Everbody knows France was a better team, and Materazzi is no gentleman. I bet that's the last time he will be tweaking a nipple, though.
Zidane's still my man.
What a Napoleonic tragedy, a modern-day Gotterdammerung!
Yep, Divya and Satish, I hear ya. Sometimes a man's gotta
be a man and stand up for himself. But I do wish he'd done the
head-butting after 15 minutes and with the cup in his hands.
See y'all in ZA.
A couple of thoughts that crossed my mind at that moment:
Ancient Greek proverb: "Whom the gods wish to destroy they first drive mad"
or its Indian equivalent (from the Mahabharat)
vinaash kaale viprit buddhi (At the time of destruction, the mind cannot think straight)
That was just such a philosophically significant moment for me. I've followed Zidane over the years, and loved his Zen-master appeal, elevating him to a legend, a god. As millions have probably done. It's the punishment of Icarus, whom the gods sent crashing for flying too high.
The gods had to show us that he was just a MAN after all.
amir,
i removed my original characterisations of you because they weren't helpful. however, i do not consider you to be arguing in good faith. you have advanced tendentious arguments which others on this very thread have had the patience to refute. you have made absurd claims about the alignments of various ethnic groups in french society today, and undermined your credibility in doing so by splitting hairs about who is "coloured" or not that would make a 1960s-era south african government minister proud. you have placed the stigma of trouble in french society on people of north african origin whom you have gone on to equate with thugs; your prescription of what to do about social tensions in france is very much identical to that of nicolas sarkozy. you are welcome to your opinions, but you do yourself no credit by adpting the self-righteous pose of "anyone with any scintilla of knowledge about france... bla bla bla." your scintilla does not shine bright, my friend. i would venture that i know a great deal more about french politics, society, history, and culture than you do.
as for politics being surreal, well, yes, i rather do think it is. if you are comfortable in your firm truths about what is right and what is wrong, what is fact and what is fiction, then good for you. to me you seem like just another security-obsessed crypto-racist who feels threatened by anyone with a connection to the arab world. that's the impression i get from your writings... hey, it's only me.
so.... the question is what in tarnation did Materazzi say?
Did he say something about Zizou's wife? Or a racial slur? Both? Only a vicious comment about family or ethnicity can bring about such a reaction.
Has anyone heard about this guy? Apparently, he's a German pop star of Indian origin, and performed at Berlin to welcome the German team after their third place victory.
popular media characterization of "strong" men favors upper body development - influences gym rats to spend time on curls when the time could be more productively spent building up trunk and/or legs - glad to see zidane's arms in the photo above - realistic and dispels myths on what is strength
Siddhartha, great World Cup posts. They made even the unsportiest among us feel part of the action.
What a great match!
And I fully second the empathy for Zidane, who hasn't been there? The way that guy was gripping him and muttering things in his ear...grrr... I sincerely hope Mistress Karma, the only brown presence remaining at the World Cup, kicks his sorry ass all the way to Timbuktu and back.
I was goin for Italia but Zidane, mate, there just are no words... Last match ever, all the glory, all the...sigh. Hopefully he's got a few million francs to soothe the pain.
At least the poor guy who's kick bounced off the edge of the goalpost is having the spotlight taken off him. Would have been awesome if France won too, since their true Benetton-brotherhood puts Le Wanker Pen to shame.
Can't wait to see how the Saffas host it :-) Since *some of my best friends* are Italian, I am now off to celebrate! Forza Italia!!!
*whose not who's.
And I hope there's a Nipple Tweakers Anonymous Group in Timbuktu for that bad man! Grrr
"P.P.S - I couldnt help noticing that the Italians dint go over and shake hands or exchange jerseys with the French(Not even the coach!!). Maybe I missed it, but I wouldnt be surprised at all if they dint. And if indeed they did not, it is highly unusual and very unsportsmanly and totally against the spirit of what the world cup means to people across the globe."
I was wondering about it too but then realised that in all the World Cup finals, at the time of the presentation ceremony the winning team is always wearing its own colors. Perhaps it is a football tradition that after the final of a tournament, players do not exchange jerseys since they want to be seen representing their country etc. I am jogging my memory and it seems that this is the case in Europeans club championships too (UEFA cup etc...).
And what a sad end to a glorious Zizou career. I shed a tear for the guy, but knowing Materazi he must have said something really inflammatory. After all, this is a guy who once was suspended to 2 months after punching an opponent in an Italian league game.
Zinedine Zidane was given the (intriguingly named) "Golden Ball Award" as the best player of the entire tournament.
I believe he's worth it. You'll never see two better-placed headers than the last two he gifted us with, and his individual performance against Brazil was, without a doubt, as fine a performance as I've ever seen a man give on the football pitch.
Hail Zizou!
Did he say something about Zizou's wife? Or a racial slur?
Rediff reports of rumors of a racial slur involved in this incident.
I am totally getting a zidane jersey tommorow and wear it around astoria.
And I fully second the empathy for Zidane, who hasn't been there? The way that guy was gripping him and muttering things in his ear...grrr...
Sorry folks. Zidane's headbutting was not cool. Yeah, as the Times article points out, he'd been taunted by the Italy team throughout the game. Personally, I think the Italian team has been nothing more than a bunch of thugs with great defenders in a few games during the tourney. That being said, I expect Zidane to act like a professional, regardless of how childish his opponents are.
To end his career and his captaincy, and to leave his team one man down during the last 10 minutes of an overtime WorldCup game was just stupid on Zidane's part and should not be lauded.
Yeah yeah yeah, Zidane should have known better, but so what? He is a footballing genius and he self-destructed spectacularly and his genius will live on. Watching him walk past the trophy was an iconic image. Underneath all the surface and rules and laws human flaws were revealed. To the French he is still a hero, to me too. Allez Zizou!
I totally agree that in terms of football it was a horrible move on his part, and unfortunately it is going to be a large stain on a rather impressive career. He knew he was going to get red carded for that stunt. I respect his decision not as a footballer, but rather as a person who just refused to keep bowing down to the cheap Italian tactics. Outside of that similar incident with the Saudi player, he is not really known to be a hothead, which makes it even more poignant that he chose to do what he did when he did. Instead of pulling jerseys, name calling and pinching away from the refs eyes which the Italians seem to prefer he made his move in plain sight without any question of his motives. He could have chosen any number of ways to retaliate, which would have at the worst gotten him a yellow card. I admire his character for not being pressured by the rules of a game and responding to a situation as he saw fit for better or for worse. I can only hope that victory tastes a bit sour for the Italians. And although I am sure this would be a dream, I hope he is received in France like a hero.
according to bbc, materazzi may have said something insulting about zidane's mother. zidane's agent says it will all come out next week. materazzi's father says his son was provoked.
The thing that has been most repeated in the last eighteen hours is that "no matter what was said to him, Zidane should not have reacted like that." I find this peculiar. How come so many people suddenly believe that words are always weaker than physical action?
It does matter what was said. It matters exquisitely. Not all statements are the same. There are things you can say to a man that are worse than a punch in the throat.
The response by Zidane was targeted, intentional, full-frontal, neat. Not unlike one of his mystifying penalty kicks. A slow walk, then a head suddenly knocked into Materazzi's chest. It was bullish, but delivered with a matador's grace. He accomplished it in front of one billion people and, without complaint, faced the consequence. It annoys me that so many people now want to cast the whole thing in these pathological or moral terms. In addition to being a brilliant winger, Malouda dived for a penalty yesterday, and his career will soar. Buffon is a great goalkeeper and a known fascist whose ears will long continue to ring with applause.
But Zizou departed from script, the script that says that "football is only a game," that "words are only words," that the only violence permitted our eyes is the simulated kind. And that, I think, is what people find unforgivable. He, like all masters, deprived us of an illusion. That can be hard to take. That is the source of this excoriation.
I laud him. I laud him.
Is it not possible to figure out from the TV replays (close ups if there was any) what Materazzi said?.. Don't know if that's in English / French / Italian.. (or whatever language understood by both.. )
Anyways, it's poor judgement on the part of Zidane, after a classy penalty kick.. He is probably tired and worn out by the shoulder injury.. Players do stupid things.. He should have atleast waited till the game was over and knocked him off..
This will not stain his career. Everybody who knows the game will never forget what he was - the greatest player of his generation and in terms of greatness, at the heels of Pele and Maradona. He won the World Cup, the European Cup for France, dominating the tournaments, he won the scudetto in Italy with Juventus, he won la liga with Real Madrid, and he won the European Champions league with Real Madrid, scoring in the final. His technique and skill and insight and improvisation made him a master. This will not overshadow what he achieved, because he achieved so much, and it will only add to a sense of sadness of what could have been, but was not, and will add to his allure and enigma. A flawed genius. But a genius, and one of the greats, and most respected footballers of all time.
Does anybody know why Italy does not have any immigrant representation in their soccer team, unlike almost every
European country? The Argentinian guy does not count, he seems like a "convenient" citizen.
Neale
Italy does not have as large an immigrant population as other countries, and it takes time for second and third generation players like Zidane and Odonker and Rio Ferdinand to come through.
The Argentinian player was not some 'convenient' player, he was born in Argentina of Italian players. FIFA regulations allow teams to field players not born in the country of origin as long as they have at least one parent or grandparent from the nation. David Trezeguet of France was born in Argentina to Feench parents, Owen Hargreaves of England was born in Canada. Some nations, like Ireland, have most of their players born abroad, in Irelands case, the children and grandchildren of Irish immigrants to England.
neale, red snapper is right, and to expand on his point a little: italy doesn't have as large a population of people of immigrant origin who also have national citizenship. it had fewer colonies, and in the 1950s to 1970s it was a major source country of emigrants to wealthier european countries like france and germany. italy stopped exporting guest labor to those countries only about twenty years ago. hence the presence of players of italian origin in france, e.g. michel platini in the 1980s, and the relative scarcity of players of non-italian origin in the italian squad thus far.
it had fewer colonies
!!! Oy !!! It did??? . i thought y'all learnt african history in school?
The real reason of course is that the soccer players have a genotype characterized by musculature typical of the population with ancestry in the rain forest. it is not a coincidence that the rubber tree is a tropical plant and the original soccer balls were the solidified gum of the rubber tree. the italian colonies did not have rubber trees - just a lot of date palms. ergo, the players do not have synaptic triggers typical of soccer players, and so italy does not have immigrant soccer players - just homegrown talent. but you should check out the tree climbing representation from italy at the world lumberjack games.
tawk among yourselves.
he was born in Argentina of Italian players
His parents were players? Perhaps you mean "playa", right? :)
His parents were players?
Typo - I meant to say 'parents', was writing fast.
....i was aware that having a smaller share of colonies may be a factor, but doesn't Italy's proximity to Africa and it s reputation of porous borders create an immigrant base? Turkey was never a colony of any Northern European country but look at the players in Sweden , Germany,....
Neale
....i was aware that having a smaller share of colonies may be a factor, but doesn't Italy's proximity to Africa and it s reputation of porous borders create an immigrant base? Turkey was never a colony of any Northern European country but look at the players in Sweden , Germany,....
right, but that's because turks were migrating to those countries to find work for the last four decades. italians also were migrating to northern europe to find work. hence big italian communties in france, germany, britain. people from other countries weren't migrating to italy because it was a poor country itself.
now all that has changed but it will still take time before that results in a large adult population of italian citzens of non-italian origin.
TOI, on the alledged racial slur:
Siddartha, Yes, that makes sense...also given the fact that Germany officially had a guest worker program and Scandinavian states have (until recently at least) had the most open-armed asylum laws.
I was looking up citizenship criteria and came upon this for France
"As from september 1st. 1998, every child of foreign parents born in france acquires french nationality at his majority if he is living in France and if he has lived in france, in a continous or discountinous way al least five years (starting at the age of 11 years)."
That is so recent and so dramatic.
Neale
Immigrant populations do not neccessarily correlate with football - there are nearly 2 million desi's in England but only a handful of brown professional footballers, none of them even close to being good enough to playing for the national team. There are, however, lots of British desis who play for the England cricket team, Panesar, Ali, Solanki etc etc.
The black population of Holland, which has produced some of the best European footballers of the last twenty years, (Ruud Gullit, Frank Rijkaard, Edgar Davids) all of their ethnic roots in the Dutch colony of Surinam, a country to the north of Brazil, which already had, Patrick Kluivert) a deep rooted football culture which they brought with them to Holland. Incidentally, Surinam has a very large Indian population too, descendend from indentured labourers like Guyana.
Incidentally, Surinam has a very large Indian population too, descendend from indentured labourers like Guyana.
One desi footballer from Suriname, Aaron Winter, played on various Italian teams (thanks, Manju).
More about Zidane, pretty interesting . Lots of dish , down to the way he sits - really.
http://www.kabyles.com/article.php3?id_article=2271
Neale
materazzi denies calling zidane a "dirty terrorist": http://soccernet.espn.go.com/news/story?id=373675&cc=5901
in his defence, he claims he is ignorant and doesn't know what that word means :) some de