leyton.org

So Italy win the 2006 world cup. But it was a startling moment to behold when Zidane went AWOL. In what had been a reasonably open match, with each side having moments of fortune, and moments of worry - the player with the most experience, most to gain, and by far the most to lose, went and lost it. Italy went on to win on penalties, but has already become the second story.

All in all, I enjoyed the match. I was supporting France, having earlier this week hoped for a Germany v France final, but that wasn’t to be thanks to the Italians performance in the semis. But the Italians never really grabbed me tonight. No star players to latch on to, only a few moments to savour. It just felt like an opportunity missed. A team that has done so badly in penalties in world cup tournaments was supposed to fight hard and aggressively in extra-time. This Italian team felt hamstrung.

Until Zidane stooped so low. France, especially with Henry finding some delightful fluency and Ribery taking on the role carved by Lampard of taking opportunities to strike, but never quite hooking up in the way we all hoped. There’s nothing quite as delightful as a ball struck into the corner by a midfielder outside the box, but few such moments materialised in this tournament.

But what possessed Zidane? It wasn’t so much that he got sent off, but the build up to it. The huge high of scoring from an excellent penalty early in the first half. Then, not that long before That Moment, he’d narrowly missed what could have been the highlight of his career, and almost headed in the winning goal. But the woodwork got in the way, and it wasn’t to be. Headbutting Materazzi swiftly followed, and the entirely deserved red card, that ended his career. The change from not-quite-there to a shameful red card. I’m sure the newspaper that scores the first interview will get trite and considered responses, but it must have been pure indifference and frustration on his part that led him to lose his rag for one brief moment, in front of billions of people worldwide. And he’s supposed to be a seasoned professional?

Italy’s win still felt ultimately disappointing: Penalty shoot-out wins always are, and as a final doubly so: After all the promise shown in the first half and at moments in the remainder of the match. But it’s Zidane crashing and burning in a moment of pure madness that I suspect will define this world cup, and make the footballing world the poorer for it. Goodness knows how he’s going to live with himself in the years to come.

This entry was posted on Sunday, July 9th, 2006 at 11:28 pm and is filed under Football, Sport. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can leave a response, or trackback from your own site.