it slipped out of hands of the great

The day I watched glory fade away as victory passed by. The day I can never forget on my soccer calendar. This was 9th/June/2006 in Germany. It was world cup final match between Italy and France.

Italy beat France in penalty shoots after a goal less draw. My main concern was not France lifting the trophy in their celebrations as champions but what I wanted to see is my idol Zinedine Zidane, the only man that many watch when was on the field, the mastermind behind 98% of French team wins when he was on the squad, the pillar, heart that controlled circulation of the ball to his team mates, the savior who always scored important goals to save the French and the best player of this century walk off the field to his retirement with honor, medal on his neck, trophy and respect that he had worked so hard for and deserved.

He was a man who had the magic, skills and power to change the face of the game single handedly into his favor. All his teammates and fans believed in him. For his teammates, it's to him that they would turn in case they ran short of ideas on where to put the ball and how to put it there.

The former French captain Deschamps one time admitted to this in one of his interviews. To his fans he was a hero. Whether he was on the national team or club and his team was being led by to say 2-0, the referee had to blow the last whistle before any fan would admit that the game had ended in their opponents' favor. That night was disastrous, he was sent off the field with a red card, which traumatized the whole world it was in the papers for almost a month on a daily basis. It was so controversial. This was his punishment for head butting Materazzi in the chest.

They say "no smoke without fire" which is very right; in this incident Materazzi provoked Zinedine to react that way he did so I would say it was not his fault. In accord with what my eyes told me, Zinedine was frustrated by the game, he was desperate to get a goal before the game was extended to penalty shoots and on the other hand Materazzi pretending that he was tight marking him. Reading his body language, and movement of his lips I noticed that Materazzi was either making fun of or insulting him. If you have ever been on the field then you know how it feels being made fun of more especially if your are a star and the game is all over you and things are not going your way.

Its only that he tried to let out the steam of anger in him in a technical way that it would not appear that he got in contact with him which almost worked though it was realized later on minutes in the game. That way he was sent off and it was so sad.