Posted on 07/12/2006 9:08:19 AM PDT by BaBaStooey
MILAN, Italy - FIFA president Sepp Blatter says Zinedine Zidane could be stripped of his Golden Ball award for the best player at the World Cup due to violent conduct.
"The winner of the award is not decided by FIFA, but by an international commission of journalists," Blatter said in Wednesday's La Repubblica. "That said, FIFA's executive committee has the right, and the duty, to intervene when faced with behavior contrary to the ethic of the sport."
Zidane head-butted Italy defender Marco Materazzi in the chest after the two exchanged words on the field in extra time of Sunday's World Cup final. He was sent off and Italy won its fourth title on penalties.
FIFA's disciplinary committee opened an inquiry Tuesday into the behavior of Zidane and Materazzi.
Personally, I know he is retiring, but FIFA should send a message to the soccer world and ban Zidane for life anyway. If they want to slap the Italian guy for being a provocateur, then so be it.
In other words, if you want to win, running around the field with an Israeli flag is not the way to do it....
Did Zidane do that too? I think you're thinking of Paintsil from Ghana.
Yeah it was the guy from Ghana... I was just throwing out a general tip for gaining the goodwill of "international journalists".
Funny, I've heard from a few Euros, especially those of French extraction, that the Italians play a dirty game.
This is nonsense. The game is played with the same amount of ehtics and or histrionics by all the teams and players.
The Italians won it. They just won. Four years of bragging rights (esp from my Roman 'Azzurra' wife).
Canavarro was the best player in the tournament, not Zidane. I understand his defence of his honor, but don't feel he should be thrown any bone here. (No one cares that Matarrazzi talked some smack to him, nor whether he might have called Zidane a terrorist, which he assuredly has heard a thousand times before.
Just a note: Italians call everyone a terrorist. They lived with the Brigate Rosso long before many of us even had the word in our lexicons. I can hear my father in law screaming in tyhe car as he swerved side to side at 100 mph to the Ferrari that menaced and passed him in a shot "Guarda la terrorita!"
Sorry for the spelling.
Phone rang and I hit Post.
Life ain't easy for a boy named Blatter.
Viedo clip of Zidane's headbutt
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=j1i_l0OeeMc
I think a lot of the voting for this award was done before the end of the game and before he was sent off.
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