How could Zidane be tickled so much that he did what he did? The foul was not only unnecessary, but it proved critical at the moment and in the game overall, because Zidane was needed to make one of the penalties for France, and that ended up being the big difference between the two teams in the end.
It was an unbelievable action by Zidane, and one which will tarnish his entire career for a long long time. People will now not remember him for what he has done in the past, but what he did to effectively lose the World Cup for his country.
Sad end to the competition, to his career, to the finals.
But a great game to watch otherwise.
Romit's Stream 
My thoughts exactly. If only he could have held on to his anger for 10 more mins. Irrespective of France losing….Zizou would sailed home free and would have been cheered as a hero. That was just sooo silly.
i enjoyed your blog (seriuosly) – totally agree about people remembering the worst of him, that’s for sure. can u imagine how many ppl screamed shouted and gasped at the moment of that crazy headbutt? anyway i understand that perhaps at this moment self promotion is bad and may seem superficial, but nevertheless i cannot resist the temptation of inviting you over to my blog to take a look at one thingie and to say what you think. thanks in advance 🙂
@amrita: Yes, as I saw it happening, I just could not believe it! How could he do it? What happened before that that made him do it? And I saw … NOTHING! :-(Sad, sad, sad. @maggie: I typically don’t do those ‘hot or not’ and ‘like me or not’ things. Sorry. 🙂
This is not the first time he’s gone berserk !!!
@rajesh: Yea, I have heard he is not the cleanest players, but hey, this was his last game. He should have thought hard before doing such a thing in such a critical game, at such a critical juncture!
@ Rpm – Yeah I know he should have thought but with all that adrenaline pumping and his header punched out by buffon he couldn’t control. Being a world class player, he shoulda thought more about the remaining game. But again it was a split second reaction from him.Last time in the 98 World Cup he served a two-match ban for stamping on a Saudi Arabian opponent.I guess every player expresses his feelings on the ground a different way.
Its amazing that he could not control himself. Doesn’t sledging happen all the time? It does in cricket at least. But its not to say that if he was around, France would have won. I was surprised that they stayed in the game so long. The first half seemed to be Italy’s game. They came close to scoring so many times. And the second half seemed to be a different football game altogether. Where was Italy?? And once it went to extra time, Italy was expected to do a lot better, as France has generally older legs. But France managed to stay in the game, inspite of everything. And then it was simply a game of nerves. That Italy got all their kicks in, was great. Its like the basketball free throw. You cannot and should not be missing the kicks. I mean, an amazing (lucky) save by the goalkeeper notwithstanding, the ball must go into the goal! And then you think about England. They really messed it up badly, in their game.. typically England! Speak more, do less..
@rajesh: yea, it is understandable with the adrenalin and now it seems that guy kept telling him he is a terrorist or something … hardly any matter to headbutt, knowing that it would be a sure red card. Oh well, what’s done is done. @spm: HAHAHA, England. Oh England. Hype, hype, hype. They are going to cry about this World Cup for 4 years now. Oh well, another place where the hype has caused their downfall. I pity any player/team that represents England/Great Britain. So much pressure …