On
July 9, 2006, the final of the World Cup of Soccer took place
in Berlin, Germany. Two soccer powers, Italy & France squared
off in the ultimate clash of the titans! Both teams featured
a multitude of superstar players, but none was greater than
the captain of France, Zinedine Zidane. He was one of the best
and he was playing his final professional game, on the world's
largest stage. It's what happened near the end of the game that
makes this so shocking...
Italian defender and known "trash" talker, Marco Materazzi, was head butted in the chest by Zidane. Zidane got red-carded and tossed from the game. Italy went on to win the title in a shootout.
I will never forget watching Zidane march off the field, sullen, right past the gold trophy he was not to hoist. It got me thinking of how on several occasions I've experienced that awful feeling of doing or saying something very stupid and regretting it after the fact. This piece goes through that aftermath of emotions and realization.
- Frank Horvat
