Okay, it's that time again. It happens only once every four years (although I think that they should change it and make it once every two years, personally).
That's right - World Cup time!
Here in the United States, many Americans have the impression that the Super Bowl is the single biggest sporting event around the world. While the popularity of the sport is indeed growing in the US, many Americans still often needlessly slight what is known as soccer, but which more rightfully is known as football in much of the rest of the world. But the fact of the matter is that soccer/European football is actually far and away more popular than the NFL likely will ever be. And the biggest event in that sport, the World Cup Final, is often viewed by as many as 2 billion people around the world. Compare that to the 150 million or so on average that watch the Super Bowl annually, and it is not even a contest which one is bigger. Even if you combine the four Super Bowls in between World Cup tournaments, they are still just a fraction of the audience for that one World Cup Final match, and there are actually a whole lot more matches in World Cup tournaments than that (although they do not all generate 2 billion viewers, obviously).
Point is, this is a big deal!
So, when it rolls around again, it is sure to generate a lot of headlines and attention around the world.
Sometimes, there are those human interest stories about one particular moment in one particular game. And there was arguably no moment as memorable or significant as this one: the "head butt" incident during the World Cup Final of 2006, which saw a truly great and legendary player in Zinedine Zidane walk off the field for the final time, his once unshakable legacy (which included a World Cup championship in 1998) suddenly called into question.
I remember it well. As a Frenchman, it was the exact moment when all of my hopes, personally, for another astonishing World Cup championship for France suddenly deflated, and a sense of dread and inevitability that it was all going to fall apart at the world possible time became hard to ignore.
And as it turned out, France did lose that World Cup final match, although they would at least hold Italy off until the shootout at the end of the match.
The thing is, for much, if not most, of that match, it felt that France was in control, and possibly destined to win it all.
But give Italy credit, they came back with the tying goal, and took advantage of what France gave them to win that game, and the world championship.
It was bitterly disappointing for me, although it was not specifically geared towards Italy. Anyone that would have beaten one of my countries would have felt the same to me. It just happened to be Italy, who won their fourth ever World Cup title with that win.
Yes, Zidane made headlines, and indeed, that incident did mar his legacy somewhat, although he remains ever a legend, and his accomplishments on the field have not been diminished as a result.
And the other man involved in that incident, the man that for a while after that match was seen as the instigator, and who, for a while, was criticized by some for being a racist, or for taking cheap verbal shots, has his own take on it, obviously.
I am talking about the Italian side's Marco Materazzi, a now retired former defender for the national team of Italy.
Here, below, you can click on the link, to hear his side of things:
"Memorable Moments: Zidane's head-butt on Materazzi: Victim or villain? Materazzi speaks out Memorable Moments World Cup 7:08 mins"
http://sports.yahoo.com/video/memorable-moments-zidanes-headbutt-materazzi-030418530.html
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