Zidane wins Golden Ball, but what did Marco Materazzi say to him?

Zinedine Zidane very much deserved the World Cup Golden Ball as he was the player everyone was talking about during the last two weeks. He is the reason France was ever playing on Sunday. Yet this award does not stop the question have what happened out on the pitch that cause a player like Zidane to go mad?

Not that it matters in terms of the outcome, but two different sources are reporting two different comments.

Reuters UK reports, "France captain Zinedine Zidane was apparently called a "dirty terrorist" by Marco Materazzi before he head-butted the Italy defender in Sunday's World Cup final, the anti-racism group SOS Racism said on Monday."

But Channel NewsAsia says it was something else. "Although neither player has yet revealed the nature of their disagreement, Fantastico, a programme on Globo, employed lip-reading experts who said footage of the incident showed the Italian twice insulted Zidane's sister.

The programme claimed Materazzi made the same comment twice before then using a "coarse word" at the French player. "

Materazzi's agent has jumped to his clients defense saying, "I've known Marco for a long time and I don't think he is capable of provoking a player, he is a good boy."

French television is reporting that Zidane will talk about it in the coming days.

For Materazzi, if he was saying things about Zidane's sister, that is dirty, but it's about what you would expect at the higher end of competition in any sport. However, if he called him a "dirty terrorist" then it makes Materazzi a grade-A asshole and a racist.

There is a line, and if Materazzi said such a thing, he more then crossed it.

A bit of history for those who might not know. Zidane is the son of Algerian immigrants. Some people suspect that Algerian Islamists played a role in the March 11, 2004, terrorist attacks in Spain as well as other terrorist activities. If this is true or not, I don't know, but one thing I do know, Zidane had nothing to do with these attacks. I feel safe in saying that he was probably disgusted and saddened by what happened like the rest of us.

If Materazzi tired to tie Zidane to this scum and if it can be proved in some way (a long shot at best), then Materazzi should never play another international game again.

At the start of every World Cup match, there was a large canvas circle at the center of the pitch that spoke out against racism. If Materazzi used racism on that very pitch, then he stands against everything FIFA said they were trying to accomplish. If FIFA is serious about this, they need to investigate.

All that said, I think it is to soon to condemn Materazzi. We have not heard anything from either of them, much less actually looked into any claims that might be made.

Still, I find it hard that Zidane had never been taunted by the old 'your sister is a whore' line before (heck I got it back when I was playing in 6th grade), so I don't believe that he would go crazy over that. However if you make a racist statement at someone that degrades them and their ancestry, I could see that getting to anyone.

Zidane still should have respected the rules of the game and not done the head to the chest routine, but if this is true, it would make a bit more sense.

Update: Materazzi denies calling him a terrorist saying, "It is absolutely not true, I did not call him a terrorist. I'm ignorant. I don't even know what the word means."

If this statement is true, and Materazzi doesn't know what a terrorist is, one must wonder, in what world is he living? Either that or he is no a very bright man.