Head-butt Ending

Wow! What a way to end a storied career... I'm speak of Zinedine Zidane's less-than elegant exit from the world stage. Here's a player who has been a star of the French team for years playing his last time in the World Cup final against the Italians. He has played like a warrior all tournament and then.... this happened. The receiving player was Italian defender - Marco Materazzi. Man, not good. As you know by now, France ended up losing the World Cup in penalty kicks. Not sure if Zidane would have made a difference in the kicks - we'll never know... What's sad is that France, overall, played better than Italy in the game, in my opinion. [But then again, what do I know - I'm a hockey fan!]

The pressing question is this: What triggered Zidane to lose it like this? This is a veteran of many competitions and someone who knows better. Why did he suddenly lose it? Was it a racial slur by the Italian defender (Marco Materazzi)? Was it repercussion for the assault on Zidane's hurt shoulder? I'm very interested in reading what comes out over the next fews days. BTW, Zidane did pick up the Golden Ball for being the MVP for the tournament.

More fallout here and here.