The drama continues to unfold. Which of the following three statements most closely resemble the motive of Materazzi's statement?
1. He truly thinks ZZ deserves the award and ZZ was always his hero and whatever happened on the field was only the result of a burst of uncontrollable hot temper and now he wanted to make peace.
2. He is scared to death now that ZZ stated that he should be punished and FIFA has summoned both of them to the hearing. He will need to respond to an official statement from ZZ by next week. Given his limited range of vocabulary, how could he come up with a response w/o any family reference? The best way for him is to turn around and sucked up to ZZ, hoping that would pacify him and things would die down fast.
3. He didn't know what the word "Golden Ball" means. He thought it might be another curse.
Materazzi: Zidane Deserved Golden Ball
The Associated Press
Thursday, July 13, 2006; 7:51 AM
MILAN, Italy -- Italy defender Marco Materazzi insisted that French soccer star Zinedine Zidane deserved to be named best player at the World Cup despite his actions in Sunday's final
Zidane was sent off for butting Materazzi in the chest after the two exchanged words in extra time. The game finished 1-1 and Italy won its fourth title in a penalty shootout.
Journalists still selected Zidane for the Golden Ball award, and Materazzi disagreed with FIFA president Sepp Blatter's suggestion that the 34-year-old French captain could be stripped of the title.
"He won it for what he did on the pitch," Materazzi told the Gazzetta dello Sport. "He was the best."
