France, best known for it's capitulation to Germany under the Vichy Government and the ill fated Maginot Line, emerged head held high tonight from the finals game of the world cup despite their loss in pk's to the Italians. The moment of greatness was not Zidane's soft 7 minute pk which put them into the lead, but rather Zizou's late game departure on a well deserved red card. We will probably never know what series of cultural and racial invectives Materazzi uttered to rile the Frenchman, but I'd bet his Kabyl roots and his mother were both referenced by the vile slick haired Italian. Zidane could have placed himself above this cheap trick -- he'd already been beaten up during an entire game where France spent their good will with the refs at minute 7. Zidane should have risen above this: he had to have realized how close to pk's the game had moved and known his role as the French team's leader with Henry out of the game. But in one beautiful, senseless, hopeless, righteous moment of retribution, the 34 year old Marseillais dean of French soccer, one of the smartest players to ever play the game, struck back . In front of 80,000 fans and the whole world: BAM. Hulk Hogan or Bruce Willis couldn't have done it better... That the cowardly side judge claimed to have seen it at the time it occured is belied by the delay we all witnessed between the event and the final red card. FIFA should just as well decide to determine all matches based on the Jumbotron's instant replay and forever change the pace of the game.
But in that instant between insult and blow, France stood tall. They lost one of the best finals ever, but Zidane did what was right.
