French Have a Word for Zidane: Pourquoi?

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MICHELE NORRIS, host:

A French soccer legend got a hero's welcome home today whether he deserved it or not.

Zinedine Zidane and his team mates, the World Cup runners up, made a brief appearance in Paris with French president Jacques Chirac before a flag-waving crowd. Chirac told Zidane he is, quote, a virtuoso, a genius of world football.

But in yesterday's World Cup finals, Zidane's behavior was less than brilliant. He delivered the most memorable moment when he head-butted an Italian player.

The French star was thrown out of the game. It was his last match before retirement. France lost to Italy on penalty kicks.

So how is France responding to the disgrace of its star in the World Cup final? Francois Picard is website news director for Eurosport, that's a cable sports channel. Hello, Monsieur Picard. Thanks for joining us...

Mr. FRANCOIS PICARD (Eurosport): Hello, Michele.

NORRIS: What a way to go out.

MR. PICARD: It was incredible because Zidane was in the same game both sublime and then this inexplicable gesture in extra time. I don't think anybody here understands exactly why he snapped.

NORRIS: Just, you know, for those who didn't see it on television, perhaps you could recreate that moment for us. Tell us what happened.

MR. PICARD: Okay. They're playing the Italians in the final. Italians dominate the first half but then - but Zidane scores in a penalty and so it's Zidane who puts them in the lead. The Italians equalize. The match goes to extra time and we're in the 110th minute. And after what seemed like a harmless play behind the goal, Italy defender Marco Materazzi says something to him. And Zidane turns around and head-butts him in the chest.

NORRIS: What was amazing about this is he took two steps and then he turned around.

MR. PICARD: Yeah. What's amazing is that he's a 34-year-old veteran who's seen it all and done it all. Now, usually people who get wound up by what they call in the NBA trash-talking are, you know, 20-year-olds or people who are more hot headed. Here, it's just incredible that whatever Materazzi said - now, Zidane played in Italy so he speaks Italian - but whatever he said to him, that Zidane would snap at that particular moment.

NORRIS: Lots of speculation today about what he might have said.

MR. PICARD: Yeah. The word that's going around - and Materazzi has denied it - is that he called him an Arab terrorist. I mean, until Zidane speaks, and he's promised to do so in the coming days, we won't know for sure.

NORRIS: Now it seems that the fans and President Chirac were pretty kind to Zidane when he returned home to Paris.

MR. PICARD: The fans were in a state of shock this morning. It was quite a come down after reaching the final of the World Cup. France is a country where, you know, there's a lot of bad news these days. You know, high unemployment, we said no to the European Constitution and football was a reason to cheer.

And to reach the final and inexplicably to have their hero in one minute turn into a villain, afterwards we still had several thousand people, more than 10,000 who showed up in Paris's Plaza de Concord to greet the team and to say thank you to Zidane for his career.

NORRIS: What were the headlines like in the papers today?

MR. PICARD: When it comes to Zidane, the French press has trouble criticizing him. So the headlines were circumspect. You have to understand that Zidane is somebody from a working class neighborhood of Marseille, the son of Algerian immigrants and who's soft spoken and elegant and graceful. And a model figure because of the way he plays and the way he carries himself. It's a gesture that's completely out of character.

NORRIS: Francois Picard, thanks so much for talking to us.

MR. PICARD: Thank you.

NORRIS: Francois Picard is website news director for Eurosport. That's a cable sports channel based in France.

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