Zidane's last word

So, France lost. And in what way. The news, even bigger than Italy's winning the Cup, is Zidane's headbutt to Marco Materazzi, the brutish Italian defender, that resulted in the ejection of the greats player of this championship as well as, quite possibly, France's loss.

What is interesting to me is how the reaction to the incident reflects cultural differences across the globe. Here in the US, Zidane's act is almost universally condemned. These, after all, are the politically correct, confrontation-avoiding Americans, who seldom have the guts to say anything to anybody who is irritating, annoying or unfair. Why risk it, seems to be the mentality here, fueled by fear of draconic punishment in the American justice system or simply someone's concealed gun in your face.

In Europe, the reaction seems mixed. While from the point of view of sportsmanship, the headbutt is generally chastised, the main question in the media seems to be: what did Materazzi say to Zidane to provoke him? Is there too much taunting in the game of football? Was Zidane's reaction adequate? The French have already forgiven Zidane, as he said in the press conference that Materazzi insulted his mother and sister. So the consensus seems to be that the deed was justified. Even the Italians seem to be on Zidane's side, accusing Materazzi of playing dirty and deliberately provoking one of the game's greatest players.

In Russia, on the other hand, Zidane is almost universally praised for standing up to himself and responding to an insult. Russians don't even care about the exact nature of the insult - they say Zidane acted like a real man punishing his offender rather than tolerating his words. Their only regret: Zidane headbutted Materazzi in the chest, while he should have done it right into his face.