Zinedine zidane-the son of algerian immigrants who grew up in a rough quarter of suburban Marseille,'zizou' to millions of his fans round the world,and by common consent the greatest footballer of his generation-has turned conventional wisdom on its head.He has invested sporting irony with layers of personal,philosophical,and social meaning.Red carded in supposed 'ignominy,'for the 14th time in his football career,during the 110th minute of an absorbing but not great World cup final that he came close to winning for france,he returned home to a hero's welcome from public as well as president.This was in striking contrast to the vilification and even physical threats David Beckham faced from fansin 1998,after being send off for kicking out at diego simeone before england lost to Argentina on penalties in that world cup tournament.The punishment for the bull like head butt into materazzi's chest ,which the referee could not witness,might have been a slightly belated but wholly correct sending off.It resulted,arguably,in a weakening of his team's prospects during the last ten minutes of the extended play and subsequently in a nearly flawless penalty shoot-out.But Zizou's moral reward was the 'Golden Ball'-honouring the best player of the tournament-awarded by FIFA through vote by an international committee of football journalists.Almost nobody expected France to make it to the berlin olympiastadion on that sunday but the resurgence of the aging 'Les Bleus' seems to have stolen the glory from the 'azzurris' in the hearts of milliond of football lovers.Materazzi,one of the 'hard men' of football who headed in a brilliant goal for his country and had the pleasure of scheming Zidane's moment of football 'madness,' might be a hero to his country men-but stands exposed as contemporary sport's iconic foul-mouthed villain.

Zidane's comebackin the 2006 World Cup is one of the great sporting stories of our time.His vision,ball control, ability to dictate play,and unexpected bursts of energy in his last four games recalled old zizou magic.The powerful header,spectacularly tipped over by goal keeper Buffon,made for a near dream script ending to the career of the man beckham has called"the greatest player in the world".But what completes the picture of a true sporting hero of our times is the man's integrity,his decency,his commitment to family and friends,his pride in his social origins,his solidarity with the people he rose from,his geniune dislike of the limelight,his refusal to dissemble or play false.

Now that Zidane has unravelled the moment-with truthfulness,self-control,and great dignity-the sordid foul-mouthed underside of football has come under the spotlight.Zidane might have apologised to the millions of fans for what had happened in the fieldFIFA president may or may not take away from him the 'Golden Ball'but who cares?As even Materazzi has contended:"Zidane has won that award because of what he has done on the pitch-he was the best."2006 will be remembered as zizou's World cup.