Head-Butt Or Not, Zizou Was the Star

Now that the dust has settled on the World Cup extravaganza, it's time toreflect on the tournament and why football, which is such a popular game, islanguishing in India, a country of a billion people.

Sadly, after all the wild enthusiasm shown by India's football-crazy fans,they had more disappointing news. FIFA, football's governing body, has justfurther downgraded India from an abysmal 117 to 130th position.

It always hurts to see India nowhere in the biggest stage of world soccer.But that's bound to be. When I see other countries spend more than 100times of money and energy than India to develop football, my sadness gives wayto frustration. The standards of the game is such in our country that it is nowtoo much to expect India to make the cut in the immediate future I think Indiahas not been able to make much of an impression at the international stagebecause of the present set-up. We have to be more professional in our approachand only then can we make some progress.

What we urgently need are good coaches at all levels. It is absolutelyimperative to have quality coaches not only at the top level but at thegrass-root level too.

The lack of quality coaches has been one of the reasons why India has notbeen able to unearth talent. I am sure there is ample talent at the grass-rootlevel, but we should have a mechanism to discover those players.

It is time we take remedial measures. Of course, we cannot expect the resultsto come overnight. But at least we should have a system in place which canproduce results.

I feel touched by the All-India Football Federation (AIFF) president PriyaRanjan Dasmunsi's statement that he would like me to come back to the Indianteam. I will wait for the team to come back from the tournament in Canada beforetaking a final decision. I will have a discussion with the coach and AIFFofficials before I make up my mind.

To go back to the World Cup, it was marked by some excellent football and manyupsets. One of the abiding images of this Cup sadly will be of Zinadine Zidane'shead-butting Marco Materazzi.

Italy may have won the World Cup, but I think Materazzi is a loser. TheAzurri defender scored two important goals, but besmirched his reputation by themanner in which he provoked Zidane. Though it was a tactical ploy, I feel goodplayers will never provoke opponents in the way Materazzi did. They will lettheir skills speak for themselves.

One would have expected Materazzi to be high on confidence after strikingtwice for the eventual champions during the tournament. But instead, theItalian's inferiority complex showed in the way he abused Zidane.

However, I do not hold any brief for Zidane. I am not trying to defend himfor the head-butting incident. Zidane should have remembered that he was playingthe World Cup final, and his side needed him so much. He should have kept hiscool, and not reacted in such a manner.

I have myself been in similar situations as Zidane. These things happen insoccer. But again, good players in India do not behave like Materrazi.

I always try to ignore such things on the field. But yes, occasionally I doget provoked. When my rivals take things too far, I react. Then I meet abusewith abuse. But I have never gone to the extreme, unlike Zidane. Soccer is acerebral game. Here, you have to keep your composure even in difficult moments,so that you do not invite stern action from the referee.

When I had just started playing, several times opponent defenders tried toprovoke me by hurling abuses. But one positive thing about Indian football isthat instances of such unseemly behaviour are coming down.

I hear that FIFA is conducting an investigation into the incident, and Zidanemay be stripped of the Golden Ball award if found guilty. I find thissurprising. Zidane was chosen for the award by the world's leading soccerjournalists who had gone to cover the World Cup. He was selected for hisextraordinary performance.

If FIFA wanted to have a say on this, then it should in the first place havelaid down a set of clear-cut rules to be adhered to before deciding on theaward. It should have appointed an expert panel as the jury. FIFA had never saidbeforehand that a player could not be considered for the award on disciplinarygrounds. So, why is FIFA now trying to intervene in a matter which has beendecided by journalists?

Also, there are age-old provisions for punishing on-field misbehaviour withyellow and red cards. Zidane had to leave the field after being given marchingorders. Now, if he is deprived of the Golden Ball award, then it will amount todouble punishment.

What a great tournament Zidane had! Ten or 15 years from now, when peopletalk of the 2006 world Cup, they will talk of only Zidane. After 1986, whenDiego Maradona stole the show with his magical performance, no other player hasdominated a World Cup as much as Zidane did this time.

Even the entire build-up to the July 9 final was around Zidane. It was billedmore as a clash between Zidane and Italy, than between France and Italy.

So, the head-butting incident cannot belittle Zidane's role in the World Cup,though France may have finished runners up to Italy.

I was not at all surprised by Italy's success. I had expected them to win.Teams with strong defences have done well in the tourney. A side like Italy,that boasts of a host of outstanding defenders, is always at an advantage.

The opponent forwards, failing to break the dour resistance, end upfrustrated, and commit mistakes. Also, if the team is up by a goal, thedefenders can soak in the added pressure from the rivals. Fabio Cannavaro wasundoubtedly the pick of the Italian rearguard.

On the other hand, Brazil's showing was very disappointing. The eternalfavourites of the World Cup never got their touch. They never really hit uponthe right playing combination.

Ronaldo got three goals, but he was nowhere near to even 50 per cent of hisprime form. An injury-free Ronado is still deadly, but he was not fully fit. Andit showed.

The Brazilians also seemed more focussed on helping Ronaldo become thehighest goal scorer in Cup history, and that affected their game.

Another disappointing feature is that none of the Asian teams could make itpast the opening round. After the heady success of the last edition, whenco-hosts Japan and Korea did so well, the latest version must have come as amajor embarrassment for the continent's football bosses.

But when the tournament is staged on European soil, the established sides havea head-start compared to the emerging nations. Most of the players, who turn outfor frontline teams, play in Europe. They found themselves on familiarterrain. This is why, except Ukraine and Portugal, the other six quarter-finalists were all former champions.

The Europeans dominated as, apart from the 'home' condition, they also hadtheir adrenaline pumping in the presence of hundreds of fans whoaccompanied the teams from the continent.

However, the script may be different when the Cup moves to South Africa afterfour years. I expect the African teams to do better. They may not finishchampions, but can advance further than they did this year and pose a fewproblems for the top sides.

But on the whole, I enjoyed World Cup 2006. It was a neatly organised event.The general soccer standards were good. Apart from Trinidad and Tobago, allother sides scored. We got to see more goals.

PTI