FIFA Turned OUT Video Evidence in "Zidane" Case

Zidane's controversial elimination from the World Cup final - and I don't mean the fault itself, but the manner in which Zidane was given the red card - is still a main topic for most of the sports newspapers. After French coach Raymond Domenech stated that the piece of refereeing was taken upon video evidence, FIFA denies, earlier today, all these kind of allegations, stating that the 4th referee saw what happened in real time, and not on camera.

"This was definitely not video evidence. I spoke with the senior person responsible for refereeing in the FIFA administration. He clearly told me the fourth official had seen the incident involving Zidane and had advised the referee through the headset. The fourth official saw it as it happened on the pitch and directly advised the referee and the referee took action. Full stop. It appears the referee was waiting for the situation to clear up a little bit before taking action", said Andreas Herren, the FIFA spokesman.

Everyone was amazed by the late decision Elizondo made in real time. Zidane hit Materazzi with his head and it was Gianluigi Buffon who saw the whole scene. He went straight to the lineman and told him about it, but the referee did not observe anything unusual. After Elizondo came to see what was wrong with the Inter Milan player, the Italian footballers started arguing with the Argentine "whistler".

More, the Italian coach, Marcello Lippi, was on the verge of a breakdown, and argued with Domenech for minutes. After things cooled down and all the TV viewers saw what really happened - and were, I assume, quite repelled by it - the referee had a talk with the 4th referee, Spaniard Medina Cantalejo. It was only then that the French captain received the well-deserved red card.

FIFA is yet to decide what sanctions they will give to Zidane. I'm afraid they really can't do much, since this was his last match as a professional player. All they can do is not allow him a retirement match. I'm being ironical, of course, but the international body will certainly look the other way and probably give the Frenchman a fine.