France cheers beaten team, Zidane forgiven

PARIS, July 10: France greeted its beaten World Cup team with tears and cheers today as the nation struggled to understand what prompted their midfield maestro Zinedine Zidane to head butt a player in the World Cup final.

President Jacques Chirac paid handsome tribute to the disgraced French football captain, despite the shock red card, and several thousand French fans gathered in central Paris to welcome home the weary World Cup finalists.

A sheepish-looking Zidane bowed before the flag-waving crowds as one-by-one the French players stepped forward on the balcony of a luxury hotel to greet their die-hard supporters.

''Zizou for president,'' fans chanted, referring to Zidane's nickname, calling him back for a second curtain call that suggested they had forgiven his red mist.

Striker David Trezeguet, whose penalty shootout miss cost France the chance to win their second World Cup, wept uncontrollably and had to be comforted by his team mates.

Zidane was sent off in last night's game following an astonishing blow to the chest of Italy defender Marco Materazzi that ensured he missed the decisive shoot-out.

Neither man has spoken in public about the verbal exchange that preceded the ignominious end to the career of a soccer icon whose bewitching ball skills made him best of his generation.

Despite the controversy, Chirac had only praise for an ''exceptional captain'', the team and much-criticised coach Raymond Domenech as he greeted the team at his Elysee Palace.

''Dear Zinedine Zidane, what I want to express to you at this perhaps most intense and difficult time in your career, is the admiration and the affection of the whole nation -- it's respect too,'' Chirac said.

''You are a virtuoso, a genius of world football. You are also a man of the heart, of commitment, of conviction, and that's why France admires and loves you.''

Zidane fired France to victory in the 1998 World Cup and had hoped to lead his team to further glory in Germany in what he had said would be his final game. Instead he was sent off for the 14th time in his career. More than one million people flooded the streets of Paris to fete the triumphant 1998 team and city authorities had promised a repeat celebration parade on Monday regardless of the result.

But in the event, the players opted for a brief appearance on a balcony overlooking the Place de la Concorde.

Commentators scrutinised video footage of the head butting searching for clues to the loss of self-control that many fans felt cost France the game.

''He acted a bit like a street kid, a spoilt child,'' said Benjamin Idrac, who was charging around Roissy airport outside Paris in his car for a glimpse of the returning stars.

''He didn't even go to pick up his medal and congratulate (goalkeeper Fabien) Barthez and the others. I hope he will apologise,'' he said.

Zidane's team mates refused to publicly criticise the player or divulge his locker room explanation of the head butt.

''Obviously he was very disappointed to end (his career) with a defeat, above all, and to have left his team mates. But he remains a great man,'' said France defender Jean-Alain Boumsong.

France striker Thierry Henry said: ''All I want to say to 'Zizou', and I think France should say it and the world of football ... is 'thank you', and 'thank you'. That's it.'' The daily newspaper Le Parisien asked how ''the blue angel turned into a devil,'' while sports paper L'Equipe condemned the ''stupid'' assault on Materazzi that editorialist Claude Droussent said it was hard to forgive.

''What should we tell our children and all those for whom you have become an example for ever?'' he asked, concluding: ''How could that happen to a man like you?''

Reuters

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