French coach laments Zindane's Red Card

Red-carded Zinedine Zidane's ouster in the 110th minute of the excruciating and tactfully packaged 2006 World Cup Finals in Germany, was not only a disappointment to numerous of the player's fans across the globe but, emotionally touching to the coach of the team, Raymond Domenech.

According to fifaworld.com reports reproduced here by nigeriasports.com, "It's a huge disappointment. We prepared ourselves to be at our best, the team got stronger and that was all part of the plan.

"You could see that in how we were a notch above our opponents in extra time. The players now have to remember what they've achieved.
Zidane's red card was one of the turning-points of the match, as was Vieira coming off (with an injury).

We found ourselves with ten men at a time when we were controlling the game. As for the incident itself, the fourth official saw what happened and informed the referee.

"The assistant referee saw nothing. I don't know what (Marco) Materazzi said, but he's the Man of the Match, not (Andrea) Pirlo. It's Materazzi who equalised and provoked Zidane's sending-off.

"It's sad, but I think the Italian player made a meal out of what happened. Zidane would normally take one of the first penalties in a shoot-out but his not being there didn't change much.

"I can't fault the players, they did their best. Was it enough? No. All I can think about now is the disappointment. My own future is not important at the moment.

" I'm sad for Zidane because he was always there for us during this competition. I'd have preferred substituting him five minutes before the end so he could have received a different ovation from the crowd to the one he got," a disappointed Domenech regretted.