The Volokh Conspiracy - Zidane's Meltdown:

Hoya makes an interesting observation regarding David's earlier post on the Zidane meltdown in the World Cup championship yesterday. Hoya writes:

Was Zizou scanning the field for the location of the officials before he turned to deliver that head butt? It looks like he was seeing where their attention was focused before he returned to lay out that dude. If so, it was not simply hotheaded. (And it did turn out that none of the three regular officials saw the infraction, so Zizou may well have known just what he was doing.)

This is an interesting observation and strikes me as probably correct. One of the things that was so curious about Zidane's behavior was that he was simply walking away before he suddenly turned and leveled Materazzi. Zidane certainly was walking as if he may have been scanning the field to see if the referees were watching, then turned and butted him. In fact, he probably would have gotten away with it but for the scoreboard replay. News reports indicate that in fact none of the referees actually did see it live, but instead busted him after one of the linesmen saw the replay on the scoreboard while Materazzi was down.

The other thing about Hoya's hypothesis that Zidane simply thought he'd get away with is was his demeanor during the whole incident--he didn't really act like he had lost his cool. Instead, he seemed quite cold-blooded and calm about the whole thing. His expression never changed throughout the whole incident. Then once he got busted he simply walked off the field--didn't argue or anything else.

So he may just have been dirty rather than hot-headed. As has been widely noted, Zidane has some reputation as a cheap-shot artist through the years. If Zidane actually was taking a calculated gamble then this would get away with a cheap shot under these circumstances, and he would have but for instant replay in the stadium, then this certainly seems to state some case for more widespread use of instant replay in soccer.

Did the referees use instant replay to bust him? According to Steven Goff, FIFA's official position today is no, the fourth referee saw the head butt and relayed it to the on-field officials. Perhaps this is what actually happened, but earlier reports said that one of the linesmen saw an instant replay on the scoreboard while play was stopped.

Update:

One other piece to add to the confusion--Sports Illustrated's World Cup blog says, "Obviously, Elizondo got it right, but it did seem as if he did so by accident. Elizondo didn't see the head butt, and the linesman didn't make the kind of ruckus you'd expect if he had seen it. Not until the fourth and fifth officials saw the replay on the sideline was Zidane given the gate."

	[Todd Zywicki, July 10, 2006 at 5:56pm] Trackbacks Zidane's Meltdown: Hoya makes an interesting observation regarding David's earlier post on the Zidane meltdown in the World Cup championship yesterday. Hoya writes: Was Zizou scanning the field for the location of the officials before he turned to deliver that head butt? It looks like he was seeing where their attention was focused before he returned to lay out that dude. If so, it was not simply hotheaded. (And it did turn out that none of the three regular officials saw the infraction, so Zizou may well have known just what he was doing.) This is an interesting observation and strikes me as probably correct. One of the things that was so curious about Zidane's behavior was that he was simply walking away before he suddenly turned and leveled Materazzi. Zidane certainly was walking as if he may have been scanning the field to see if the referees were watching, then turned and butted him. In fact, he probably would have gotten away with it but for the scoreboard replay. News reports indicate that in fact none of the referees actually did see it live, but instead busted him after one of the linesmen saw the replay on the scoreboard while Materazzi was down. The other thing about Hoya's hypothesis that Zidane simply thought he'd get away with is was his demeanor during the whole incident--he didn't really act like he had lost his cool. Instead, he seemed quite cold-blooded and calm about the whole thing. His expression never changed throughout the whole incident. Then once he got busted he simply walked off the field--didn't argue or anything else. So he may just have been dirty rather than hot-headed. As has been widely noted, Zidane has some reputation as a cheap-shot artist through the years. If Zidane actually was taking a calculated gamble then this would get away with a cheap shot under these circumstances, and he would have but for instant replay in the stadium, then this certainly seems to state some case for more widespread use of instant replay in soccer. Did the referees use instant replay to bust him? According to Steven Goff, FIFA's official position today is no, the fourth referee saw the head butt and relayed it to the on-field officials. Perhaps this is what actually happened, but earlier reports said that one of the linesmen saw an instant replay on the scoreboard while play was stopped. Update: One other piece to add to the confusion--Sports Illustrated's World Cup blog says, "Obviously, Elizondo got it right, but it did seem as if he did so by accident. Elizondo didn't see the head butt, and the linesman didn't make the kind of ruckus you'd expect if he had seen it. Not until the fourth and fifth officials saw the replay on the sideline was Zidane given the gate."