Zinedine Zidane must be thanking the gods for FIFA, which in a welcome move Thursday did much to restore some of the lost glow to his image -- and some sanity to a debate in which sanctimonious nonsense had been gaining the upper hand.
Not so long ago, Mr. Zidane was France's shining "blue angel." But after the veteran midfielder saw red at the World Cup final in Berlin on July 9 and was ejected from the game for head-butting Italian defender Marco Materazzi, his reputation took a nose dive. As the French put it, L'ange bleu s'est transforme en demon (The blue angel has transformed himself into a demon).
The witticism got it wrong, however. Mr. Zidane did not demonize himself. He was demonized. And he was hardly alone in that. Reaction to the incident that ended up defining the 2006 World Cup is merely the sports version of a mind-set that also defines much of contemporary politics.