The World Cup is over. Normal living has resumed for most of us.

Things did not pan out exactly as most pundits assumed. The most feted teams left earlier than thought. The unexpected happened — testament perhaps to an enduring fascination and love for this game to millions of people in the world.

In the end only one team does pick up the ultimate price, the cup. And the world goes back to its normal course of events and waits for the next big one in four years’ time. It is curtains for now to an event of thirty-one losers and one triumphant winner. The unfairness of it all.

The twist and turns are the stuff of legend. The trivia quite interesting.

So was Ronaldo fat, as asked by the Brazilian president to the Brazilian coach in a teleconference beamed live? The coach borrowing a politician’s hat for a brief moment masterfully replied, politely: “The boy has grown...” And the boy went on to claim a record of most goals scored in the World Cup.

Tales of the supernatural surfaced. The French coach, said to be a fortune-teller and an avid theater lover, read tarots and cards in a bid to know his players and their peculiar personalities. He must have missed something. One of his star players, Monsieur Zinedine Zidane, in a moment of pure madness, scarred what would have been a moment of personal glory and a fitting retirement to a sparkling career, by head butting an opponent right in front of his president and the whole world.

To be fair to Zidane, Matterazi was clearly seen to have physically provoked the Frenchman in the run-up to the incident and is alleged to have used a racial slur and to have insultingly called him a terrorist. But it is not an excuse for his red mist. He should have realized it was a clever windup designed to provoke him and get him sent off.

The French president, Jacques Chirac said of the incident: “I don’t know what happened, why Zidane was punished. But I would like to express all the respect that I have for a man who represents at the same time all the most beautiful values of sport, the greatest human qualities one can imagine, and who has honored French sport and, simply, France.” One wonders what he would have said if they had actually won and he had not been red-carded in disgrace.

Zidane decided to come out of retirement to fulfill a destiny, according to some of his fans. And you thought things were ordinary. Surely not so Marco Materrazi who felt the full force of the Frenchman’s baldhead smack on his chest.

Materrazi himself is not an angel. He was suspended for two months in 2004 for punching an opponent. Of that incident he recalls: “I can’t tell you how many times my kids have been told in school that I am a monster.” And professes to know something of destiny as well by adding, “You make mistakes in life, but then you have to purify yourself without seeking revenge. Everyone has their destiny.”

Having said that I was blessed to see the French maestro with Algerian roots in person at the Stade de France in Paris lifting the trophy, the brainchild of his countryman Jules Rimet, and grab his own piece of footballing history. I was there when he scored with two superb unforgettable near-post headers cheered on by chants of allez les bleus by jubilant French fans. I witnessed complete strangers afterward on the streets but over the moon, hugging, kissing and merrymaking.

Later in the middle of the same night in an apartment near Champs de Elysee a ball landed on the balcony. A group of exuberant kids thought nothing of clambering up and banging on the door to retrieve it. And I was there the next day at the famous Champs de Elysee to witness the victory parade for the team and Zizou being hero-worshiped with huge posters and some banners wishing him for president.

On what must be a consolation to his illustrious career the French captain won the Golden Ball award of this tournament, piping Fabio Canavaro of Italy by 35 points in the votes by journalist covering it. He won 2012 points to Canavaro’s 1977 who it must be said never put a foot wrong in the whole tournament. He marshaled the Italian defense impeccably ensuring, with the help of Bufoon, the most expensive goalkeeper in the world, that Italy conceded two goals only in the whole tournament during open play. Remarkably, one an own goal by Zaccardo and the other a penalty by Zidane in the seventh minute of the final game.

The event this time around may be more remembered sadly for mediocre and at times poor officiating. A record number of yellow and red cards. A record of some sort too where Graham Poll, a respectable English referee, brandished three yellow cards to a player before realizing his mistake in the dying minutes of a game and sent him off.

The English will not forget in a hurry Cristiano Ronaldo of Portugal. They pin the blame squarely on him for their wonder kid Wayne Rooney being shown the red card for a painful stamp on Ricardo Cavalho.

It is a matter of debate how the two will get along when they meet again at their venue of employment at Old Trafford, home of their employers Manchester United Football Club. But knowing Sir Alex Fergusson, the Manchester United manager, he will sort them out and let the young lads know where their priorities do lie. And so on to 2010 and South Africa. Let the ball roll.

— Abdullah O. Bajaber is an independent commentator on current affairs