Zidane Misses first 2 Euro 2008 Qualifiers

The news that Zinedine Zidane will miss the first two matches of the Euro 2008 qualifiers against Georgia and Italy has already done the rounds. But I'm shocked they were so lenient given the exposure the incident had.

And now FIFA have stated that they'll investigate every incident of "sledging". Thus giving the green light for players to report their opposition for verbal abuse.

FIFA spokesman Andreas Herren told the Daily Mail:

"After this case, players may now think better of dishing out this kind of abuse in the future. But if they don't, then we may see more of these cases happening. If that is the case then that will not trouble us. Players should not be saying these things, should they? This happens a lot in football, but that doesn't make it right. It is just that it never gets reported.

But now the matter has got ministerial attention when an Italian Government official stated that FIFA had discriminated against Italy for it's decision to punish Marco Materazzi. Even the Italian Press are getting heated. La Stampa described the ban as a "scandalous sentance. La Gezzetta dello Sport commented "Zidane-Materazzi 3-2, Italy is Angry ... [it was] too low a punishment for Zizou".