Kaita’s red card: First S/Africa 2010’s moment-of-stupidity
The current South Africa 2010 has proved not to be an exception with Sani Kaita’s kung-fu kick of a Greece player and his subsequent dismissal from the proceeding. His ignominious dismissal exposed the Super Eagles to a barrage of attack from the Greek, which eventually paid off with two goals that silenced Nigerian fans across […]
The current South Africa 2010 has proved not to be an exception with Sani Kaita’s kung-fu kick of a Greece player and his subsequent dismissal from the proceeding.
His ignominious dismissal exposed the Super Eagles to a barrage of attack from the Greek, which eventually paid off with two goals that silenced Nigerian fans across the globe. So far, no other moment can measure up to that of Sani Kaita.
The red card showed how important Sani Kaita, who was doing ‘dirty jobs’ before his being red-carded, was in the match and his relevance to the entire team. But, his inability to control his rage for a moment caused one of the embarrassments of his life.
In Germany 2006 World Cup, the worst moment on the pitch was recorded in the final match between the eventual winners, Italy and France. In the second half of the match, Zinedine Zidane head-butted Materazzi and instantly incurred the wrath of the referee, who gave him a straight red card.
Although, the playmaker had retired from international football, the difficulty being faced by the national team during the qualifier for Germany 2006 made Coach Raymond Domenech, Zidane beg the former Real Madri to rescind his decision.
He came out of retirement and was immediately instated as team captain. He made his competitive return in a 3-0 win over the Faroe Islands on 3 September 2005, as France went on to win their qualifying group.
Zidane during the 2006 World Cup final, Zidane had a slow start to the 2006 World Cup and, after being suspended for the final match of the group stage, returned to set up a goal for Patrick Vieira and score one himself in the second round match against Spain.
Zidane assisted Thierry Henry’s deciding goal and he was named Man of the Match by FIFA. France faced Portugal in the semi final and, as in Brussels six years earlier; Zidane’s penalty kick decided the contest and sent France to another major final.
Before the final, Zidane was awarded the Golden Ball as the best player of the competition. Having already announced he was to retire after the expiration of his Real Madrid contract at the end of the 2005-06 season, the world of football already knew Zidane’s second World Cup final was to be the last match of his career.
Seven minutes into the match Zidane put France ahead with a penalty kick and became only the fourth player in World Cup history to score in two different finals, along with Pele, Paul Breitner, and Vava, in addition to being tied for first place with Vava, Pele and Geoff Hurst with three World Cup final goals apiece.
But, the worst moment in his career and in the tournament happened when he was sent off in extra-time after head-butting Marco Materazzi following an insult from the Italian concerning his sister, and so did not participate in the penalty shootout, in which Italy won 5–3.
Zidane was allowed to keep the Golden Ball award. In 2010, Zidane said that he “would rather die” than apologize to Materazzi for the head-butt in the final but also claimed that he “could never have lived with himself” had France won the match.
But Sani Kaita’s straight red card for kicking out at Vasilas Torosidis in the 33rd minute of Nigeria’s 2-1 loss to Greece looks likely to be the silliest foul/sending off of this World Cup. With Nigeria up 1-0 after an early goal, Kaita and Torosidis came together in an awkward clash as they both chased down a wayward ball and Torosidis collected it for a throw in.
Torosidis made like he was going to shove the ball at Kaita, who almost reflexively kicked out at the Greek defender, grazing his leg with his foot.
Well, Torosidis made the most of it and went to the ground with dramatic flair to make sure the referee saw what happened. He did and Kaita was sent off. Kaita immediately regretted the act and trudged off the pitch with his shirt covering his face.
Greece went on to score a pair of goals while a man up – including the winner from Torosidis – and earned its first victory in World Cup history. And they have Kaita to thank for that. Of course, there are a lot of matches left to go and you never know what Rino Gattuso will do under a full moon.
Nigeria were a goal to the good half an hour into Thursday’s Group B match when Kaita kicked out at Greek defender Vassilis Torosidis and received a straight red.
The loss, Nigeria’s second, means the West Africans must beat Korea Republic in the last group game and hope that Argentina dismantle the Greeks. That is the tight corner the Kaita moment of madness has put Nigeria and the millions of Super Eagles’ fans across the World.
Rooney is another temperamental player who could go haywire anytime things seem not to be going his way. The fact now is that Kaita’s case could be hard to beat at 19th edition of the World Cup, as other players hot-blooded players like him must have learnt from his unfortunate situation.