Zidane's mother is Algerian. It was probably meant and taken as a racist slur.
Actually I'm coming around - I'm glad Zidane did it - especially if that is true. After looking into what other people said, that the Italians were doing all sorts of lame stuff (there is a lot of support for this), I'm now sorry they won.
I saw a report that Zidane's future ability to make money off his image (product endorsement) may be hurt by this. But I bet the opposite is true. The guy looks like Rirchard Gere and he butts!
(people who say his image is hurt do not get how the world has changed - turns out Kate Moss is having an $18 million year after getting arrested for Hoovering - before this she was earning less than half that)