Light dims as Zidane's retirement will signal end of an era
(AP)
Updated: 2006-06-23 11:47
HAMELN, Germany _ Zinedine Zidane's career is just about over, shutting
the light on a brilliant career. The end might be painful.
France's Zinedine Zidane is seen
during a training session in Cologne June 22, 2006. France will face Togo
on Friday in the first phase of the soccer World Cup in Germany.
[Reuters] | The glory of the 1998 World Cup title
has faded in a wave of international soccer disappointment. Zidane rarely has
been able to place his creative stamp on France's national team in recent years.
And now he must sit out Friday's match with Togo, a game in which the French
must win for any chance to avoid another opening-round elimination _ almost
matching the ignominy of their goal-less departure from the 2002 tournament.
Zidane already has announced his retirement from international and club
soccer. Will the final image of this star be his chucking the captain's armband
into the team dugout upon his removal from a 1-1 draw with South Korea? Will the
scowl on his face as he walked past coach Raymond Domenech be the lasting
memory?
If so, that is a shame.
The career of Zidane, who turns 34 Friday, has been mixture of sublime skill,
some genius, and a fierce passion that occasionally descended into wild
aggression.
His two header goals lifted France past Brazil to win the 1998 World Cup at
home. Earlier in the tournament, an angry moment led to his being red-carded for
stamping on a Saudi Arabia player.
Head-bowed, Zidane trudged off the field, knowing he had let his teammates
down. Coach Aime Jacquet, face boiling red with anger, refused to look at him.
A few weeks later, he was the toast of Paris and all of France as Les Bleus
won its only world title.
Five years ago, Zidane head-butted Jochen Kientz in a Champions League match
for Juventus against Hamburger SV. But a year later, his magical volley gave
Real Madrid its ninth European title.
Zidane was FIFA World Player of the Year three times. He ranks alongside
Michel Platini as France's most gifted player ever.
|
