Player profile: Zinedine Zidane

March 5th, 2006 | by: Chriso | View Comments

Probably every team going into this World Cup will have its talisman, the guy the other players look to, who if he ’s playing well will lift his teammates and can dig them out of a hole.

For France it’s still Zinedine Zidane.

He’s going to be 34 by the time the World Cup starts and has hinted about retirement shortly afterwards, so can he lift France one more time? Maybe, maybe not but he’s still got to be worth his place in the team for the aura and confidence he brings to the rest of the players.

One things for sure, he’s one of those players who deliver’s in the big games. Two goals in the 1998 World Cup final, a brillant left footed volley from the edge of the box to win the 2002 Champions League final, two goals in injury time to beat England in Euro2004 when France had been outplayed, one a brillant freekick, the other a penalty.
What made that penalty great is if you see the replay from behind the goal, Zidane actually pukes up on the pitch than runs and hits a brillant kick.

As a player he’s won just about everything there is, the World Cup and European Championship with France, the Champions League, Italian and Spanish championships with his clubs, he’s pretty much got a full set.

Whether he can lift the cup again I doubt, but it would be nice if he had a few more special moments in Germany.