zinedine zidane, finished or not?

lili

against seville, he scored a hattrick, the first of his career. he has been injured and away from the pitch so many times.

do you think that he is yet finished as i heard it so often?

Big Nelly

Well seeing as he is quiting in the summer I would say that you could refer to him as nearly finished. Still a good player but has had injury problems this season and hence why he is quitting while at the top

Gegerty

No way he's still a top class player. Maybe he hasn't got the energy of the younger players but it doesn't matter with his style of play.

lili

yes, that's also my feelings.
i think his vision of the play can compensate his physical weakness.

Nunu

No way is he finished! He still has a couple of seasons left in him, but I've got to respect his wishes. What a player though. He will leave a gaping hole in world football when he's not around next season.
I've been to 100's of live matches and was lucky enough to attend 4 he played in:
The 1st was in Real Madrids 2002 Champions League final win in Hampden Park where he scored the greatest live goal I have ever seen.
The 2nd was in the Estadio de Luz at Euro 2004 where his 2 late goals, a sublime free kick and a peno, put England to the sword(the most dramatic game I've ever been to).
The 3rd was in the Estadio Jose Alvalade v's Greece at the 1/4 final stage of Euro 2004. France lost and this was probably the lowest point of his career and prompted his initial international retirement.
The 4th game was the recent world cup qualifier v's Ireland at Lansdowne Road....we all know what happened there:( .

Only 4 games but luckily for me they were all pivotal games in his career. He has left a wonderful lasting impression on me as a footballer and I plan on seeing the great man one last time in the flesh at this summers world cup. Who knows what the footballing Gods will have in store for his swansong?

lili

i never saw zizou in real. i thought i would see him when i got my ticket for lyon/real madrid, but he was injured.
what impression do you have when you see him in real?

Nunu

Along side Roy Keane he is the greatest footballer I have ever seen play in the flesh. The great thing about the modern day is we can appreciate his talents whether we are at the game or watching it on TV. The most striking difference which doesn't always come across on TV is just how big he is. He's a real tank of a man and opponents bounce off him most of the time. He's an absolute collosus on the pitch, always looks for the ball and never gives it away. Oh and he sweats absolute buckets, especially from his head............it's not human the amount of perspiring that man does!:D

lili

yes, players look more impressive in real than on tv.

look at this article about zizou :



Zidane: A problem for Madrid

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Great Players Should Be Put Down Early
By Tim Stannard
So says Tim Stannard, who has witnessed the fall from grace of one of the greatest, Zinedine Zidane. So - the weekend's big question - should footballing euthanasia be enforced for the best of the best?
When I first saw the real-life Zinedine Zidane (as opposed to the TV version) from my seat in the Bernabeu stadium, the first thing I noticed was that the legendary Frenchman, like many footballers, was considerably larger in stature than I had always imagined. At well over six feet tall and powerfully built, I found it difficult to equate one of the most graceful midfielders that the world had ever seen to the man stood just a few metres away from me, with a physicality and receding hairline reminiscent of a bruising Premiership centre back.
However, within a few minutes of the start of the game my doubts were assuaged and to this day I can clearly remember the moment that I realised that I was in the presence of someone a bit special.
A whizzing cross-field ball from right-back Michel Salgado had been launched towards 'Zizou', who was in his favoured position, hugging the left touch line. Two defenders were already bearing down on him, ready to launch full-blooded challenges on their lethal opponent the split second he made contact with the ball.
As the incoming pass arced through the air like a guided missile, I remember noticing that Zidane, incredibly, was neither watching the ball, nor his opponents. Instead, his piercing gaze was turned towards the opposition penalty area as he considered his next move. Finally, the ball arrived and Zidane, without once glancing down at his feet, controlled it with his instep and with a drop of the shoulders, wrong-footed one defender, barged the other from his path and accelerated away.
As Zizou ran, his eyes continued to remain fixed on his team-mates, as he searched out an opportunity for one of his defence splitting passes or a penalty box rampage. Again, not one look towards the ball at his feet - he didn't need to. He knew exactly where it was at all times.
To put my childlike wonder at this seemingly innocuous moment into context, my previous football watching experiences had mostly been in the less glamorous setting of England's lower divisions. There, the normal result of a player trying to control a pass of similar length and velocity to Salgado's would have seen the ball ricocheting off his boot for a throw-in, had the pass reached him in the first place.
Back in Madrid, at that moment in time, Zidane was the king of European, if not world, football. He had single-handedly won the 2002 Champions League for Real, with a moment of goal-scoring genius in Glasgow, and was to later to inspire the Galaticos to yet another Spanish league title.
Today, everything has changed for Zizou. The cruel passage of time and years of brutal treatment from defenders have taken their toll on the Frenchman and have left him a shadow of the incredible player he once was. Quite simply, he is exhausted.
Instead of illuminating games, he seems to haunt them. Each time he is knocked down, he takes that little bit longer to get up. That sudden burst of pace and supernatural sixth sense for a killer pass that he once possessed have now deserted him.
Unfortunately, Zidane, an introverted and brooding character by nature, has had great difficulty in mentally adjusting to this new reality, where he can no longer reproduce the stunning football of previous years. Club team mate Roberto Carlos recently confirmed that his good friend was going through one of the toughest periods of his life, as frustrations with his decline have mounted.
Zidane's fragile psychological state has not been helped by being forced to cope not only with his own gradually worsening form, but also that of his national team - something that this proud man was unable to stand by and watch, as his short-lived retirement from international football demonstrated.
However, the effort of dragging France over the finishing line of World Cup qualification combined with his laudable, but futile, attempts to guide Real Madrid from their current predicament, have taken so much out of the Frenchman that he has openly hinted at retiring after this summer's World Cup - one year earlier than the expiration of his contract at Real Madrid.
Zidane's current sad situation is comparable with that of Alan Shearer and Roy Keane (just ask Clyde) - all world class players in their time, but continuing to force their ailing bodies to try to repeat past glories - not through any selfish desire to hog the limelight, but through an innate but misguided sense of footballing duty.
Perhaps a mandatory retirement age should enforced by footballing authorities on players of such quality and distinction? Whilst sounding like the sporting equivalent of putting a sickly animal out of its misery, such a directive would enable us, the football fans, to remember our heroes as they were in their prime.
Nevertheless, one feels that a player of such undoubted quality as Zinedine Zidane may still have a gift to offer footballing history. His expected participation in this year’s World Cup and in Real's current Champions League campaign will perhaps give us the opportunity to witness one last moment of magic. If not in Germany, perhaps at Highbury?

scuba steve

Big Nelly wrote:

Well seeing as he is quiting in the summer I would say that you could refer to him as nearly finished. Still a good player but has had injury problems this season and hence why he is quitting while at the top

ditto, exactly, hes still a class act but he knows when to hang up the boots and hand over to the younger generation

Nunu

Interesting article. I would happily watch Zidane play into his 40's! I don't agree with the argument that great players should retire before their powers begin to wane. Whereas Zidane used to be the best player on the planet, now as a slightly diminished force he is still better than 99% of players and still has so much to offer. He can still be the pivotal man in games and inspire fans and players alike. Why should he and other greats move aside at the first sign of regression when they will only be replaced by somebody who at their peak will never come close to them at their worst? Savour him while we can because we will miss the 2006 version of Zidane when he's gone never mind the 2002 version when he was at his peak. Sadly we only truly realise how good a player was when they're are gone and any journalists etc. who would welcome a speedy retirement from Zidane don't really fully appreciate this.

KdjaCL

Probably sign for Bolton soon so, one of the best players i ever seen. truly gifted with vision and touch.


kdjac

lili

i don't think zidane would go elsewhere. he will retire maybe after the world cup.
if he had to go elsewhere, i think he would go to marseille.

BillyBoy

I would gladly watch 89 minutes of crap football for one minute where Zidane showed his brilliance. Along with Ronaldinho, ZZ constantly has me asking 'how the hell did he do that' after doing something brilliant. Truely one of the, if not the, most naturually gifted players of all time. If I was a top class manager I would still have him in my team.

CorkMan

I hope he doesn't retire!

blastman

Mandatory retirement age is a stupid idea, IMO. If a player of Zidane's ability wants to continue playing and there's a team that wants him, he's earned the right to play as long as he wants. We will always look back and remember their peak, the lesser moments will be forgotten.

godtabh

blastman wrote:

Mandatory retirement age is a stupid idea

I think he should retire at the same time most of us do at 65!

Seriuolsy do he is a great player. Doesnt he have a year or 2 years left on his contract at Real? I thought he said he was thinkning off calling it a day early but nothing had been decided yet?

lili

i think his contract to real madrid might ending at the end of the season. maybe real madrid would like to extend it but i doubt he would do it.

evilhomer

Zidane always said he wanted to go back and play for marsaille before he retired, maybe he will do that.

I personally believe he has plenty left in him, He was never rested at Real (neither are any of the other "galactico's" The breaks with injury can only have done him some good.

I have got try see him play for Real before he retires.

Thanx 4 The Fish

Scored a hat-trick on the weekend too, his first ever, not the signs of somebody who is pat it IMO.