Soccer: Glorious fairytale endings? ZZ tops the lot

Zinedine Zidane, right, celebrates with Franck Ribery after scoring his team's third goal against Spain. Picture / Reuters

It is the oldest of stories - a core plot in religious texts and mythical yarns since men first sat by the fire and exchanged tales, but it is no less powerful for that.

From the Gospels to Tolkien, the return of the king has been a bestseller. Now, here in the land which gave us Gutenberg's Bible and the fairytales of the Brothers Grimm, comes another great narrative.

First Ronaldo, now Zinedine Zidane, have found redemption in Germany. And tomorrow in Frankfurt they will meet with the echoes of Paris 1998, when Ronaldo suffered a fit, and Zidane scored twice.

Tomorrow may be when Ronaldo finally lays his ghosts, but Wednesday was Zidane's night. Having stirred against Japan last week, the Brazilian's record-breaking display against Ghana might have been anticipated, but the French captain's refusal, later that day, to go quietly into retirement was a thrilling surprise.

"Zidane is without end," proclaimed the French sports newspaper L'Equipe, delighted to find its obituaries had been premature. It added: "Zidane showed there will always be Zizou".

The 34-year-old, aided and abetted by his fellow 30-somethings, Patrick Vieira and Claude Makelele, had drawn the sting of Spain's swarming, youthful midfield, then released the younger legs of Franck Ribery and Thierry Henry.

Zidane's passing was sumptuous, his ability to make space and time for himself emblematic of the great players. For all Spain's possession and promise, had the finishing of the French been sharper they would have won 5-1.

An early chance, originating from Zidane's cunning pass to Henry, went begging. Later the otherwise anonymous Florent Malouda wasted another opportunity crafted by the balding maestro. Eventually Zidane took on the task himself, finishing off the Spanish with a matador's flourish in injury time.

Raymond Domenech, the French coach, is not one to talk about individuals. When initially pressed he said: "The French journalists will tell you I always say there are 23 players in my team and everyone is important."

But even this technocrat, whose relationship with Zidane has been a tense one, with questions asked about who really runs the team, could not remain austere.

"If there is an extra happiness in this victory, it is in Zidane. It was special for Zizou to score because we all know what he can bring to the team. You come to expect him to influence games like that but the fact he can score a goal in the 92nd minute at the age of 34 is another reason for us to feel happy."

Even Zinedine himself, a man proud of his achievements, but rarely loquacious or boastful, was moved to say: "We have felt very disrespected after being described as too old. We are not old, but experienced. I think we have proven to everyone we still have quality. Now we want to keep on winning. As for my retirement, it is not yet. The adventure continues."

And what an adventure. Zidane, remember, was on the sidelines, lamed with a thigh injury, for much of France's catastrophic 2002 World Cup. Apart from a brief display of virtuosity against England, he was quiet in their leaden performance at Euro 2004.

After that he retired from Les Bleus, only returning to resurrect their qualifying campaign for this World Cup after, he said, "voices in the night" told him to. After much mirth at his expense he identified that voice to be his brother's.

When France stumbled into the second round, held both by the metronomic South Koreans and dull Swiss, it appeared he would have been better off turning a deaf ear to the appeal.

Had France not defeated Togo - a match for which Zidane was suspended - the three times World Player of the Year's last act in professional football would have been to hand over the armband after being humiliatingly substituted in injury time against South Korea.

That seemed a case of Domenech flexing his muscles. As a player he had been a hard man, even breaking an opponent's leg on his debut for Lyon at 16. As a coach he is stubborn, but his authority had been undermined by Zidane's return.

Zizou brought Makelele and Lilian Thuram with him and Domenech has been assailed for relying on the old guard while ignoring their requests to adopt a 4-4-2 formation.

A 54-year-old federation man, previously with the Under-21s, he has never picked an unchanged team. Last week Vieira, when asked if he thought Domenech's coaching was "up to the job", responded tartly: "It doesn't matter whether I do or not. It doesn't change anything."

On Wednesday they sat together at a dais in a small room under the AWD Arena's main stand. Any division seemed healed, but it was noticeable that they exchanged few words, and when an English reporter had to repeat his question to Domenech three times because the coach's headset, in which he received translation, was not working, Vieira refrained from helping out by translating himself.

Other splits also seem merely to be papered over, not fixed. A reporter was asking Henry, in the most gushing of terms, how it was that a player as young and inexperienced as Ribery could show such style, confidence and elan.

Henry, in that disdainful way of his, noted Spain had just such a player themselves in Francesco Torres, and, indeed, though he would not presume to say it himself, in the 1998 finals France also had such a young player, one who scored three goals (and now plays for Arsenal).

This, and other stories emanating from the camp, suggest Henry doth protest too much when he insisted: "There's an extraordinary spirit in the squad at the moment, even if a lot of people seem to find that hard to believe. That spirit has been the key to our wins."

But successful teams do not have to like each other, and winning tends to soothe all wounds. France's previously disjointed mix of youth and experience is beginning to blend and they know they can beat Brazil: four of this team played in the 1998 final, as did three of the current Brazilian XI.

"We will have to play even better to stand a chance, but I believe we can because that team can adapt to the opposition and raise the level of their game," said Domenech.

Another 30-something, Thuram, admitted: "The trauma of 2002 was still hanging over us at the start of the competition, but we're beyond that now. It's forgotten."

Henry added: "We've not been as good as that for a long time. But we believed in ourselves and fought like lions."

France delivered, with Zidane, more than anyone, epitomising Domenech's conclusion: "We're old but we're still smart."

Beware les dinosaures.

- INDEPENDENT