Zidane United a Nation Under Banner of World Cup Success
By Rex Gowar
PARIS, Dec 21 (Reuters) - Zinedine Zidane, named the 1998 European Footballer of the Year on Monday, bequeathed his country much more than soccer's ultimate prize by scoring twice in France's World Cup final win over Brazil.
The son of Algerian immigrants, "Zizou" was the fulcrum of a multi-racial team who broke down French social barriers. The French team's 3-0 victory over Brazil in the World Cup final on July 12, with two headers from Zidane, also brought worldwide recognition to the country's excellent coaching system.
French players are currently among the most coveted by Europe's biggest clubs, notably in Italy. Zidane, winner also of the Reuters 1998 Sports Personality poll, is one of 14 of the French 22-man World Cup squad playing their club soccer outside France's frontiers.
The parents and grandparents of some of those players came across those same frontiers into France during the course of the century looking for a better life. Many North African immigrants have been met with resistance, misunderstanding and often outright hatred.
This was forgotten with the World Cup triumph as all of France, bar a tiny rightwing minority, rejoiced in a victory few believed possible a month earlier. Zidane is the outstanding footballing product of a third significant wave of immigrants this century after Raymond Kopa and Michel Platini and with them makes up the trio of France's greatest players.
All three are essentially technical players with innate ball skills, well coached in the virtues of creative attacking football and superb passers of the ball. Kopa, the son of Poles who came to France in the 1920s to work in the mines of the north of the country, emerged at Reims and made his name at Real Madrid. Platini, captain of France's 1984 European championship winning side, was the son of Italians who immigrated in the 1940s and he, too, found fame abroad, preceding Zidane at Juventus.
Zidane's family arrived in France in the wave of north African immigration during the 1960s. In a progressively rising graph marking French success, Kopa helped France reach third place in the 1958 World Cup, Platini led them to their first major international trophy in 1984 and Zidane inspired their biggest triumph.
Zidane grew up in the rough Marseille suburb of La Castellane, where he still has many friends, but escaped the attention of the great local side Olympique. Instead, he made his professional debut with Cannes and then moved on to Girondins Bordeaux, reaching the 1996 UEFA Cup final with them.
He was also on the losing side in two successive European Cup finals with Juventus before his World Cup victory. Zidane made his France debut in August, 1994, coming on as a substitute against the Czech Republic and, presaging his double strike in the World Cup final, scored twice in the final five minutes to secure a 2-2 draw.
Off his game at Euro 96 in England, France went out of the tournament in the semifinals. But the experience merely confirmed for coach Aime Jacquet Zidane's importance for France and the need to carefully handle his key player's build-up to the World Cup.
Jacquet was helped by the player's growing maturity in Italy's demanding serie A. Zidane's role in the World Cup grew as the tournament unfolded, helping his team start with two group games in which they amassed seven goals before he was sent off for uncharacteristically stamping on a Saudi Arabia opponent. Without Zidane, France were on the verge of elimination against a tenacious Paraguayan side, needing a "golden goal" to avoid a penalty shootout most believed they would lose against the expertise of
goalkeeper Jose Luis Chilavert.
Jacquet had to tell the suspended Zidane not to feel guilty at leaving France short of his orchestrating skills. "Zizou, the French team is not just you," Jacquet recalled telling Zidane. "But what I do know is that it's
you who'll make us win."
Back for the 0-0 draw and penalty shootout victory over his adopted country of residence Italy, Zidane gradually showed more of his skills in dictating a match. France beat Croatia in their semifinal, then crushed a subdued Brazil to lift the trophy with Zidane, again uncharacteristically, scoring twice with his head.
A quiet, unassuming man, Zidane has been startled by the ammount of female fan mail he has received since July. "There are more and more women who write to me," he said. "Some say they're in love, but I'm married." Not one to be carried away by his status, Zidane is representative of a generation of footballers whose individual skills are subordinate to the team's success.
Europe's national coaches noted during a seminar after Euro 96 that the most skilled individuals would not thrive unless they put the team first. Zidane's France is different from Romario's Brazil of 1994 or the Diego
Maradona inspired Argentina. "He does everything you should expect from a soccer star of the 21st century. He helps the team first and himself next," said experienced Ukrainian coach Igor Lobanovsky.
