ZZ ON TOP
He is larger than life, his eyes radiating intensity as they stare at passersby from the side of a building on a Marseille street.
A sporting goods company posted this huge photograph of Zinedine Zidane to promote its wares, but the French midfielder is selling more than that in this open-air gallery.
Zidane, 26, has made an art of a sport the French regard occasionally with indulgence but rarely with passion. His vision, creativity and grace under pressure have brought him unusual adulation, putting his picture on the covers of magazines and newspapers and transforming him into the symbol of French soccer--and, in effect, of this World Cup.
“The photograph gave me chills,” he told the French sports newspaper L’Equipe. “My father went to see it, then my whole family. And me, too, in my turn, I saw it, with my wife and my son, Enzo. . . . What I’m most proud of is that this advertisement is one of the only ones in Marseille that hasn’t been tagged [with graffiti].”
Such is the respect he commands.
It’s a new concept here that Zidane, who is the son of an Algerian immigrant night watchman and grew up in a lower-class housing project in a community called Castellane, north of Marseille, can be considered as French as someone with an aristocratic provenance. Zidane, adoringly nicknamed “Zizou,” is a symbol of the polyglot nation France has gradually and sometimes grudgingly become.
Wearing uniform No. 10, which is traditionally given to the team leader, Zidane has become as much a part of French soccer as the blue, white and red French colors. His return from a two-game suspension to play in France’s quarterfinal match against Italy today at Saint-Denis is anticipated as breathlessly as any sports event here since, perhaps, the French team’s march to the World Cup semifinals 1986.
“This is the most important match of my career,” Zidane said. “I’ve never played in a World Cup quarterfinal. . . . People are expecting a lot of me. And I’m expecting a lot of myself. But that doesn’t bother me. I’m not a messiah, simply a player whose role is important. What’s essential [today] is that we are all at 100%.”
The French were far from complete without Zidane, who was sanctioned for jumping onto a Saudi Arabian player in France’s second preliminary-round game. Sorely missing his leadership and offensive spark, France barely defeated Denmark, 2-1, in its first-round finale and needed 114 agonizing minutes to win its round-of-16 game against Paraguay on a “golden goal” by defender Laurent Blanc.
But if the team suffered without him, he suffered more on the sidelines. “In the three days before the France-Paraguay game, it was like he had retreated into his pain,” said Philippe Bergeroo, France’s assistant coach. “In the dressing room before training, he didn’t smile, not once. Those three or four days, he had to live a nightmare. Personally, sure, but for the group as well.”
For Zidane, watching the Paraguay game was “very hard, terrible, even. During the overtime I had impossible stress.” Yet, despite the team’s struggles during his absence, he maintains he’s not indispensable.
“In whatever team, whatever lineup, no one is. Even without Ronaldo, Brazil would still be a great team,” he told France Football. “I’m not putting myself down. People expect much from me. I know it. And I will give my all on the field. The boss is [midfielder] Didier Deschamps. And only collectively can we go far. One player can’t make the difference. . . .
“I’ve never been at the top. I tell myself my place is always in danger. It’s this that permits me to advance. I’m 26. I’m not yet at the summit of my game. I must do more to progress. On the field, I have not felt free at all. I have the world on my back all the time. That makes me go faster, to be stronger. I must do better. Even better than better.”
The drive to excel has motivated him since he left home at 14 to play in Cannes and develop his already burgeoning talents. However, he has never forgotten his roots and went back to visit his parents every two weeks. When he signed his first professional contract, with Cannes, he immediately sent 5,000 francs to his mother and father.
His rise was fast. Cannes sold him to Bordeaux, and he made his debut with the French national team in 1994 against Czechoslovakia. In that game, he scored once with his left foot and once on a header--his supposed weaknesses. Since then, he has been a mainstay of the French team, while playing club soccer in Italy with the famed Juventus team of Turin, where he has won two Serie A titles.
“In Italy in two years, I’ve made enormous progress. I’m going to do better still because I’m not even at 70% of my capability,” he told France Football. “I think I have until 29 to gain the 30% I lack.”
Zidane’s career has, in many ways, paralleled that of Michel Platini, who was the heart of the great French teams of the mid-1980s and led France to its last major title, the 1984 European championship.
Both are sons of immigrants--Platini’s parents were Italian--both are midfielders, both were given No. 10 and both played for Juventus. The comparison is inevitable, but Zidane dislikes it.
“You can’t help but be flattered when someone compares you to such a player. Yes, we play the same position, but it stops there. I’m Zidane and I disregard anything else,” he said. “I won’t be the French coach or co-president of the World Cup or president, perhaps, of FIFA one day. You can’t compare everything in our lives.”
Although he liked Platini, Zidane’s hero was Uruguayan midfielder Enzo Francescoli, who played for the club Olympic Marseille and for whom Zidane named his oldest son. Zidane played against Francescoli in the 1996 Intercontinental Cup and exchanged jerseys with him, which Zidane still lists among his fondest memories.
“I think each player, even those at the highest level, needs an idol, a model,” he told Paris Match. “In this sense, I’m very aware of my own ‘notoriety.’ I know the influence that can have on players and youngsters. It’s a great responsibility to show them, through sport, a certain track.”
Zidane’s return will certainly revive France’s spirits, and he must revitalize its offense. That’s no easy task, but it wasn’t easy escaping Castellane. In fact, one of his brothers still lives there.
“I can take the pressure. With what my teammates did against Paraguay, for France, for themselves, for me, I must bring something extra to the game to give back what they have given me,” he said. “The happiest person Sunday was me. I saw my partners fight and not give way. That proves they want to do something, that they hope to go very far. . . .
“I don’t want to be an average player, one who simply passes through. I want to succeed at great things. I want to play well for my sweater, my country, France. We have an incredible chance, our generation, to participate in this event. We can’t let it pass. To win the World Cup is not an impossible dream.”
(BEGIN TEXT OF INFOBOX / INFOGRAPHIC)
TODAY
FRANCE vs. ITALY
7:30 a.m. ESPN2, Ch. 34
****
DENMARK vs. BRAZIL
Noon Ch. 7, 34
