Retiring Old-Stars Could Still Give All-Stars a Run for Their Trophies
There will be no glittering hotel salon a few minutes walk from the Arc de Triomphe.
There’ll be no room packed wall-to-wall with scribbling sportswriters and pushy television camera crews.
Instead, all there will be is a few lines printed here, a brief few words that are a poor substitute indeed for careers that have spanned decades and exploits that have touched lives all around the globe.
The France 98 World Cup might have its official all-star team--and a perfectly fine team it is too--but before rushing headlong into the future, pause for a moment and consider the past.
France 98 comes to an end today. The World Cup final between defending champion Brazil and host France at the Stade de France marks the conclusion of a hectic, exhausting and often bizarre five weeks of chasing a leather ball around the French countryside.
It also marks the final whistle on some glorious soccer careers.
Today, Brazil’s captain, Dunga, will step onto the field for his final 90 minutes of competitive soccer.
But he is not alone in retiring from international soccer after this World Cup. In fact, it is quite possible to match the all-star team with what might be called the old-star team. Consider:
In goal there would be Spain’s Andoni Zubizarreta. At 36 and after 126 games for his country, he has hung up his gloves and his boots, knowing that that dreadful mistake against Nigeria when he deflected the ball into his own net will haunt him for some time.
But not forever.
“It was a big mistake,” Zubizarreta said. “But nobody can judge my career on one day, one good or bad game.”
For 13 years he was Spain’s unquestioned No. 1 keeper. Now, the curtain has fallen, or, to quote Zubizarreta’s more colorful imagery, “the bell has rung, playtime is over.”
Just as it is--at least on the World Cup stage--for such longtime folk heroes as the trio of defenders in our old-star selection: Germany’s Lothar Matthaus and Jurgen Kohler and Italy’s Giuseppe Bergomi.
Matthaus, 37, made history in France by becoming only the second player to take part in five World Cup tournaments. He and teammate Kohler, 32, had won it all in 1990, beating Argentina, 1-0, in the final in Rome, so falling a few games short this time was disappointing but not a disaster.
The same goes for Bergomi, 34. He also has a winner’s medal, but his was earned in 1982 when, as an 18-year-old, he helped the Azzurri defeat West Germany, 3-1, in the final in Madrid.
“It was a wonderful thing to play in Spain at that age,” Bergomi said. “Of all my World Cups, that’s the one from which I have the most and the best memories.”
The old-star midfield is packed with talent. How could it not be with such players as Romania’s Gheorghe Hagi, Denmark’s Michael Laudrup, Colombia’s Carlos Valderrama and Germany’s Thomas Hassler available for selection.
Of the four, only Hagi and Laudrup have announced their retirement, but Hassler, another 1990 World Cup winner, and Valderrama surely will be gone when the the 2002 tournament rolls around.
Hagi is only 33, but he recognized that the skills that once earned him the “Maradona of the Carpathians” nickname have eroded and that enough is enough.
He ends his career having played 115 games for Romania and scored 32 goals for his country, some of the best of them at the USA ’94 World Cup.
“I am not worried about the future of this team,” he said. “At first there will be a great gap once I’ve gone, but there are plenty of talented young players coming through, like striker Adrian Ilie.”
And he wouldn’t be Hagi without a controversial exit.
“It’s very probable I’ll stay in soccer,” he said. “There is the possibility of a job in the Romanian national federation fighting corruption.”
Laudrup, 34, made his exit after the thrilling quarterfinal match against Brazil, bowing out in style.
“It was a great experience, a great way to finish my career,” said the midfielder who was the only remaining player from Denmark’s superb 1986 World Cup team in Mexico.
Laudrup, who won national championships with Juventus in Italy, Barcelona and Real Madrid in Spain and Ajax Amsterdam in the Netherlands, was followed into retirement a few days later by his younger brother, Brian, 29.
“I’ve experienced it all. I cannot achieve more,” Brian Laudrup said. “I happily leave the place to younger players.”
So Brian Laudrup takes his place in the old-star forward line. Joining him there are Italy’s Roberto Baggio and Brazil’s Bebeto--neither has retired but neither is likely to be playing in the Japan-South Korea World Cup in four years--along with German icon Jurgen Klinsmann, who has called it a day.
“The main reason is my family,” Klinsmann, 33, said. “I have a 15-month-old son. A new stage of my life is beginning. I want to be there for my son and my wife.”
Major League Soccer will try to make a run at changing his mind, but not this year, perhaps next. It seems unlikely to succeed.
“I need to get away from it all and think about things,” Klinsmann said. “I don’t know how long I will need. Other players have not got the opportunity to do that. But I have and I will use it.”
And that leaves Dunga, the fiery inspiration behind Brazil’s quest for a fifth World Cup.
“I have seen it all,” he said. “I have played in three World Cups and I am here to win my second. But win or lose, it’s time to go.
“I leave with the satisfaction of having done my duty. It is not for me to say what kind of legacy I will leave behind. That is for you to decide. All I know is that I have always tried to carry the Brazilian flag high wherever I have been in the world.”
An era comes to an end today. A whole generation of players is passing from the scene. Reason enough to feel a twinge of sadness amid the joy for whichever team wins the France 98 World Cup.
