France Relives Good Old Days
French fans had not celebrated with such abandon in a World Cup stadium since 1998. Then again, Zinedine Zidane had not played a game like this one in eight years.
They’re not ready to throw his retirement party just yet.
The French captain set up the deciding goal Tuesday night, then scored one of his own minutes later to lead France to a 3-1 win over hard-luck Spain.
Zidane, who is retiring after this World Cup, scored two goals in the 1998 final to beat Brazil. He will get one more shot at the tournament favorite when the teams face off in a quarterfinal on Saturday.
Instead of the washed-up team that looked ready for retirement as recently as last week, France is suddenly two matches away from a return to the World Cup final.
After the game, Zidane’s smile was as genial as ever, the twinkle in his eyes as sparkling. Only the ruddy crow’s feet around his eyes showed that eight years had passed since France’s last title.
“The adventure continues,” he said. “We didn’t want it to stop.”
During the match, it was hard to tell whether it was 1998 or 2006.
Zidane took the free kick in the 83rd minute that curled into the goalmouth and found an onrushing Patrick Vieira, who headed it off the body of Spain’s Sergio Ramos and into the net to break a 1-1 tie.
The 34-year-old Zidane then finished off his brilliant night with a solo run into the penalty area, his golden shoes flashing as he cut inside one defender before wrong-footing goalkeeper Iker Casillas to score.
“He kept going -- for the whole match,” France Coach Raymond Domenech said.
Even in the dying moments, when younger players were exhausted, Zidane was heading out crosses and rushing back with the abandon of a teenager to stop a Spanish attack.
“You know what Zizou’s influence can be,” Domenech said. “We’re happy for him that he’s 34 and in the 90th minute he still had the legs to score.... “
And just like 1998, he remains the undisputed leader. “We feel as though a common cause has been born in the team,” Zidane said. “We are very happy to be through to the quarterfinal.”
France, the host country in 1998, beat Brazil, 3-0, in the final.
Its run in this World Cup seemed improbable just a week ago, when France was struggling to score and Zidane was suspended for too many yellow cards.
For Spain, the agony continues. In 76 years of the World Cup, Spain has never finished better than fourth.
After an excellent first round, this was supposed to be the year.
“We were all convinced that this would be the World Cup when we would make it,” veteran striker Raul Gonzalez said.
“But the moment of truth was today. And yet again we’re disappointed.”
Spain scored on a penalty kick by David Villa in the 28th minute. Lilian Thuram stepped on the foot of Pablo Ibanez in the area, prompting referee Christiano Copelli to award a penalty kick.
