As the dust settles on this year’s FIFA World Cup™ and Didier Deschamps’ 14-year tenure at the wheel of the French juggernaut, the new incumbent of the hotseat, Zinedine Zidane, will be plotting to leave an imprint on the global tournament that is as indelible as the one he managed during his playing days.
The talismanic superstar's crowning moment came when he hoisted the prestigious trophy aloft into the Paris night sky back in 1998. Eight years later, the midfield mastermind guided Les Bleus to the decider, in which they suffered shoot-out heartbreak against Italy. Zidane’s legacy at the showpiece event, which spans a trio of editions, features a plethora of performances for the ages.
To mark the French legend’s appointment as his country’s head honcho, FIFA dives into the archives and revisits a quintet of his most swashbuckling World Cup showings.
National treasure Zidane played an instrumental role as Les Bleus stitched the first star to their shirts in their own backyard at the 1998 instalment of the global extravaganza. In a hosts-versus-holders showdown at a bouncing Stade de France, by bagging a headed brace to help his nation breeze past a Brazil side for whom Ronaldo had been in fearsome form.
The silky schemer set Aime Jacquet’s charges on their way in the 27th minute, when he powered Emmanuel Petit’s inswinging corner beyond a helpless Claudio Taffarel. The Juventus jewel doubled France’s money on the stroke of half-time following a virtual carbon copy of his opener, with Youri Djorkaeff providing the devilish flag-kick delivery.
The first-time finalists headed in at the break two goals to the good against Mario Zagallo’s heavily fancied superstars. The beleaguered Brazilians were handed a lifeline when Marcel Desailly saw red for a second bookable offence with 68 minutes on the clock. However, there was to be no stirring comeback, and Petit rubber-stamped victory to send the French faithful into a state of pandemonium after his slide-rule finish capped off a flowing counter-attacking move in the dying embers of this one-sided affair.
“That match changed the course of my life,” Zidane told L’Équipe in an interview conducted in 2018. “There’s no getting away from the fact that I wrote my name into French football folklore on the back of that performance. The way people treated me and looked at me changed. I noticed that every time I bumped into someone. It was ever so special.”
After the French had swatted the Seleção aside in the trophy decider on home soil in 1998, the team’s orchestrator-in-chief had the opportunity to further cement his legendary status by capturing a second World Cup crown in this, his third campaign on the ultimate stage. He was, however, only involved after having been coaxed out of international retirement by Raymond Domenech, having earlier decided to end his national-team journey after Les Tricolores had crashed out to eventual winners Greece in the last eight at UEFA EURO 2004
Standing between the Marseille-born marvel and another taste of glory was the not-so-small matter of Marcello Lippi’s immaculately drilled Italy. Before the German showpiece got under way, Zizou had announced that the tournament would be the last dance of a colossal career, and he strained every sinew to bow out on a high.
Proceedings in Berlin couldn’t have got off to a better start for the prodigious playmaker. With the contest all of seven minutes old, he floated home a sumptuous Panenka-style penalty that kissed the underside of the bar before bouncing over the line. Having the audacity to unleash such a daring effort in this, of all games, and in a head-to-head against a custodian of Gianluigi Buffon’s standing was a measure of the man.
The Italians restored parity in the 19th minute courtesy of a towering header from the irrepressible Marco Materazzi – more on him later – and Zidane dislocated a shoulder with ten minutes of normal time remaining after landing awkwardly following a rather uncompromising challenge from Fabio Cannavaro. With the prospect of penalties looming large, the three-time FIFA World Player of the Year nearly became the French hero of the hour, only to see his powerful nodded effort palmed acrobatically over by Buffon.
With the encounter now into extra time, Zidane and the aforementioned Materazzi were involved in an unsavoury incident that is still widely evoked in conversations surrounding the engine-room ace. The French fulcrum was engulfed by rage after having been provoked by his canny Italian adversary, and he thumped his head into the Azzurri stopper’s chest in what proved to be the final act of a showstopping career.
In reality, that endnote was very much in keeping with the make-up of one of the greatest players to have graced the game. Every inch a maverick, Zidane was a volcanic performer prone to eruption, with a knack of producing both balletic brilliance and bouts of brutality. Without one of their first-choice penalty-takers, Les Bleus succumbed in the shoot-out. “I’m not proud of what I did, but it’s part of my career,” he told TF1’s Telefoot show in 2022. “I’ve had some tough times and that was one of them.”
After limping into the knockout stage following some underwhelming performances, the 1998 champions and Zidane rediscovered their mojo just in time for the start of the business end of the tournament. Of his series of stellar showings, he was undoubtedly at his defender-dodging best in the quarter-final tussle against favourite victims Brazil.
At the peak of his string-pulling powers, the French skipper produced one moment of breathtaking brilliance after another in Frankfurt, treating the watching world to a masterclass in sorcery full of Marseille turns, ankle-snapping step-overs and deadly drag-backs.
However, Zidane had an end product to go with his exquisite flicks and tricks. In the 57th minute, he teased an inviting free kick towards the far post, where an unmarked Thierry Henry volleyed home to set up a semi-final match-up against Portugal.
“Within the first minute, Zidane spun away from two players and did step-overs to get past a third, and I turned to the bench and said, ‘We’ve won this,’” .
“People will talk about his performance in 50 or 100 years. He was a magician throughout,” gushed team-mate Florent Malouda. In a similar show of post-match admiration that will have done wonders for Zidane’s ego, a fella by the name of Pele proclaimed him to be a “genius”.
If we rewind 20 years, Spain were a far cry from being the French national team’s nemesis that they are fast becoming today. However, ahead of the last-16 blockbuster in Hanover there was a red-hot swagger in the La Roja camp and a genuine belief that they would ensure that this outing was Zidane’s swansong.
Indeed, Spanish sports daily MARCA ran with a headline that translates as “We’re going to send Zidane into retirement” – a provocative move that served to add extra spice to this all-European duel and motivate a 34-year-young gun who had called time on his club career the previous month at none other than Real Madrid.
Spurred on by ill-conceived headlines, the wily wizard was determined to show that he wasn’t done just yet as he rolled back the years to produce an impishly imperious performance. Orchestrating the action with all of his trademark poise, the former Bordeaux baller grew into the game and turned on the style after the break. With the UEFA heavyweights level pegging at 1-1 with seven minutes of normal time to play, Patrick Vieira stooped to conquer, nodding home a caressed free kick from the man who took his first steps in the professional game at Cannes.
As the encounter entered stoppage time, Zidane – who else? – was on hand to finish off a blistering French counter-attack and chalk up his 29th goal for his country as Domenech’s dynamos marched into the last eight. “It’s not the end of the road just yet, my adventure continues,” quipped Zidane in the aftermath.
Zizou’s first taste of World Cup action will live long in the memory. In the tournament curtain-raiser, Les Bleus – then lying 18th in the FIFA/Coca-Cola Men’s World Ranking – blazed their way past Bafana Bafana at a pumped Stade Velodrome.
In his maiden outing at international football’s premier event, which – as chance would have it – came in his hometown with his nearest and dearest watching his every move from the stands, Zidane and Co waltzed their way to victory over the tournament rookies. The French hit the front in the 36th minute, with main man Zidane grabbing the assist as he planted a sublime corner kick onto Christophe Dugarry’s head.
Despite being roundly criticised by the French press in the build-up to the tournament, Jacquet’s troops hushed their doubters with this statement win. Indeed, the Marseille mauling provided a foretaste of things to come from the hosts as poster boy Zidane conjured up all of his class to guide Les Bleus to global glory.
Sources: FIFA Official
