„The ball has fun at Zinedine Zidane’s feet“
The stars of the soccer world cups, part 16: France wins the title 1998 in their own country- thanks to an extraordinary player.
At the 1998 World Cup in France the Germans played in a
way that made the ZDF (German tv channel) take a comedian with them. Mysterious
things were happening before the final: The Brazilian Ronaldo leaves the
hospital and plays like his head is absent – while the Frenchman Zinedine Zidane
does magic.
written by Oskar Beck
translated from German by magician10
If you don’t believe in spooks and ghost, you should better not continue reading
– because the story of the 1998 World Cup can’t be told without sliding into an
inscrutable brush of wizardry, Vodoo and dark magic every now and then.
Adama Kone is part of that. He is an art teacher in the African country of Mali,
but also widely acknowledged as a medicine man. During an interview with an
English newspaper he revealed the secret that makes the surprising outcome of
said World Cup a bit more comprehensible. According to that a fellow countryman
named Aquib Sosso – who’s supposedly endowed with all kinds of magic gifts –
tipped the scale.
Said Sosso allegedly worked with the French players ahead of the World Cup and
made small bracelets for them that were supposed to cast out bad spirits – and
really, there are pictures that show thin, coloured bracelets made out of wool
around the wrists of several World Cup heroes of the “Equipe tricolour”: The
captain Didier Deschamp wears a read one, Marcel Desailly a blue one – and
Zinedine Zidane is even doubly prepared, on the left there’s a red one, on the
right a yellow one.
But that’s not enough! Sosso, claims Mister Kone, also told him that “he jinxed
one of the Brazilian players on the day of the final.” That could only be
Ronaldo’s strange seizure. But let’s talk about reality first – Zidane’s magic.
He is the true wizard of the 1998 World Cup.
When the brilliant Frenchman touches the ball, it returns to his feet every
time, like a yo yo.
Sometimes Zidane pulls the ball through under his sole, kicks it to the other shoe with his heel - and then passes it to Dugarry, Djorkaeff or Henry.
Zidane dances with the ball and the ball likes, what Zizou does with him. The ball obeys him – it’s like a cat romping with a bolt. “Zizou”, that’s how the fans call Zidane. Zizou, the white cat. „The ball has fun at Zidane’s feet“, says Franz Beckenbauer and clicks his tongue.
You are only born with half of such a huge amount of talent. You have to work hard for the other half and this works the best where the vitas of many great soccer players begin: In the slums of Rio or Buenos Aires – or on a dark backyard in Marseille.
There, in the problem area “La Castellane”, Zinedine Yazid Zidane is born on June 23, 1972 as the son of Algerian immigrants. That’s where he grows up. That’s where he learns what only street footballers learn. There he is discovered by the talent scouts of AS Cannes at the age of 14. They put him into a boarding school for soccer players. He plays his first league match at the age of 16. Girondins Bordeaux gets him. Then Juventus Turino. And suddenly, during the 1998 World Cup, the whole world clicks their tongues.
Zidane is the Meastro of tricks and hitches, of tunnels and hook tricks.
Watching him is a pleasure, his game is full of tingly imagination, each contact
with the ball is a declaration of love . When he – after a rapid counterattack –
does one these hip swings like Marilyn Monroe did in “Some like it hot”, it’s
almost more erotic than the fiery kisses that defence boss Laurent Blanc puts on
the bald head of goalkeeper Fabian Barthez after each final whistle.
“When I see Zidane my face brightens up.“ The aesthete Günter Netzer says. Netzer is the best German at this World Cup – as an expert of the ARD. (German tv channel).
(a summary of what the German team did during the WC follows)
The host overcame the round of sixteen against Paraguay just with extra time and befuddlement. The quarterfinal against Italy was only won thanks to the penalty shootout – and the semifinal against Croatia was possibly weathered because defender Lilian Thuram wore a robust, dazzling bangle instead of a tiny bracelet as a precaution. Usually Thuram never scores – on this day he scored both goals. The peak of the wizardry however was the final.
Paris, July 12, 1998. The Stade de France is filled with 75 000
impassionate fans. For the third time the Grande Nation has a team that has what
it takes to become world champion. The first was the one surrounding Raymond
Kopa and Just Fontaine back in 1958, but the 17 year old wunderkind Pelé and his
Brazilians had something against that. The second was the team around Michel
Platini- but in the semifinals of 1982 and 1986 this dream was crashed by the
Germans. “This time” Platini says, meanwhile chief of OK, “we will make it.” The
favourite however are the Brazilians. They smoothed acide the strong Dutchmen in
the semifinal and their strikers are so good that the coach Mario Zagallo
answered to the questions of the German reporters: “I didn’t nominate Giovanne
Elber (back then the star of Bayern Munich) because I have 17 strikers that are
better than him. What should I do with this guy?”
Especially he has Ronaldo. He’s 22, is admired like a striker from another planet – and with his four WC-goals everybody bets that he will let more follow in the final. “He’s the best player of the world.” says Pelé. But shortly ahead of the tingler the best of the world isn’t even in the line-up. Ronaldo got hospitalized in Paris due to a mysterious fit some hours before the match. He was partly unconscious.
(descriptions of Ronaldo’s weird fit follow)
Didier Deschamps, the Dunga of the French, thinks highly of his extended arm in the attack: Zidane. Great players rule great matches – and Zinedine Zidane crowned himself that day. It makes sense that Real Madrid would later buy him for 70 million Euros: The Frenchman reminds you with his perfection as an all-rounder of Alfredo di Stefano, the legendary king of Real.
Zidane makes visible that he’s the perfect artwork of a soccer player: He’s a
thinker and a guide, a strategist and an acrobat. He doesn’t shy away from
tackles, he places his art into the service of the ensemble – and when two
corner kicks end up in front of the Brazilians’ goal he puts his head into the
right position to kick them in. 1:0 Zidane. 2:0 Zidane.
When Petit let the 3:0 follow, the Brazilians had already accepted their fate.
And they had to yield to the wizard Zidane, who could even roll curls on his
bald head if necessary. After that he becomes the most expensive footballer of
all times and gets voted World Player of the year three times. And since that
time there are crazy stories circulating among the medicine men in Mali about
mysterious bracelets and the power of bubbly herb baths.
Because these were supposedly prepared for the wizard Zidane by
the warlock Sosso as well – who could have defeated this French team that was up
to every trick?