Land of Lime

Sweat pours over his pink, granite face. That severe, austere, commanding, carved face, which houses a shy, quiet and reticent persona. He resembles a monk, not the greatest football player since Diego Maradona.

He runs like a bull in the midfield and charges occasionally when the ball is in sight. But with the ball at his feet, he turns into a ballerina. Feet dance over the ball. Now he goes left, then right, right again. Sleight feint of body. Multiple converging opponents are left in his heels. He sees passing lanes and open spaces that others don’t. He sees everything in front of him and behind him too. Teammates and opponents. Like a Chess grandmaster, he sees what might happen four moves later. Like a conductor, he orchestrates the French symphony on a football field.

Then more magic happens. The (foot)ball listens to the dictates of his feet like it has of few others. As he runs with the ball, it sticks to his feet. When he passes, it runs with precision to the feet of his obliging teammates. The last of the Classical No 10s masterminds the game peerlessly.

Zinedine Zidane is back. What’s more he is smiling and having a ball. Let the obituaries Rest In Peace. All reports of erosion of skills, extra pounds, loss of a step are all but a lie. Zizou has turned time back one last time, as World Cup 2006 turns into his swan song, his retirement party. Soccer Gods surely haven’t lost their sense of justice and fairness. Zizou couldn’t and ought not to have suffered the fate of Maradona of 1994. He hasn’t abused his skills and made unfair demands on the world. He has conducted himself with decency and dignity. Over the years, he has let his sublime skills and performances speak. And not personal excesses, advertising campaigns or metrosexuality.

Zidane has won them all. For his national team and his club teams. World Cup. European Cup. Champions League. French, Spanish and Italian leagues. What’s more? He has scored astonishing goals at critical moments and commanded the game from his customary midfield position. Recall the 1998 finals against Brazil. European Cup in 2000. Champions Leagure finals in 2002. The game against England in 2004 European Cup, when he scored those astonishing goals in the final minutes to destroy English hopes of a major championship. Zizou’s legacy as an all time great is secure.

He needn’t have done more. His teammates too. They are mostly old, over the hill and out of form grumpy old men of France, who had won everything and weren’t supposed to make any noise at this World Cup. The coach, Roger Domenech didn’t control the team. Reports of internal strife abounded. When Zidane, Lilian Thuram, Makelele and Barthez unretired from international competition and came back to the national team, they apparently exercised undue influence in team composition and strategy. Questions and criticism persisted. Zizou, that soccer god he is, was himself above all criticism even by the notorious French Press and fickle French public.

Should the team be built around the sublime skills of Zidane or Theirry Henry? True, they are both creators as well as proved goal scorers but with their contrasting styles, can and will they coexist together? Henry likes an open and fast paced attacking game, whereas the presence of Zidane slows down the team. Zizou needs the ball, is good at creating and exploiting openings and sending precise passes. Henry runs like gazelle with or without the ball and with his sublime ball control can create chances for others or clinically finish as well as anyone else. They both need to be main men in a team but can they complement one another? In nearly a decade, the master passer Zidane had never assisted in a Henry goal. As the World Cup began and in the first two weeks, the question wasn’t whether France could perform creditably. We simply wanted to know whether they could score a goal. The old guard was too old and the young weren’t good enough to pull France to its rightful place among the comity of great soccer playing nations.

This wasn’t their time. Other countries and stars were supposed to shine. Ronalidnho was expected to join the ranks of the greats. Ballack and Gerrard/Lampard were to bring glory to their countries. This was to be the coming out party for youthful stars such as Wayne Rooney, Kaka, Lionel Messi, Maxi Rodriguez, Michael Essien and Christiano Ronaldo. Even a fat Ronaldo was expected to prove himself as the greatest goal scorer of all time. Beckham would redeem himself. They all had their moments. Their teams - Spain, Netherlands, Argentina, Brazil, Ghana - enthralled us all. Yet, what separates the talented and petulant from the ranks of the truly great is the capacity of a Zidane to string together a series of performances.

One moment of magic. One game controlling performance. A series, a season, a tournament. Zizou has done it all. So what do the games against Spain, Brazil and Portugal mean then? Do they elevate him to the ranks of Pele and Maradona, as the greatest winners of all time?

Ever the most influential player on the field whenever he played, Zidane was never known as a vocal leader. He had never even captained at any level, before he pulled on the armband for France. Never demonstrative or outspoken, he didn’t seem to enjoy the attention that his success brought from fans and especially, from the Press. But as the captain of his national team upon his return a year ago, he has begun to slowly assert himself as a leader of men. He is more demonstrative on the field and often admonishes his team mates publicly. At this World Cup, both his new found leadership and superb display of soccer elevate him to the realm of best that ever played the game. Pele. Maradona. Zidane. His legacy is complete, with or without winning the finals.

There is more to Zidane.

Even when he didn’t aspire for a public role, for over a decade now, Zidane has stood for something larger than his on field performances. Son of Algerian immigrants, he is often seen as the symbol of a new multicultural France. In the face of Le Pen’s (and French Right’s) repeated denunciation of the French national team, the colored faces of the French team led by Zidane stand for something more than a limited (and perhaps even bankrupt) vision of multiculturalism. Sure, Theirry Henry, Patrick Vierra and even Zidane, the multimillionaires who have benefited from a capitalist, free market Europe don’t represent the oppressed former French colonies or their people. Senegalese and Algerians have to fight their own battles with their unenviable past and present.

But for the French themselves, their soccer team offers an opportunity for atonement for their past. As they celebrate the success of their national team, they could also embark on a path of self examination. The self absorbed (radical-rioting?) youth of France don’t demonstrate that promise. In an era of jingoistic nationalism and exclusivism, I am pragmatic enough to realize this is a bit much to expect. World Cup and such events turn into moments of obscene national celebration. Waving national flags, violent and obscene behavior. You don’t need anything else to turn the biggest sporting spectacle into a petty, reprehensible occasion.

Still, we hope. We hope for a Gandhian moment. Recall, when asked to sign the team sheets of Indian and a visiting English team in the early 1930s, Gandhi signed himself as the 17^th member of a Jardine-led British team. We hope that the French gain the capacity to see the Other within Themselves. Let us not forget there is no other team like France at this World Cup. Especially from Europe and the Americas. Algerians, Martiniquans and Senegalese dominate the team much to the regret of Le Pen and his cronies. Zidane’s France isn’t Platini’s France. Zidane and Henry, Vierra and Makelele, Thuram and Gallas with their contrasting skills and pasts offer a compelling political and aesthetic experience, as we watch the French take the field against Italians on Sunday.

But on Sunday, GOLI MARO to all this political and ethical crap.

I just want to watch the master play his final game. We could all catch on Google Video all the astonishing goals Zidane scored over the years. Ah, that superb volley from the edge of the box in the 2002 Champion’s Leage finals that’s etched in my mind! There are so many more.

Come Sunday, the final ninety minutes of the master on a soccer field would be all about controlling the game from the midfield, with some help from his adjutants, Vierra and Makelele. It will be about seeing two feet of gap that others don’t and sending one magical pass to the waiting feet of Henry or Ribery. It will be about running with the ball, slight feint, now to the left and then to the right, deceive two or three defenders and shoot past a hapless goalkeeper. It will be about a free kick from the edge of the box past waves of defenders. Or a free kick from thirty-forty yards away or a corner kick to the waiting head of Henry, Thuram or Vierra. It will be about raising above the heads of his team mates and opponents, to guide home a corner kick from the right.

It will be about a moment of magic and then ninety minutes of commanding men.

Then that chiseled pink granite face will be gone.

No other face was meant to be carved from a stone.

Then, like the kids in those cute Adidas ads, we, young and old, will have to recall Zidane to our fantasy games and play with him.

In the meanwhile, let us enjoy the finals and Zinedine Zidane.

7 Comments

dacoit wrote:

comments from my father, a lifelong soccer fanatico [player, coach, fan]: great piece - well expressed and well thought out. but what about beckenbauer? surely he deserves a place in your pantheon alongside pele and maradonna. evidence to follow upon request, but you already know…

Saturday, July 8, 2006 at 10:03 am | Permalink
PDCS wrote:

Yeah, Beckenbauer and Cruyff both deserve serious consideration as players, visionaries and managers. I have just seen some random videos of both and read some on them. Perhaps someone like your father would be able to offer judgment.

By the way, Guardian has a very nice piece by an Argentinian writer, Marcela Mora y Araujo:

http://blogs.guardian.co.uk/worldcup06/2006/07/07/what_is_football_anyway.html

Saturday, July 8, 2006 at 10:22 am | Permalink
PDCS wrote:

Also read Sid Lowe, one of my favorite football writers, on Zidane’s response to his doubters:

http://blogs.guardian.co.uk/worldcup06/2006/07/08/zidane_flying_in_the_face_of_d.html

and Kevin McCarra on how this World Cup might be remembered:

http://blogs.guardian.co.uk/worldcup06/2006/07/08/the_global_village_is_waiting.html

Saturday, July 8, 2006 at 10:38 am | Permalink
PDCS wrote:

And Jere Longman in a nice NYT piece on the maestro:

http://www.nytimes.com/2006/07/09/sports/soccer/09zidane.html?hp&ex=1152417600&en=8a622c44077a38fb&ei=5094&partner=homepage

Saturday, July 8, 2006 at 10:47 am | Permalink
sepoy wrote:

WHAT HAS YOUR ZIDANE DONE!!!

ps. your italics tag need be closed.

Sunday, July 9, 2006 at 2:30 pm | Permalink
PDCS wrote:

Absolute madness. disgraceful.

ps: i did close the italics tag. something is not right and i have been running around way too much to look at it.

Sunday, July 9, 2006 at 3:28 pm | Permalink
Prakash wrote:

I was shocked to see such a immature behaviour from Zindane..However in the end was happy to see Italy win ( which I predicted anyway )

Sunday, July 9, 2006 at 8:08 pm | Permalink

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chapati mystery :: Zizou on Monday, July 10, 2006 at 11:55 am

[...] France was my pick for a while - for all the non-soccer reasons like diversity and muslim participations - and Zidane is always someone to root for. Pdcs had a wonderful ballad to Zizou, even. [...]

In Praise of Zinedine Zidane

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