HANOVER, June 27 - Zinedine Zidane's curtain call will have to wait.
The greatest player of the last decade demonstrated on Tuesday that he
remains exceptional, inspiring France to a 3-1 win over Spain for a place in the
World Cup quarter-finals.
The balding midfield artist, who will retire after the finals and would have
played his last match had Les Bleus failed to qualify for the knockout stage,
proved his doubters wrong by setting up a goal and scoring another.
"Retirement? I'm sorry to tell them (the Spaniards) that it won't be after
this match," Zidane said. "The adventure continues."
What's next for Zidane is a mouth-watering clash with Brazil, a rematch of
the 1998 final which France won 3-0 after two headed goals from their gifted son
of Algerian immigrants.
"France versus Brazil, that's a nice memory," he said in his trademark, soft
tone.
It was from a Zidane free kick that Patrick Vieira made it 2-1 for France
with a header 83 minutes into the game against the Spanish in Hanover.
Zidane was then booked for dissent entering added time but his finest moment
was still to come.
Two minutes later, he was set free, rounded defender Carles Puyol with an
exquisite display of balance and control before guiding the ball past goalkeeper
Iker Casillas, his Real Madrid team mate, into the net to kill the tie.
"We all know what his influence on the team is," said France coach Raymond
Domenech. "We were ever so happy to see that he still had the energy to score so
late in the game.
It had been a strange World Cup so far for Zidane, who had looked sluggish
and uncertain at first.
After picking up a yellow card in each of France's first two games, he was
suspended when they beat Togo 2-0 in their Group G decider on Friday, his 34th
birthday.
