Return of Zizou

The World cup this year has produced a lot of good things, great goals and great performances but the one that has warmed my heart more than any was the performance of Zinedine Zidane on Saturday night against Brazil.

I would say that he is the best player I have seen in my lifetime but for a long time he seems to have been written off at Madrid and with France. From what I have read it seems rightly that this has been the case, as he has not performed in any way like his old self for the last couple of seasons, definitely not at the Euros in 2004 or the World Cup in 2002.

This competition seemed to start off in the same vein as those two other recent tournaments. Zidane was off the pace, the French seemed completely disjointed and potentially going home early.

Zidane was substituted against South Korea and it looked like the master had departed the international football scene in an undignified way, he had already been booked in the game, meaning that he would miss the last group game against Togo. He looked tired, angry and annoyed as he walked off the pitch and sat down in the dugout.

Then something happened in the Spain match, Zidane woke up and showed little glimpses of what I remembered from Euro 2000 and France 98. Maybe the substitution brought it home to him that his career was literally at stake. A little stepover here, a spin there and then his wonderful finish for the third French goal, seemingly twisting his legs in knots to shoot the way no one was expecting.

The penny dropped that he was retiring and that if they lost that match he was going home and never coming back to play in a professional football match ever again. He responded in the right way and started rolling back the years. He also found players, in Ribery and Henry, who were going to be inspired by the change and start to play themselves. It was only a little glimpse but more than had been seen in recent history.

In the Brazil game he started where he had finished against Spain by gliding away from three Brazil players within the first couple of minutes. He continued on throughout the game, aided by Vieira, Henry and Ribery, and it was all there, the touch, the movement, the effortless skill, the ability to glide past players and deliver a visionary pass.

Touchingly, Robinho, the Brazil and Real Madrid striker who had remained on the bench for far too longin this match, came over to him at the end, high fived and gave him a big hug. He was showing his appreciation for someone playing football as it should be played. Zidane may wear adidas boots but this performance was pure "Joga Bonito"

It was the best individual display of this World Cup so far and reminded me of what a joy it is to watch Zizou at this level of his game. He appears so effortless and majestic, never rushed, not gifted with great pace but just sublime talent and able to do so much with a football.

It gave my wife a further insight into my obsession with football as I think she was a bit baffled at me getting so excited by the performance of one player.

If Zidane continues in this vein of form he has rediscovered after so long, and the rest of the French team perform as they did alongside him, there might be a glorious end to the career of a glorious player.

Allez les Bleus!