The Journey of Zinedine Zidane in The World Cup
Zinedine Zidane is a well-known name in the world of football as a player and as a coach. He had great achievements in the stadiums as a player, and won many championships, whether with Real Madrid (Champions League - La Liga) or with the France national team (World Cup 1998 - Nations Euro 2000).
He also achieved glory with Real Madrid as a coach when he won three consecutive Champions League titles.
The Algerian-born player's career began with the French national team in 1994 and ended at the end of the 2006 World Cup in Germany, where he played for the French national team in 108 matches, during which he scored 31 goals.
As for Zizou's story with the World Cup, it began in 1998, in the tournament hosted by France at the time, which witnessed France win the World Cup for the first time.
Zidane did not provide a distinguished performance throughout the tournament and was even sendoff in the group stage match against the Saudi national team after deliberately running over the player Saeed Al-Owairan.
The Juventus player at that time woke up in the final and scored two goals against Brazil, with two headers, paving the way for France's victory in the final and crowning the title.
As for the 2002 World Cup, Zidane's appearance was limited to the last match in the group stage against Denmark, when France lost 2-0 and was bid farewell to the World Cup in the first round.
Zidane missed the two matches against Senegal and Uruguay due to injury.
At the 2006 World Cup hosted by Germany, France was in danger of being knocked out in the first round once again and underperformed in the group stage, and qualified Scarcely.
Zidane did not wait for the final match to wake up from his coma, when he rose in the face of the Spanish national team and performed a distinguished performance, scoring a goal and making another, contributing to France's 3-1 victory and its qualification to the quarterfinals.
In the quarterfinals and in the face of the Brazilian superstars such as Ronaldo, Adriano, Ronaldinho, and Kaka.
Zinedine Zidane gave a free football lesson, and manipulated the samba stars by himself, reminding everyone that he is one of the best players in the history of the World Cup, and in the history of the French national team.
Retired players usually organize a friendly match to celebrate the end of their football career. As for Zinedine Zidane, his retirement match from football was the World Cup final match!
From the first minutes, Argentine referee Horacio Ilozondo blew his whistle, announcing a penalty kick for France after Florent Malouda fell inside the forbidden area.
Zidane advances to take the penalty, in the face of Gianluigi Buffon, one of the best goalkeepers in the history of football.
Zidane hit a lob, Panenka style, scoring one of the most famous penalty kicks in the World Cup finals.
Zidane may have lost his mind or returned to his old habit, 12 years after he ran over Saeed Al-Owairan, Zidane headbutting Materazzi! Referee Horacio Ilozondo showed Zizou the red card, turning Zidane's retirement match from a beautiful dream into a nightmare.
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