Emblematic performances: the night Zinedine Zidane dominated Brazil

ahsan65@gmail.comJune 24, 2025

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Emblematic performances: the night Zinedine Zidane dominated Brazil

Special players are defined by the biggest games of their career, performances or moments that leave an imprint on memories of football fans around the world.

Zinedine Zidane is a player whose story includes countless microcosms of his gifted genius, for many the Zenith of the former Golden Ball winning his winning intervention of match to seal the success of the World Cup for France on the ground at home.

The accumulation of Zidane’s headers against Brazil has seen the Blues crowned as world champions for the very first time in Paris. The midfielder of Algerian origin was the poster for a new and diversified France which welcomed the best in the world on its coast before emerging as a number one in football.

The image of the face of Zidane projected on the Arc de Triomphe above the words, “Thank you Zizou”, the day after this confrontation with the life of Brazil long in memory. Although it is another performance against South American superpower – about eight years later – which is the subject of this functionality.

Eight years after their triumph of the World Cup, France went to the 2006 World Cup in what was announced the pre-tournament as the last swan of the greatest player in the country.

Zidane’s announcement that he would retire from football after the World Cup only increased the intrigue around French performance, having disappointed the first outings during the two previous major tournaments.

France was considered to be outside pretenders before the tournament. Brazil holders were the favorites on the betting market, followed by England, Argentina and receptions in Germany.

The team of Raymond Domenech, however, had a winning experience of trophy and some of the biggest names in the game, the veteran Zidane joined by Thierry Henry, Patrick Vieira and David Trezuet.

Their campaign started disappointing. A draw with Switzerland was followed by a 1-1 draw with South Korea in the group phase. Park Ji-Sung’s late equalizer for the Asian nation left France third after two games, two points behind the Koreans and Swiss.

Switzerland’s victory over South Korea in the third round of matches noted that France qualified as a finalist after a 2-0 victory against Togo. Vieira and Henry’s goals ensured another early elimination.

The reward for progress has been a meeting of last 16 people with emerging Spain. This has proven the start of a Renaissance for the French, overthrowing a deficit at halftime to win 3-1 and reach the last eight. Zidane marked the third of her team in time.

The victory ended an undefeated race for 25 games for the Spanish and instilled a new belief in France. The next step was a quarter -final confrontation with the favorites of Brazil in Frankfurt.

The starting programs were a who’s who illustrious world names, while France was preparing to face with Kaka, Ronaldo and the winner of Golden Ball Ronaldinho.

There was a star who shone the most brilliant, however, a French football fantasy that played with some of the big games in the game, a decisive performance at the twilight of his career.

Zidane has often played the game at the limit with a reflections of the right dazzling in the heat of the battle, but as the pre-match tension was built in the stadium, it was a photo of relaxation, sharing a joke with his teammate of Real Madrid Ronaldo and resembling a player ready to take advantage of what could be his last 90 minutes.

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From the first whistle, he was imperative.

Only 35 seconds were on the chronometer when he slipped in front of the Brazil midfielder alone, turning away from Ze Roberto and Kaka before walking beyond Gilberto Silva with a step.

His last ball was poor, but it was a sign of warning for what was going to happen.

Taking the bull by the horns, he went from start to finish with the brightest stars in Brazil and has surpassing each, playing almost with the midfielder SelecaoReceiving the ball in tight areas and get away from the desperate challenges.

Zidane at his best was among the most aesthetic pleasures of modern football, a footballer who combined graceful artistic talent with upward strength, challenges either the past slipped or crushed aside.

Kaka felt all the strength of his misleading force just before half an hour, while Zidane held the young person’s challenge, juggling simultaneously with the ball effortlessly before stealing a pass in another white shirt.

He wore the ball in an elegant and unique way, one of these floating through the field escaping two Brazilian plasters before publishing Patrick Vieira with a pass that saved the defense, Juan’s desperate fault on French everything that prevented Zidane aid on the half-time.

It was the biggest scene in world football and for Zidane, everything appeared effortlessly.

He lifted a bullet over the head of Club Ronaldo’s colleague at the start of the second half nonchalantly, before heading for the Abidal anchor, the marauder of which caused a free kick.

Zidane was held above the set before cooking an exquisite crossroads in the way of Thierry Henry not marked, who voted at home the only goal of the game to send France to the last four.

Perfect and precise, Henry could barely miss.

The remaining minutes of the competition have seen France seek to keep possession and keep Brazil at a distance, Zidane the master of puppets in central areas, often lending the ball to a teammate before asking for possession.

Brazil could barely get closer to a maestro at work, and viewers scratch their heads while a 34 -year -old Zidane made fun of some of the best talents in world football.

He was a player ready to call the time of his career in a few days, transforming the World Cup scene into his own personal playground.

Perhaps his imminent retirement has released the best of his supernatural talents, the midfielder playing without any inhibition and confidence to express himself in the Zidane Mesmerical style.

The campaign of France until the stadiums with direct elimination was laborious and without imagination, but their attacker talents harmonized in the last stages with Zidane the leader of the Symphony.

The conquest of Brazil was followed by a 1-0 victory against Portugal in the last four, Zidane scoring the only goal of the penalty point to organize a final force with Italy in Berlin.

He scored again on the spot in a daring manner to open the scoring at Olympiastadion, although his stamp on a second final of the World Cup was not that expected, the last act of a glorious career a red card for Marco Materazzi.

It was far from the fairy tale finish for Zidane when France lost the final of penalties.

His madness of madness unfortunately remains the primordial memory of his tournament, but his balletic shine in the dismantling of Brazil was a encapsulation of the best footballer of his generation and one of the most emblematic individual performances in the history of football.

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