With the completion of the World Cup, a generation of great soccer players have probably ended their careers. Two of the greatest, Zidane and Figo, and easily two of my favourites for a long time, did so in the semi-final matchup between France and Portugal...
I got the following video on Youtube, and to me that was one of the saddest moments as a football fan...the end of the match after France beat a better Portugal...Zidane and Figo exchange shirts...
Having been a great fan of the La Liga for many years now, I have watched these two giants of international football play on a star-packed Real Madrid team and still appear to be head and shoulders above everyone else...of course, the immense respect they both receive from opposing defenders (they almost never attack them...there is always a gap of at least 2-3 feet between the defenders and these two) just shows their talent...
Zidane has gone from obscurity to the heights of superstardom and then fallen to obscurity and again risen to superstardom and fallen from grace again...Figo has somehow never been able to achieve the same amount of adulation on the international stage, simply because international matches were never a priority to Portugal until recently...of course anyone watching club soccer knows how lethal and sublime he can be...
Zizou and Figo...all controversies apart, two of the best in their generation...and perhaps two among the all time best ever ! I shall cherish the moments I watched these two magicians perform on the football field...
[Of course a sadder event was what happened in the final with Zidane head-butting Materazzi, and his eventual ignominous exit...but that has been battered about in the press so much and it is still a sad moment to ruminate about...hence I shall completely side-step the issue...watching one of your idols fall from grace is just not very pleasant...but, let us not take that away from the greatness of Zidane...]
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