There just aren't players who can control pace, flow and organize a team like that. We won't find a Zidane obviously... but that's really the last ingredient for our current team to make it perfect. We don't have a player that can dictate the game from the midfield. It has nothing to do with stats for this player... it's about getting everyone into the correct rhythm, managing the game and creating team synergy.

He was 34 in this game and at the end of his career. But in a game that oozed class (the talent on the field was unbelievable), he shined the brightest. Took the samba out of Brazil and made them uncomfortable. Of course, it helps to have Makelele and Vieira in their primes just completely dominating ball recovery. But you saw defenders not know what to do... if they played up, Zizou would either make a quick pass or quick dribble and open space... if they backed off of him, the acted as the general and made pinpoint passes behind defenders.

I love watching games with these kinds of midfield players because they are a dying breed unfortunately. I'd love to see more field generals in football...

Here's the game in its entirety if anyone wants to watch:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=aF2YhO_8yNs

ah,nice,ill watch it now.Our 2006 team was meh,some players on decline.Ronaldinho-Kaka-Juninho/Adriano simply didnt work,ronaldinho was a NT flop while in Barca,Kaka normally injured,R9 was past it.

the main thing us brazilians appreciated from france in 06 wasnt Zidane,but how Malouda and Ribery were always pressing high and tracking back,we normally get loads of creativity from our attacking fullbacks,it just didnt work.Thats the main secret to kill us off,if our opponents manage to mark Alves and Marcelo out,our creativity drops a lot.

edit:our passing was terrible.....meh midfield is meh

This is why I rate Zidane as one of the all time greats I have yet to see a player control and dictate the tempo of a game since he left.

He did it at Madrid, at Juventus and for France. A true genius of the sport.

Yeah... the big thing France did was break Brazil in two by dominating the midfield for 3/4 of the match (pretty much went into defensive mode the last 15 mins). Makelele and Vieira took Juninho and Kaka completely out of the game. Then you had Abidal + Sagnol with help from Ribery and Malouda cancelling out Cafu and Roberto Carlos overlaps. R9 and Ronaldinho were mostly isolated as a result.

Ronaldinho isolated himself.he was our own Messi back then,simply didnt show his barca magic for the NT.

Every France-Brazil games i've seen since i was a little kid have been super entertaining to watch... both teams go at each other and really attack.

And i don't watch this game very often because any France NT game with Domenech as the manager just makes me super angry

ive never been able to follow RC but Marcelo looks much better than him from what ive seen imo.

vieira is beasting(on the game atm lol)

Work rate with Roberto Carlos was unbelievable. Technically, Marcelo is one of the best wing backs i have ever seen (no joke). He just needs to keep his head screwed on straight lol.

Here's 1986 France-Brazil... with Socrates. Full game again. To be fair, Brazil should've won this one. Great game though.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=5trI4xfd3Pc&feature=gv

do you know anymore of these users who upload games?

Ganso wrote:do you know anymore of these users who upload games?

Yeah. I just created a thread for full games. I'll keep posting links as a i find them.

Ozil can, and will reach his level.

If R9 didn't get tripped up at the edge of the box late on you know he would of scored

But thanks for posting this, and the '86 game.. I need to watch a lot of '80s classics

Zidane could've continued for another 10 years and if he did who Knows? it's amazing that at the very end of his career he was really the undisputed best player in the world......so many forget that and only remember what they choose to.....but anyone who watched any WC or Euro this guy played in just had to stand in awe and watch his brilliance.

I hate Materazzi.

@Sport You have a link to Brazil - italy 1982 or

France Italy 2000.It is the only Zidane final I've never watched end to end.

I personally think Zizou retired at exactly the right time tbh. He could have kept going but then he wouldn't have been able to maintain his level of brilliance.