Before France – Côte d’Ivoire / August 2005, the wonderful return of Zinedine Zidane with the Blues

“Hey Zidane! Ooooo, Zidane! Twenty-seventh goal of His Majesty King Zinedine Zidane in the French national team! ” Delighted, the late Thierry Gilardi caught TF1 in the 63rd minute. And 2-0 for the Blues against Cote d’Ivoire on the evening of Wednesday 17 August 2005 hot! Fist raised, conquering, N°10 greets Montpellier’s fans, his fans, who have come in droves to La Mosson to celebrate the return of the Savior…

Two weeks ago, on August 3, he announced on his website that he was ending his international retirement and wanted to play again for the France team. Thank God! Zizou Jesus is back! On August 9, in France Football, the explanation for his unexpected return caused people to be puzzled: “One night, at three in the morning, I suddenly woke up, and there I spoke with someone. But no one knows that. Until my last breath, I wouldn’t say who it was (…) and there, I made the real decision to come back. I had a revelation. . If he said that…

The truth is that ZZ finished his worst season with Real Madrid in 2005, a season that also saw the failure of the Galacticos project undertaken four years earlier by Florentino Perez. At 33, he’s back in the blues, simply wanting to breathe new life into his career and finish in style:I want to devote myself to football, I want to have a crazy season.”. at the team The next day, he directs the point home: “The France team has helped me so much that I want to help them. I want to help the France team. I want to help the France national team: I say it three times.”

The blues are in trouble

Two ads fall really well. Because in the 2006 World Cup qualifiers in Germany, France was in the red! In the summer of 2005, the Blues coach Raymond Domenech came after Euro 2004 failed to finish third in pool 4 and was temporarily eliminated: 10 points in six matches, behind Switzerland (12 points) and Ireland (13 points) … The Portuguese Euro fiasco, Zain finished Religion his international career in August 2004 (“I think at some point, you have to know how to say stop”), and the tradition of Lizarazu, Desailly, Makélélé, and Thuram. Nor was he convinced of the arrival of Dominique, who wanted to put an end to France 98 by sacrificing Robert Perez vociferously…

At the same time that he came back in the blue which he imposed directly on Raymond, Zidane also imposed “Made” and “Thotho”! “Claude Makelele is a huge player for Chelsea and Lilian Thuram remains a great defender at JuventusConfirms. Their presence is blue, these are not my terms, they are clear! “Faced with the fait accompli by Zizou “Coach Bis”, Raymond bowed! The three draws at home (0-0) against Air, Switzerland and Israel that put the Blues at risk of the 2006 World Cup clearly ended the failure of his team. Selection management.

Ahead of the four perilous qualifying matches against the Faroe Islands, in Eyre, in Switzerland and Cyprus in the SPD, only the traditional friendly match for the Blues in August remains. After Argentina and then Senegal withdrew, Côte d’Ivoire will be the Blues’ fencing partner for the first time between the two countries. Good Choice ! Trained by Henri Michel, the Elephants led by the brilliant attacking trio (Didier Drogba, Bonaventura Kalou, Aruna Dendan) are considered one of the best African nations. On Wednesday, August 17th in Montpellier, the match was played in front of a sold-out crowd in front of 31,457 spectators and followed by ten million spectators, and is expected to be a game of restoration and the return of the Prodigal Son of French football.

4-2-3-1 announcer of 2006

friendly tags (“Lol, Zizou is back“,”Zizou love you”) With that he put a heavy pressure on the shoulders of the one celebrating his 94th choice. In the absence of the injured captain Vieira, Zinedine inherited the captaincy, and he has already assumed his leadership with power:”I don’t steal the captain’s armband. Patrick Vieira gave me: take it. ”

The 4-2-3-1 system is a position he holds at the heart of the game, at pivotal number 10, behind point, Thierry Henry. At Euro 2004, Santini’s 4-4-2 push into the left lane contributed to his withdrawal from the Blues. heresy! At 33, Zizou 1er no longer had the marrow to exhaust himself moving lanes. Against the 4-4-2 Ivorians, Malouda will run on the left and Wiltord on the right there. After the rating was lowered to 8, Dhorasoo forms a redemption pair with Makélélé. The two bolster their defense by aligning Gallas, Boomsong, Thuram and Sunnyol starting from the left. In the net, Greg Coupe takes advantage of stopping Fabien Barthez.

Just before the hymns, Zain al-Din gathers his men around him and addresses them by pointing and sounding: everyone listens to him without saying a word. he won! The blues are galvanized: They’ve found their leader, he’s amazing… and he’s going at 100 miles per hour! The apocalyptic gray metallic Rotero balloon sails high in the Ivorian camp on the supersonic tracks of the Henry and Malouda. On the 18th, Drogba warned the French that this match was not going to be a very friendly by launching a brilliant ball from 20 meters into the skylight that Coupe pushes back. But in the event of a fresh pass and a pass from Malouda, the recovery of ZZ touching the crossbar at Tizié reminds us that France will still be largely in control at home.

Proof on the 27th, when Gallas put a cannonball header into the corner of Wiltord: 1-0! Well, Castellane’s son restructured the tricolor sphere. “His ability to power the game with oxygen and make others better“, according to Jorge Valdano, wonderful again. With all due respect to Henry who reproached him during the Portuguese Euro on”slow down the gameThanks to the Madrid strategist, the France team has already found something like an identity on August 17th…

After the end of the first half, despite a brilliant header from Drogba in the 50th minute, “His Majesty” interrupted the locals: 2-0! Eleven years later, until today, and a double against the Czech Republic, in his first selection at Bordeaux in 1994, Zinedine again scored the goal of a new era. Even in the downturn at the passing of an hour, everyone substitutes, persistently loves the game, demands the ball, even marked by two Côte d’Ivoires … In 67, Thierry Henry was well shot by Dhorasoo leaves beat Tizi: and one! And two! And three zero! Mawson turns.

Nothing will be marked anymore, and Thierry Gilardi, stars in his eyes and honey in his voice, returned to the air reassured as all France: “Well, it’s a nice comeback, Mr. Zidane, after a year. We are glad to find you wearing the blue shirt.” “Mr. Zidane” played a full match, played to the end, but without so far providing first aid to Thierry Henry. His very good relationship with Sagnol, whom N°10 sought and found naturally, had just included the Munich team in the Zidanien clan which included, in addition to his favorite assistants Makélélé and Thuram, Vieira and Barthez. Dhorasso and Coupet will soon bear the brunt of this acquisition which also puts pressure on Domenech: Zinedine will always remain a cold distance from Raymond, to the point of never mentioning his name in any interview thereafter. Thierry Henry will also be subject to the authority of Z…

“With such players, the effect begins immediately. We depend on them and listen to each other“, William Gallas confirming France group’s loyalty to the Zidane-Makelele-Thuram trio, will testify once they return to the blue. And in the balance of power, he established from the start against Dominic Shadow coach (or a repeat coach), Zinedine Zidane made a date at La Mosson and promised to be a great coach in the future… A win in Dublin for the re-enhanced Tricolores on September 7 (1-0) would qualify them as Group 4 leaders. Zidane’s clan set back on track on 17 August 2005, the blue train will rush to Berlin. On a certain date July 9, 2006…