Zidane To Play For France

[Stuttgart88]

Just announced his international retirement is over

[jimbob117]

Just heard it there on sky sports news, unbelievable!
will make the home game all that bit tougher.

[Stuttgart88]

PARIS, Aug 3 (AFP) - French star Zinedine Zidane on Wednesday
announced that he is coming out of international retirement to help
his country's flagging World Cup campaign.
The 33-year-old Real Madrid midfielder quit the national team
after Euro 2004 when France were knocked out in the quarter-finals.

[drinkfeckarse]

Not unduly worried. Great player that he is/was, it would still be a tough task for us regardless.

[strangeirish]

Updated: 11:33 AM EDT
Zidane Will Come Out of Retirement to Play for France
Real Madrid Had Retired From International Play

PARIS (Aug. 3) - Real Madrid star Zinedine Zidane announced Wednesday that he will come out of international retirement to play for France.




"I have decided to come back for Les Bleus," Zidane wrote on his official Web site.

The 33-year-old midfielder had retired from international soccer after the 2004 European Championships.

He will make his comeback in an Aug. 17 friendly against Ivory Coast.


08/03/05 11:25 EDT

[roboyle]

Where were you guys on 1st April? :rolleyes:

[Tony Montana]

BOLL*X!!! Just what we need! :(

[eirebhoy]

and Makelele. :eek:

[jimbob117]

think makelele is back aswell....

[roboyle]

...Platini as well...

[NeilMcD]

Zinedine Zidane and Claude Makelele are returning to the French national football team after a 1-year hiatus according to the Real Madrid midfielder. Zidane left at the same time that Raymond Domenech was appointed head coach. France are currently struggling to qualify for the 2006 World Cup Finals.



WORLD CUP QUALIFYING: Group 4 standings & fixtures
VIEIRA: Why I left Arsenal

The duo, integral parts of a highly successful French team, handed in their international retirement a year ago as the new coach took over at the helm of les Blues.

Zidane's last game for France was at Euro 2004 in Portugal, and having made his decision he was adamant that he would not return to the international fold.

However, as France struggle to qualify for the World Cup Finals to be held in Germany next summer, the pair feel a return is necessary to help them to qualification.

"Raymond Domenech came to see us a two or three times in Madrid. I speak of 'us' because I speak for Claude as well, as he is making a comeback too, said Zidane on his official website.

"I've thought about it a lot and I want to rejoin the national team.

"I don't want to go into the details, the whys and hows. I don't want to make a return like Zorro, as a saviour.

"The French national team has given me a lot and I want to help them. I want to help the French national team. I want to help the French national team. I say it to you three times," he added.

"For the first time in my life, I'm going back on something very important. When I took my decision, I didn't take it lightly. I thought long and hard about it.

"Today, I'm doing the same thing, but in reverse. Yes, I'm moved. Yes, I know that I'm going back on something and lots of people are going to say, 'Why didn't he do it before? Why now? Why has he waited so long?'

"I think that it's mostly because I went on holiday and I said to myself that I haven't got a lot left to play for in football. And I want to make the most of it whilst I can.

The midfielder has set the Ivory Coast game on the 17th of August as the date for his comeback.

Zidane won 93 caps for France and scored 26 goals. His last international game came at Euro 2004 against eventual champions Greece.

[Stuttgart88]

This is no April Fool. It's all over the news.

Is that true about Makelele too? Oh Oh. Danger here...

They have a friendly against Ivory Coast in August. 4 days before Dublin they have the Faroes at home so they'll probably be in good shape by then.

At least it's the same for Switzerland too :)

[Donal81]

He might as well have called up Charles de f*cking Gaulle. I still reckon we can take them.

[loscherland]

OH NO! - I had a feeling that was gonna happen...

[concanta]

To be honest I think this will work in our favour - the french will get confidnet and coky and they might even be favourites....when do we perform best and get teh surprise results?

[Stuttgart88]

Too right Donal & Concanta, we always play best against better opposition. And they were still crap in Euro 2004 even with all their stars.

We should bring back Deano, Trigger, Lee Carsley & Gary Kelly!

[concanta]

Given

Carr
Cunnigham
O Brien
Finnan

Reid
Kilbane
Keane
Duff

Morrison
Keane

THis team CAN win ... if roy does it for us one last time

[Stuttgart88]

Atmosphere will be amazing. I'll be stuck in UK doing my expectant father routine though. I'll set up the video just in case :)

[elroy]

Dont care what anyone says this is bad news for us.
Zidane hasnt being playing the best lately but he's still likely to score a goal of out nothing, still world class.
As for makelele he was one of chelseas best players last year, not good.
Massive performance needed to get a result now

[NeilMcD]

I cant wait to get to see Zindane in the flesh been outplayed by Kilbane and been marked out of the game by John O Shea. Come on you boys in Green.

[Stuttgart88]

Israel must be delighted.

[Don Vito]

I'm delighted, I'd rather us to beat a strong French side than a mediocre one. It's gonna be a fascinating game though with Keane and Vieira's last stand too, can expect that to be hyped to the last on Sky over the next few weeks. It'll prob put the price of tickets up with the touts alot though. To quote Alan Partridge - Scum, subhuman scum.

[Metrostars]

We're f-cked.

[tricky_colour]

Israel must be delighted.


Yea, I think they have played both their France games.

Someone needs to do a 'spread chart thing' with France beating
the Swiss, what would happen if we drew with France?
Also could we qualify if we lost to France?
I guess it gets complicated.

[onenilgameover]

Whatever way ye look at it its a real kick in the nuts :mad: The only way France were ever gonna come back into the equation was by bringing back two recent great midfielders. This is fupping bad stuff. They better go hell for leather straight into them. I reckon BK is thinking bout his future prospects today.

[crc]

Ah Merde!




I still think we can do it though. We didn't give them a scare in Paris because of all the great players we had*, we did because we play very well as a team.



*we do have one or two great players BTW

[swinfordfc]

Marked out of the game by o'shea !!!!!!!
what planet you been living on last year? :D :p :D :o

[tricky_colour]

Yea it's a sign of true desperation from the Froggies.

From the horses mouth:-
-----------------------------------------------------------------------
2003/04: Zidane spoke candidly about his form as Madrid's season derailed with defeats in the Spanish Cup final, Champions League and Primera División. "The plain truth is I'm playing badly," he said.
-----------------------------------------------------------------------

Well let's hope so.

[youngirish]

Lads we can still beat them but its now going to be way more difficult. Besides Viera France had a slection of pretty average players in their midfield playing in most of the qualifiers (I think Dacourt is pretty s**t and Pires has been dropped) but now they'll have an extra two World Class midfielders to choose from. I'd say though that they'll only play Zidane as I can't see Viera and Makele playing together if they are going for a win.

[eirebhoy]

Makelele is one of the best holding midfielders in the world. He's a cert to start. Vieira won't play the holding role.

[Cowboy]

I remeber when we were paired with Italy in the 94 world cup and no one gave us a chance of drawing with them let alone beating them. Comments like "we're fcuked" etc are ill informed at best and hysterical at worst.

We are Irish, lets show some faith in our ability to beat the best as we have done in the past and shall do again.

[Fergie's Son]

Well, it's going to be tough. I'm still more worried about Henry though particulary with Zidane feeding him passes. That said, we play the games for a reason so let's go out there and do it! I'm flying back for the match and I'll be in fine voice for the game.

Royston will need to play a blinder but then so will everyone else. O'Shea should be dropped for the match.

[Condex]

I remeber when we were paired with Italy in the 94 world cup and no one gave us a chance of drawing with them let alone beating them. Comments like "we're fcuked" etc are ill informed at best and hysterical at worst.

We are Irish, lets show some faith in our ability to beat the best as we have done in the past and shall do again.

Whats ill informed about that, its stating the bloddy obvious we haven't beaten a decent side comptetively in years. We'll rue dropping those 4 points against Israel..

[laurent]

http://www.lequipe.fr/Football/FootballFicheMatch7760_58903.html

:cool:

[strangeirish]

http://www.lequipe.fr/Football/FootballFicheMatch7760_58903.html

:cool:

Good point!

[Qwerty]

The France game will be the acid test for Brain Kerr and his team - if he wins he will be a legend if he loses he probably will be looking for a new job. A draw is the most probable result though...

[tricky_colour]

If history is anything to go by we have little to worry about,
the last time we lost at home to France was in 1954 (3:5), anyone
remember it?

Also we have won *all* our home competive matches against France since
then (All preliminarys) :-

1974 2:1
1978 1:0
1982 3:2

Also a 0:0 draw in a friendly in 1989.

So our record is very good

[4tothefloor]

Lads, Zidane was poor last year for Madrid and if memory serves me correctly he was also pretty shocking during Euro 2004. He has slowed down a bit and doesn't influence games as much as he used to. I can also recall Thierry Henry moaning about the French teams tactics at Euro 2004, that being everything was built\planned around Zidane rather than Henry, and Henry felt that it wasn't getting the best out of the other players, simply because Zidane slows the play down, whereas playing to suit Henry (like Arsenal do) would mean faster movement and attacking.

As for Makelele, he is a holding defensive midfielder. Since we do most of our attacking out wide through Duff and Reid, Makelele isn't going to effect us hugely. You'll have Keane squaring up to Viera, which leaves you relying on Kilbane to put in a good show, something he is usually good for in the really big games. I'm no more worried than I was this time yesterday. France will be tough no matter what, there are other players i'd be a hell of a lot more worried about than those two.

[feo123]

So what we have Andy O'Brien and Zinedine Kilbane!!

[Cowboy]

Whats ill informed about that, its stating the bloddy obvious we haven't beaten a decent side comptetively in years. We'll rue dropping those 4 points against Israel..

you forget we almost beat France in Paris, you need to get positive

[tetsujin1979]

Yea, I think they have played both their France games.

Someone needs to do a 'spread chart thing' with France beating
the Swiss, what would happen if we drew with France?
Also could we qualify if we lost to France?
I guess it gets complicated.

Israel's remaining games are Switerland away and the Faroes twice.

Check my sig for a spreadsheet permutations table, and a handy mobile phone app

[Green Tribe]

selfish french brats! :rolleyes: :mad: :D

not the best news to hear but i am hoping that it will not be the resulting factor, france are still sh!te-ish as a unit, they are not playing well as a team, i am not going to panic as i know this group is going to be close right down to the last game.. :eek:

[Fergie's Son]

you forget we almost beat France in Paris, you need to get positive

And they nearly beat us. Rewatch that game if you have a chance and you'll see that the French were as good as us and might have gotten a winner themselves.

[Thunderblaster]

France:

Lama, Boli, Blanc, Leboeuf, Deschamps, Durand, Platini, Cantona, Ginola, Papin, Loko.

All the stars brought out of retirement!! :D :D :D

[Qwerty]

I think there is a definite benefit to France in bringing back Zidane and Makelele and not just because they are better players than they would otherwise have but there is a significant psychological boost for the French whose confidence must be low - to bring in a legend like Zidane must give them a huge lift.

And on our side it can at best have no psychological impact but will probably become a bit of a worry until the squad gets together at least, at least we know now rather than later.

But you could argue France won't be a well oiled machine with Dommenech in charge and they are a far cry from the team that won a World Cup and Euro title. Look to Greece and learn the lessons of the value of an excellent coach - the coach is the most important individual, no pressure Brian :)

[Hibs4Ever]

This French move smacks of desperation. So typical of people on here to immediately get negative. 7 pts and we are there. We can afford to draw with France . . . that being said, I still think we will win 1-0.
If I was half as pessimistic as some on here I wouldn't get out of bed in the morning. :mad:

Well said. Zidane retired for a reason, because he couldn't hack international football anymore. He'll make no difference whatsoever.

[Donal81]

Agreed, Tuff Paddy. Zidane is obviously still the most naturally skillful player in the world but he remains one player alone. Apart from the last few minutes against England, he and France didn't set the Euros alight and they were shocking in 2002. He is one of the players that I would pay any amount of money to watch but he is not the Zidane of 1998.

If we're serious about competing in this World Cup, we're going to have to play teams like France and, especially on our home turf, expect to beat them. Did we see anything in Paris that was particularly troubling? No. Fair enough, their midfield has been stiffened by Makelele and Zidane and French morale will obviously be lifted but have they become far superior team overnight? I don't think so. I don't wish to sound hackneyed but in Lansdowne, we can take anyone, which we've proved before. Yes Henry is brilliant but our defenders aren't slouches either and nor is our midfield. Damien Duff is world-class as are the Keanes. Maybe we should look at our own attributes a bit more, and not just those of the opposition. Let them do what they want, we should be focusing on what we can do.

I'm worried about the game as we haven't had the best of luck throughout this campaign and Kerr's decisions have worked against him at times. I have a horrible vision of us going 1-0 up before they nick a lucky goal with half an hour left. With the game there for the taking, we instead play for the draw, that's my nightmare, not Zidane scoring a hat-trick and Makelele getting four for good measure.

As for the rest of the group, the Israelis were proved to be a very poor team and not deserving of the ridiculous hype they received on this site but one that was lucky (as well as cynical) in the extreme and they'll get their dues in Switzerland (no pun intended at all :( ). We'll do the Swiss at home no problem - if we don't, I'm giving up this football lark.

[Stuttgart88]

Someone needs to do a 'spread chart thing'

Also could we qualify if we lost to France?
I guess it gets complicated.

Tetsujin has prepared the definitive piece on what can happen in this group.

If we lose to France we need to hope France at least draws with Switzerland and also hope that Israel doesn't beat Switzerland. In that case two more wins will guarantee second.

A loss to France virtually rules out winning the group.

A draw against France makes things complicated. 7 points would guarantee at least second in all circumstances as long as Israel doesn't beat Switzerland. If Israel beats Switzerland we're vulnerable to Israel pipping us on GD* as they have the Faroes to play twice still (though they'll find it tough up there).

The next really big game in our group is Switzerland vs Israel. I think it's 100% certain that the worst outcome in this game is an Israel win.

But as TP says, we'll win all 3:)

If anyone's looking for any further comfort, I was speaking with a client in Limassol last week who says we have nothing whatsoever to fear from Cyprus. I asked about the result in Basle when the Swiss only scored in the 90th minute but he still says not to worry!


* Before anyone starts this all over again, I am fully aware of when GD ultimately counts.

[geysir]

This French move smacks of desperation. So typical of people on here to immediately get negative. 7 pts and we are there. We can afford to draw with France . . . that being said, I still think we will win 1-0.
If I was half as pessimistic as some on here I wouldn't get out of bed in the morning. :mad:
That was my first reaction "they are getting desperate". They already have enough class players in their squad to put together a first class team, yet they haven't yet functioned as such and now it is admitted, that as things stand they haven't a chance of living up to their inflated odds on favourite tag of topping the group with two of their toughest games coming up.
Adding on two more class players does not neccessarily mean their problems are fixed. They have been on the slide since the time when both players were part of their squad.
Its okay by me if they have their male hen's tail up when they come to Dublin. Dominech can't make them all play as a team.
I would be worried about calamities affecting our squad like the recent Mad Dunne Disease. MDD is as the name suggests a mad sort of delerium which happens after the recipient is first infected by scum saliva on the hands. It rapidly spreads to the brain area, causing the victim to do maniacal acts of self destruction. I would suggest that all our squad players wear protective gloves (sprayed with the essence of preserved turd from Saint Tib. of course) when moving about in vulnerable areas.

[Cowboy]

And they nearly beat us. Rewatch that game if you have a chance and you'll see that the French were as good as us and might have gotten a winner themselves.

so what? my point is we need to be positive about our ability to beat them, if we turn up expecting to be beaten then we probably will be.