Zidane 1998 Same technical ability and Same talent, but at 98WC he obviously had more pace and attacking prowess to his game. In 2006, Zidane emphasized more on playmaking and driving the team forward with his ball control and dribble. For me, he is always an unbelievable player.
i think 1998. but its pretty close. In 1998 he played better in the group stage matches. and against Italy in 98, he created more goal scoring chances for his team than any match in 2006. In addition, he had the 2 first goals to win the final in 98. However, In 2006, he had a larger role in more of the knockout stage matches. In 2006, he scored against Spain, Had an assist against Brazil, scored against Portugal, and scored in the final against Italy and none of those performances were bad performances. In 98, france won a very difficult game without zidane against potugal in the R16 and he did not play particularly well against Croatia in the semifinal in 98. But its close
WC98 he was a squad player, WC06 is the most overrated performance ever. WC98 is pretty much identical with Götze WC14, both assisted 1 goal and scored two goals including the winner in the final. Götze didn't play as much, but Zidane was suspended two games so it evens out. WC06 he coasted group phase, France tied twice with him and won crucially without him. Excluding the penalties he didn't create, scored only one goal from open play when the game was almost done an dusted. For a playmaker didn't create as much, only registered 12 chances created which is a lot less than other playmakers Cruyff WC74 (36), Pele WC70 (28), Maradona WC86 (27), Messi WC14 (23). The red card incident just about is the cherry on a hype crusted and half hollow cake. I think they're just as bad performances, maybe slight edge to WC06.
Agreed. His match against Italy was absolutely outstanding in 98, though that is often forgotten. 06 was more impressive given the circumstances. But the 98 version of Zidane is clearly superior.
Hard to decide, because both individual performances are overrated. I would say that 1998 was his best WC, but was not the best player of France (Thuram) or the best playmaker of the competition (Rivaldo). In 2006 he was so overrated that I'm laughing every time I'm remember his performances. The best players of the WC was Pirlo and/or Cannavaro. And for France the best of the team was Makelele and Vieira. Zidane was totally average in group stage and above the average agains Spain, and only made a good game (Brazil) and it is not enough to make him an legendary player of that competition. For a player that is rated as top 10 of all time by some "experts", this is really poor.
More or less agree: 2006 after having watched it several times, is just very overrated. Even his best performance vs. Brazil, is a game where Zidane created ZERO chances from open-play. A playmaker who creates ZERO chances from open-play, is in many ways not a good performance, and only gets defined as a good performance because Vieira, Makelele, Thuram, and the rest of France's world class defensive players (at the time), shut down Brazil's attack, consequently allowing Zidane to be "great" without creating one single chance from open-play. In conclusion: Zidane's 1998 WC was better, but his 1998 WC is also overrated.
I totally agree with this. Especially Vieira and Makelele. Both are more consistent and key players than Zidane in the whole competition. After all, would you name Zidane in the Best XI of World Cup 1998, even when Rivaldo got better numbers and performances? Just asking... After that, Zidane best international competition was the Euro 2000, but I still think that he is a bit overestimated in that Euro.
You said "Zidane created ZERO chances from open-play". Then what do you make of this pass to Saha at the end of the match? I think this is a perfect example of a chance created from open-play. (6:56 of the video) According to OPTA: Chances Created Assists plus Key passes. Key Pass The final pass or pass-cum-shot leading to the recipient of the ball having an attempt at goal without scoring. Saha's shot resulting from Zidane's pass exemplifies what a "chance created" means. OPTA definition can be found here: http://optasports.com/news-area/blog-optas-event-definitions.aspx
WC 1998: mid in group stage, didn't play twice which means he should've been better phsyically, and Italy decent, Croatia average, Brazil ok. 2 decent / good games WC. Thuram was best player of France agree. would you say that Djorkaeff was better than him? 2006: mid in group stage, scored a unimportant goal, decent but overrated performance vs Brazil (thanks to Roberto Carlos blunder), scored from a dive in Portugal and mediocre general play. in final scored from a dive as well. so only 2-3 good games s well.