Hanover, Germany – French fans had not celebrated with such abandon in a World Cup stadium since 1998. Then again, Zinedine Zidane had not played a game like this one in eight years.
They’re not ready to throw his retirement party just yet.
The French captain set up the deciding goal Tuesday night, then scored one of his own minutes later to lead France to a 3-1 victory over hard- luck Spain.
Zidane, who is retiring after this World Cup, scored two goals in the 1998 final to beat Brazil. He will get one more shot at the tournament favorite when the two teams face off Saturday in a quarterfinal.
Instead of the washed-up team that looked ready for retirement as recently as last week, France suddenly is two matches from a return to the World Cup final.
“The adventure continues,” Zidane said. “We didn’t want it to stop.”
During the match, it was hard to tell whether it was 1998 or 2006.
Zidane took the free kick in the 83rd minute that curled into the goalmouth and found an onrushing Patrick Vieira, who headed it off the body of Spain’s Sergio Ramos and into the net to break a 1-1 deadlock.
Zidane, 34, then finished off his brilliant night with a solo run into the penalty area, his golden shoes flashing as he cut inside one defender before wrongfooting goalie Iker Casillas for a goal of his own.
“He kept going – for the whole match,” France coach Raymond Domenech said of Zidane.
For Spain, the agony continues. In 76 years of the World Cup, Spain never has finished better than fourth.
After an excellent first round, this was supposed to be the year.
“We were all convinced that this would be the World Cup when would make it,” striker Raul Gonzalez said. “But the moment of truth was today. And yet again we’re disappointed.”
