Zidane celebrates 100th cap with win over Mexico

PARIS, May 27: Zinedine Zidane celebrated his 100th cap for France with a 1-0 win over Mexico in a World Cup warm-up game today.

Midfielder Florent Malouda scored the winner when he fired under the crossbar from a Djibril Cisse cross just before halftime in one of the few highlights of a close, tactical match against opponents also on their way to the finals in Germany.

The 33-year-old Zidane, who will retire after the World Cup, was playing for the last time in his glittering career at the Stade de France, where he scored twice in France's 3-0 defeat of Brazil in the 1998 World Cup final.

The three-times World Player of the Year could only offer a below-par performance and was substituted early in the second half under deafening cheers from the crowd.

France will play two more friendlies against Denmark and China before starting their World Cup Group G campaign against Switzerland on June 13 in Stuttgart. They also face South Korea and Togo in the group phase of the tournament.

Mexico, who have now lost five times and drawn once in six meetings with France, meet Portugal, Iran and Angola in Group D in the tournament that kicks off on June 9.

Reuters