France to taste life without Zidane

HAMELIN, Germany, June 20: On Zinedine Zidane's birthday France will taste life without him, for one game or forever.

The ageing maestro turns 34 on Friday but will be suspended when the team he graced for over a decade play Togo in their final World Cup Group G game.

The 1998 champions need to win by two goals to make sure of qualifying. If they do, their captain, who will retire after the finals, will be back for their first match in the knockout stage.

If France fail to survive the group stage again, like they did in 2002, Sunday's 1-1 draw with South Korea will have been Zidane's last match.

The playmaker, who picked his second yellow card of the tournament for shoving a Korean defender, suffered a similar fate in 1998 when he missed two games through suspension, returning only for the quarter-finals.

''I hope the same will happen this time,'' said Zidane, who went on to score twice in France's 3-0 win over Brazil in the 1998 final.

''We will suffer but we all want to go further, for all those who support us,'' he added.

The difference with 1998, or 2000, when France won the European Championship, is that Zidane's genius then turned France into the ultimate winning machine.

Nowadays he remains an exceptionally talented player but is slower than in his prime and could only offered below-par performances in France's first two group matches.

''He won't be there, full stop,'' said goalkeeper Fabien Barthez, who is a close friend of Zidane's.

''There's no room for feelings in this type of competition.

We must concentrate on playing our game and winning the match.'' France coach Raymond Domenech still relies heavily on Zidane, to the extent that he did not include another genuine number 10 in his squad.

Now Domenech seems to have no other option than to change his system and revert to a 4-4-2 formation with no real playmaker and two men up front, David Trezeguet or Louis Saha teaming up with Thierry Henry.

Domenech's mission when he took over after France's quarter-final exit from Euro 2004 was to rebuild a team but he struggled to do that.

With the French in danger of not qualifying for the finals in Germany, Zidane came out of international retirement last year, alongside defender Lilian Thuram and holding midfielder Claude Makelele.

With the exception of a faultless Makelele, France's old guard has looked sluggish so far in the tournament.

Zidane is such a talisman, however, that Domenech looks almost certain to pick him again if France's adventure continues, even if they do play better without him on Friday.

With the curtain falling on a brilliant generation of which Zidane will remain the jewel, the gifted son of Algerian immigrants who presented France with their finest moment might still be back for a final encore.

REUTERS

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