Zidane brings soccer magic to adoring Algeria town

BOUMERDES, Algeria, Dec 12 (Reuters) It wasn't quite the Stade de France. But with French Footballer Zinedine Zidane in midfield, the skills on display in this troubled northern Algerian town today were worthy of the finest venue.

With a flick of a foot and twist of his body, the visiting Zidane mesmerised a group of boys with his skills when he joined their kick around in the humblest of grounds -- a patch of mud.

Women ululated and adoring youths shouted ''Go, go!'' as Zidane, in the north African country to inspect charity projects, dirtied his sneakers in the muddy garden of a nursery he helped to fund following an earthquake in 2003.

The epitome of selflessness, the jeans-clad Zidane gave the ball away any number of times to his excited teammates.

He was equally gracefully at a news conference when talking about the role of relief workers after the earthquake in the Boumerdes region killed 2,300 people.

Zidane, whose parents are Algerian-born, helped raise relief funds from proceeds of a charity football game in France.

''I know it's the people who are actually on the ground and who do the work that we've funded, it's thanks to these people whom I admire so much that the job gets done,'' he said.

The disaster added to the misery of a nation trying to pull itself out of years of Islamist-linked violence that has killed up to 200,000 people and caused billions of dollars in damage.

Political strife remains a danger for Boumerdes, on the edge of the Kabylie region where his parents originate, because the area remains a bastion for anti-government Islamist rebels.

French-born Zidane's visit this week has helped raise the morale of a nation that sees him as an icon of success.

''I'm happy to be in my country of origin. Ever since I arrived I've sensed a warmth,'' he said back in Algiers.

Zidane also visited a clinic in Thenia village and a children's ward in Algiers' main Mustafa Hospital.

Widely regarded as the finest footballer of his generation, Zidane retired from soccer after being sent off in July's World Cup final for head-butting Italy's Marco Materazzi. Italy won the final after a penalty shoot-out.

Zidane's Algerian parents moved in 1962 to the French city of Marseille, where he grew up. He last visited Algeria in 1986.

REUTERS DKS PM0137