1998 World Cup winner Zinedine Zidane will take over the France national team (Les Bless) after the World Cup, replacing Didier Deschamps.
A verbal agreement has been reached by the two parties (Zidane and the French Football Association) for his takeover as national team coach after the world cup.
Zidane paid his dues at national team level by playing a role in helping France lift the World Cup in 1998 on bone soil after dismantling Brazil 3-0 in the final in Paris on a historic night.
Four years later (in 2002) Zinedine Zidane was part of the France side that beat Italy in the final of the Euro in Netherlands.
In 2006 as well in what was his last appearance in the famous colours of Les Bleus Zizou as he’s famously known by football fans across the globe skippers France to a runners up finish at the mundial in Germany that year after scoring a panenka and head butting Italian player Marco Materazzi in the final as he bowed out on a night that could have immortalize his name in the annals of world football and despite that incident Zidane was and will always be undeniable one of the all time greats. His iconic moment at the 2006 World Cup came in that semi-final game against Brazil when he single handedly destroyed a star studded Brazilian team with too stars such as: Ze Roberto, Ronaldinho Gaucho, Lucio, Kaka, Ronaldo Nazario Lima and many more.
He sent a sweet cross from a fee-kick to then Arsenal legend Thierry Henry at the back post to guide home past Dida in post for the Samba Boys of Brazil.
With Zidane’s take over set to happen after the World Cup we can’t forget the feat chalked by the man he’s going to take over from in the person of Didier Deschamps who’s also an icon figure in his own right under the guidance of Deschamps France reached two World Cup finals winning one in 2018 and finishing as runners up in 2022.
Deschamsps who was part of the Marseille class of the 1990s that clinched the UEFA Champions League as a player is one of the few coaches in the history of the World Cup to have won the mundial as a player and coach and he achieved that as a player in 1998 and as a coach in 2018 in Russia.
At club level Zidane achieved an insurmountable record which stands till this day as he became the first coat to lead his former team Real Madrid to an unparalleled 3 champions league titles in three seasons from 2016 to 2018 in the dug out.He won’t be forgotten by Real Madrid fans for the golazo super left footed goal he scored in the year 2002 to hand Los Blancos their ninth European title after 2-1 win over Bayern Levekusen at the Hampden Park in Glasgow,Scotland.
With a rich pool of players and solid foundation laid by Deschamps who played alongside Zidane at the 1998 World Cup surely France are bound to reach greater heights in the future.
Story by: Andrews Addotey/accranewsonline.com
