Zidane retires from international football

[thegame24]

Zidane is not the best player in the world, simple as. He once was but so was Maradona, things change. He is not the best player in the world right now.

 

[Gooner_Milton]

Zidane is not the best player in the world, anyone who saw him play last year would know that.

Nedved, Henry, Ronaldinho, Kaka, Ronaldo, Totti

For me were all better players

Note Henry, Henry is French so you havnt lost the best player in the world.

He isn't the best anymore but that doesn't take away from the fact that he's a twice FIFA world footballer of the year (98,2000) and easily best French player of all time.

And for the players you listed only Nedved, Henry and Ronaldinho even come close. The rest are all hype or overrated.

Kaka has great potential but he's still young and relatively inexperienced. Ronaldo is a prima donna, inconsisted and just darn fat. And Totti....what can I even say about him? Taking into account his Euro 2004 performances, he just plain sucks.

 

[JazzG]

He has been world player of the year 3 times actually!

Zidane over the last 6 years has been by miles the best player. He wasn't the best in the world right now but I think the main reason was because he looked very tired on the pitch, think club football and international had just been too much for him and his body just couldn't cope. Look at Shearer, when he retired it must of added at least 2 or 3 years on his career and look how strong he is going.

 

[juz7_pi12es]

but still hope he won't retire from football any soon

 

[Gooner_Milton]

He has been world player of the year 3 times actually!

My apologies. ops:

I still love Zidane though. Fantastic player of undoubtable ability.

 

[shaz]

zidane truely is a leged of world football. and like french people are proud that his french, im proud that his a fellow muslim ;D

 

[Arnie]

the guy is just amazing. His touch is class, second to none.

Henry will be playmaker, Vieira will be captain.

 

[bobbypires]

Clichy better than Pedretti. How many matches with Pedretti have you seen to say that ?? Maybe more than me, because with the only 20/25 matches I've seen last season, I think Pedretti is really better!
Cissé was banned 4 matches, not 4 years!
And zizou's wolrd best (as gooner_milton said, better than Platini, who already was a genius of playmaker)

Pedretti is a really great midfielder. He's one step or two over Clichy at the moment.

Zizou's world best? Not sure. He's one of the best, but 1st? Can't decide.

 

[JGooner]

Zidane is the world's best, at least in terms of pure skill.

There is no way this will make France stronger. As well as losing Zidane, Pires will have to go within the next couple of years, which means that the entire attacking part of their midfield will disappear. Rothen, etc are good but not that good. If Tony Adams is right, Vieira only has one major tournament left in him. Lizarazu and a few of the other defenders are past it. They will need to replace about half of their team.

The new kings of the international scene will be Spain. So many quality young players - Reyes, Cesc, Torres, Joaquin, Alonso, Puyol, etc. Their central defenders still seem to be crap, though.

 

[USArsenal]

eh, not so sure about that JG... Spain, even with great players, always seem to choke in bigger games... of course, maybe players like Reyes and Cesc can change that.... and i assume you mean new kings of EUROPEAN international scene? cuz Brazil will always be right there....

ZZ was the best player for a time... this past year, he was not.... but its still a shame for him to retire....

and thegame24, i have to agree to say some of the players you listed are not even close to the best in the world currently... Totti is an idiot who only seems to play well in Serie A.. (not the CL, not for Italy, etc).... Ronaldo, sure, he scores some goals, but he is a chunky lumbering poacher (not a very "complete" player), Kaka is not ready yet for that (good, yes, but not one of the best in the world).... even Nedved was not nearly at his best this past year... and he's hurt, and he retired from international footy as well....

 

[Adam]

Flamini is a better prospect than Pedretti, for me. Cannot believe Flam is 20 - Pedretti looks like a baby in comparison. I don't rate Pedretti's tackling, or athleticism, and this is what i look for in a CM largely. I understand he passes the ball well, but France do not have this problem with Vieira and Pires in midfield.

 

[thegame24]

I never said said was crap if anyone thinks im saying that.

But Zidane is not the best in the world and Jgooner i think Ronaldinho is better in pure skill too. The things Ronaldinho pulled out for Barcelona was some of the greatest things ive seen in football and how old is he 24.

All im saying is that France will get to play better in attack now, unless they lose pires too.

France, Argentina and Brazil will be the teams to beat at world cup 2006 oh yea and the euro champs ;D

Spain and Portugal may be good but one team has raul and the other has deco, that aint the way to go if you want to win anything.

 

[brianfrance]

Flamini is a better prospect than Pedretti, for me. Cannot believe Flam is 20 - Pedretti looks like a baby in comparison. I don't rate Pedretti's tackling, or athleticism, and this is what i look for in a CM largely. I understand he passes the ball well, but France do not have this problem with Vieira and Pires in midfield.

Pedretti is just 23, came from a short team Sochaux, but already has 15 matches with the french squad, and 101 matches (5 goals) in the L1. I think the last one who had this type of stat was Henry or Trez at the same age, I mean so much matches in the L1 + somes matches with the national squad.
His athlecticism is better it seems. I think you can ask Marseillais, Pedretti is known to be "hard on the man", and he runs a lot. His long passes are also known to be very dangerous.

Now, Flamini is just 20 and he's discovering himself. He can be better than Pedretti because he has a great shot, good tackling and he's running ALL the time. Also is a bit more creative.

 

[Marseillais]

Pedretti is a great player.
Just as Brian said it , Pedretti is able to give magnifical balls to forwards , he runs all the time , he shoots and he is only 23.
Flam' is great but different and Flam has to confirm his talent. He has a gattuso style whereas Pedretti is a Pirlo style I would say.
I think Pedretti-Flam' could have been a great couple for OM !!!

 

[brianfrance]

Pedretti-Costa looks very good too :wink:

 

[Marseillais]

I agree.
But Flamini is marseillais and could be the pride of the town so it could have been different.