Duchene2MacKinnon
In the hands of Genius
- Aug 8, 2006
- 45,300
- 9,465
No tie, Umtiti all day long.
I knew you had problems. SMH
No tie, Umtiti all day long.
Ntcham obviously
Platini it is although Zidane would be the consensus choice in France right now. But legends aren't always accurate (see Maradona).
Platini was the Ballon d'Or three straight years. Nobody could touch him.
He took his team to the semis in the 82 WC before the refs and Schumacher ended his dream (and I have them winning the final), he got red hot for Euro 84 where he managed to set a scoring record that might never be broken. And then he willed France to the 86 semis by beating the best team in the world then in the QF. All of this while being the captain, leader and inspiring presence.
ZZ OTOH, while supremely talented, didn't weigh on WC 98 before the final. In fact, his only impact before the final was negative (red card). He played very well in Euro 00, but even then, the team around him weighed more than him. He had a great WC06, but Vieira was the guy doing the work and then he blew a fuse in the final NT game of his career. Possibly costing a WC (we'll never know).
In club career, he was never the obvious best player in the world. Ronaldo and others won Ballon d'Or over him. He was always among the best, but never clearly the best.
Possibly most elegant player to watch on the pitch. But Platini was all about efficiency.
As for the others, they're not in the discussion, even Kopa's wonderful career, even Fontaine's crazy WC record, etc...
I knew you had problems. SMH
Equally, from 1998 through to 2001 Juventus won only the Intertoto Cup. Zidane's replacement with Pavel Nedved in 2001, by contrast, was followed by successive league titles. (And when Zidane's Real Madrid met Nedved's Juve in the 2003 European Cup semis, look what happened).
In 06, Vieira was easily the best french player. ZZ was wonderful to watch, but he barely ran. Vieira was everywhere. Team wouldn't have been through the group stage without Vieira and Ribery.
ZZ's amazing to watch, but was never the main player for the french team. He needed a great support to win (arguable best defense ever in 98 and an allstar team in 00).
I'm sure Evilo will be convinced by some 200 pixel wide gifs.
As for 98, Leboeuf said it the other day : "I'm fed up with people hyping ZZ for the 98 WC win. Guy didn't show up before the final and the whole team played hard to get there yet he gets all the praise".
And? Did he say HE was the one responsible?Is this the same Leboeuf that himself started in one meaningless group stage match and then again in the final?
And? Did he say HE was the one responsible?
No he pointed to the team. And he's damn right.
98's ZZ is pure myth.
In the final he scored two headers on set plays because right before the game Jacquet told him there was a weakness at the first post of the brazilian defense on corners.
He didn't score out of magic, talent or anything. In fact, he rarely scored in corners in his career.
If Kicker doesn't rate Vieira as the best french performer of that WC, then they're wrong.Everyone is entitled to their opinion, but if we choose a reasonably neutral and analytical one like the respected German football magazine Kicker that rates individual performances in every game from 1 (best) to 6 (worst), then Zidane was the second best French player in the tournament after Thuram (1,92) with his average rating of 2,00. In no game was he rated lower than 2,5 which is still a fine performance.