European Football Cup 2008’s Weblog

He is watching a tournament for the first time since 1994 and former French international Zinédine Zidane is thoroughly enjoying UEFA EURO 2008™, although he freely admits to not having the first idea who will win.

‘Fan’s eyes’
“It’s been a wonderful tournament with fantastic matches,” Zidane, 36 today and who retired two years ago following his side’s defeat by Italy in the FIFA World Cup final, told euro2008.com. “I’ve really enjoyed watching the games. It’s the first tournament for a while in which I’ve not played so I have been following it from the outside and enjoying it with my family. I look with a fan’s eyes and I really enjoy watching these games because they are top-level matches.”

Arshavin admiration
One of football’s foremost creative talents during his glittering career, it is no surprise that Zidane – in Vienna to hold a coaching clinic for children as part of his role as an adidas ambassador – focuses mainly on the aesthetic side of the game, with one player in particular catching his eye. “In the game [against the Netherlands] the Russia No10, [Andrei] Arshavin, impressed many of us. Everything he does is surprising. He is very young and it’s his first major tournament, so to be able to play the way he does is surprising enough to talk about.”

Les Bleus let-down
A European champion with France in 2000, Zidane could only watch as Les Bleus lost to the Netherlands and Italy to fall at the first hurdle this time round, although he pinpoints the opening draw with Romania as the crucial factor. “The problem was that we had to win the first game,” he explained. “It’s so important to start well in such a competition – we had to beat Romania because the following matches were the Netherlands and Italy so we had to win that one. I’m disappointed, of course, because as a fan and ex-national team player I had big expectations. I expected them to do better, it didn’t work out, but I am sure the France team have a bright future, especially for the 2010 World Cup.”

Portugal praise
France aside, Zidane professes to a particular affection for a side who lost in the quarter-finals, saying: “My favourite team were Portugal, but unfortunately they’re not in the tournament any more. They were a complete team. They have many good individuals who are very strong technically and they are also strong in defence. It’s always important to have good individual qualities and good forwards, but it’s even more important not to concede goals – and Portugal had this potential before the quarter-final against Germany. Of course they played against a very strong Germany side who hadn’t done so well in their previous matches, but who played a perfect game against Portugal.”

Tough call
Germany will meet Turkey in the semi-final in Basel on Wednesday with Spain taking on Russia in Vienna a day later, yet Zidane remains reluctant to single out a team as likely champions. “Germany are always there for important matches, they’re always among the last four and [Michael] Ballack leads his team in a great manner. Russia have proved that they have great quality as a team, especially against the Netherlands. They’re physically well prepared and that allowed them to beat the Netherlands – they were a lot fresher in extra time. There are still some really good teams and in such tournaments there are always surprises. I hope they will be great matches. I have no idea who’ll win, so my prediction wouldn’t be correct anyway.”