July 02, 2006

Zidane: A living legend

Can you imagine that sensation a couple of seconds after the absolutely perfect, subtle, complex, Bordeaux wine hits your mouth; when it's so good and so moving it seems like it comes from heaven itself?

Do you know that feeling when you've just had the first tastes of the spotlight dish of a gourmet meal, and it's so excellent you almost don't want to eat any more for fear of spoiling its perfection; and you wonder how any mortal can assemble earthly ingredients to form such a culinary masterpiece?

Have you seen that movie that just somehow just resonates perfectly with you, like it's on your natural frequency; where the individual pieces of plot, pacing, writing, actors, and cinematography are put together in a way that you leave the theater not talking about the movie, but simply savoring it in your head because there aren't the right words to describe it, and any verbal dissection would only be a disservice?

All these sensations are like enjoying Zinedine Zidane at his most generous. Like he was today against Brazil.

Zidane is the greatest player I have ever seen. I don't know that he's the best player to ever step on a pitch, but he's the best I have ever been able to watch in any quantity since I've gotten experienced enough to really appreciate footballing artistry.

Today, he was the conductor of a French squad that, despite the narrow 1-0 score, humiliated Brazil. He delivered the game-winning assist to Thierry Henry. Before taking the free kick, he was directing his French targets to the right parts the penalty area from afar on the left wing, as if to tell Henry: "no, not there, not there; yes, right there--38.2 meters from me I will deliver a ball 0.3 meters off the ground, so be there"

He repeatedly escaped double teams, freeing himself with the fewest touches on the ball possible. Sometimes he found passing lanes his own players nor spectators even saw, and seemed to be mentally about 3 moves ahead of the rest of the players. While many great players seem to be faster, quicker, or more technically impressive; Zidane seems to be able to slow down the laws of time and space to make things happen the way he wants.

Zidane in some ways is like Keanu Reeves' character Neo at the end of The Matrix when he's figured out how to manipulate his new universe. Agent Smith tried to pump hundreds of bullets into Neo, which Neo avoided by suspending the laws of physics before impact. Zidane, similarly doesn't just dodge opponents or run through them--he actually seems to hyptotize opponents so he can simply walk through them effortlessly.

Of course there's the prolific goalscoring of Pele, and the wizardry of Maradona. I know the greatness of Best, Beckenbauer, Yashin, and many others. And these truly are great players, and all great players in any sport, and especially across generations, are difficult to rank and compare.

And obviously Zidane isn't the sole reason for the win tonight: Henry had to score the goal; Ribery was a man with real heart, working tirelessly for his 77 minutes; and the French defense was utterly superb. And the Brazilians played a somewhat thoughtless game with no bite or attack; and they inexplicably left Henry completely alone on his goal.

But I've never seen Zidane's type of magic in any other player; he doesn't always display this wizardry, but when he does it is truly something precious. We are lucky to be able to enjoy this legend now, and I'll be savoring his last two games as a professional footballer.