By Peter Auf der Heyde Jul 1, 2006, 21:47 GMT
Frankfurt - Former World Footballer of the Year Zinedine Zidane announced before the start of the World Cup that the tournament would be the last competitive football that he would be playing.
When Zidane received his second yellow card of the tournament against South Korea in France's second match, the suspension he received had journalists rushing to put pen to paper to write the obituary of his playing career.
They thought that France could well fail to get the two-goal victory they needed against African World Cup rookies Togo to make sure of a place in the round of 16.
In his absence, though, his team-mates did what was required of them and goals by Patrick Vieira and Thierry Henry gave the Les Bleus the victory they needed.
Not to worry, the journalist thought. Surely an unimpressive French side would bow out against Spain, who had looked one of the strongest sides in the first round.
But this time it was Zidane who would have none of it and the midfielder inspired his side to a well-deserved 3-1 come-back victory against Spain with Zizou scoring the third in injury time.
On Saturday, the five-time world champions Brazil were going to be the ones to bring down the curtain on a glittering career that has seen Zidane, who was born in Marseille of Algerian parents, win just about everything there is to win in international football.
World Footballer of the Year, Champions League, the World Cup, the European Championships and countless domestic leagues and cups - 34- year-old Zidane has won the all.
Many thought that it would be a fitting finale to a great career to end it against the team against whom he had - arguably - achieved his biggest success: Winning the 1998 World Cup and scoring twice in the 3-0 victory.
But if many thought that it would be a fitting finale, Zidane and his team-mates did certainly not think so and on Saturday Zidane was probably the most Brazilian-like player on the field as he helped his side to a 1-0 victory.
A minute from the break an inspired stroke of genius sent Vieira through and the midfielder was hacked down by Juan as he was rushing towards the goal.
In the 57th minute it was another Zidane moment that gave the French the only goal of the match as his free kick found an unmarked Henry on the far post and the Arsenal striker had no problems in slamming the ball into the back of the net from close range.
Not surprisingly he won the man of the match award for his performance against Brazil.
Thus Zidane plays on - probably another two games - as France are in the semi-finals and those that would have prematurely drawn the curtain on an illustrious career will have to wait a bit longer.
Your Talkback on this Story