err, Sean, THIS is where he says something about Zidane. I cant understand how that eluded you
ShiftyPowers said:
Zidane arrived the summer AFTER Juventus won the Champions League in 1996. If you want to hail someone for his greatness leading Juventus that season, hail Del Piero.
And yes, I understand France had a great World Cup 98, but Zidane was SUSPENDED FOR TWO GAMES!! The meaningful games he played in were a 0-0 draw to Italy which was won on penalties (oooo, what a creative maestro he must have been in that one!), a 2-1 win over Croatia which I remember as the Lilian Thuram game, and the final. Ronaldo almost DIED the DAY of the Final. It's so convenient to forget that Brazil had to go through the trauma of thinking its best player died, and then having a 20% Ronaldo rejoin them at the stadium with no one on the team even expecting him to play. So what does Zidane have? In my opinion he has 1 great Champions League, 1 great World Cup Final, and now a resurgence for the last 6 games of his career. And that makes him better than Beckanbauer who captained a World Cup winning team (granted I hope Zizou does that on sunday), and captained three consecutive Champions League winners when no German team to that point had ever won a Champions League? Come on, honestly.
You make a fair point. I shouldve checked my dates about the 96 final, but the fact is Juve went to two more after that. He scored two and three respectively.
In 98 he was suspended for two games after his red, and in them France got by Denmark by one in the group stages, and barely got past Paraguay in ET. Now, I may have been young but I remember the Italy game. Simply because he didnt scored, it didnt mean he wasnt influental. Ronaldo was great at the tournament, but the fact is his not being 100% in the final (im not sure why he was started after it was recommended he be benched) does not diminsh the accomplishment of scoring two and, combined with the ET goal, virtually singlehandedly waxing one of the best teams on earth. Then France wins euro2000 and he is named player of the tourney. Then in 2002, he misses the first two games and France falls flat on its face. When you add that to three champions league finals, one CL win, the golden ball, three world player of the year awards, and the CL mvp award in 2002, I simply cannot see how you cant think the two are at least on par.
The fact remains that even if he was not as everpresently great in a few games, and has been on the decline in the last couple of years, there is a reason he commanded 70 million euros when he moved teams. He was a one man engine in midfield. While I personally am biased because I watched him play, im sure many people would be of the opinion that he was about as great as Beckenbauer, and many of the other names I mentioned. That was just my opinion.
And dont think that I am slating Ronaldo in any way. But his legacy will be more of a missed opportunity than an unqualified legend. The greats make the most of their talent for the sake of their team and the game. Yes he got injured, yes 2002 was a great moment for him, but he couldve been so much more if he had just worked harder. Derek Coleman couldve been one of the greatest powerforwards in NBA history, but he's just a bit part player. Extreme analogy but you see what I mean
