After close-up coverage of those moments was belatedly shown on ITV on Friday night, Desmond Lynam apologised to any viewers who might have been upset by the images but said he thought it was right to screen them. It certainly was. Only the irredeemably prim could have taken offence. Most of us were awed by Zidane’s instantaneous recovery of a miraculous composure. The seamless transition from doubled-up disarray to executioner’s calm was a tribute to the toughness of mentality that has always reinforced the extraordinary talent of the greatest footballer of his era.
Nervous tension must be the chief suspect as the cause of his physical discomfort in the two minutes of stoppage time between the free kick with which he cancelled England’s long-held lead and the penalty that shattered them, which renders the perfection of his response all the more incredible.
The game abounds with stories of men who had to be sick in the dressing room before going out to play but coping with it in the midst of high drama on the field was a totally different phenomenon. It was no surprise to hear the veterans’ veteran, Sir Bobby Robson, say that he had never seen anything like it.
No fancy significance should be attached to a quick bout of vomiting but it doesn’t seem wild to suggest that Zidane’s triumph of will over nausea was a good sign for a tournament whose prospects of producing a crescendo of quality are almost sure to be linked with the level of performance reached by France. So far the French have disappointed. Their defeat of England was not, as some reports in our newspapers were inclined to claim, appropriate reward for a late application of superior class. It came mainly through the sudden arrival of lucky breaks for France (or, if you prefer, opposition blunders) at a stage of the contest when several of their outstanding figures were patently resigned to losing. The shortcomings evident in that display re-emerged more damagingly in their second match, against Croatia on Thursday, leaving them with no vestige of complaint about settling for a draw on the evening when the English were restoring their own confidence with a thoroughly satisfying, if stutteringly achieved, 3-0 victory over Switzerland.
If France’s worries will be kept under control by the legitimate belief that they can comfortably dispose of the Swiss on Monday and finish top of Group B, their most important source of long-term optimism may be the attitude of Zidane. Against what was, for a full hour and a half last Sunday, brilliantly disciplined defiance from Sven-Göran Eriksson’s team, his determination was palpable. While other celebrities in blue shirts visibly succumbed to frustration as the reigning champions of Europe found themselves unable to contrive a single clear-cut scoring opportunity from open play, he continued to cover ground tirelessly in his attempts to engineer penetration of a defence superbly organised around the mighty central unit of Sol Campbell and Ledley King. There were hints of a sense of mission reminiscent of the driving zeal imparted to Brazil by their greatest-ever player in the World Cup finals of 1970, an event in which Pele simply refused to countenance failure. But thus far Zidane, unlike Pele, has not been able to count on sustained support from teammates, even from Thierry Henry, whose boundless, spellbinding abilities can be inhibited by a lack of bloody-minded persistence when he is denied a natural context for the fluent beauty of his game.
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Unless France can rise to the standard of concerted excellence expected of them, Euro 2004 will not be as distinguished as it should be, but few in this country will lament that development if it improves the chances of English success in a competition which has hitherto consistently seen them thwarted early. According to the initial form lines, it would seem that for the second time in two years Eriksson’s men are, contrary to the tide of history, in a major championship they can regard as eminently winnable.
Obviously dangers are plentiful in Portugal (starting with the challenge tomorrow of a Croatian team encouraged by having so deeply discomfited the French) but none of them should unnerve England. Though the Czech Republic have countless admirers after their epic victory over Holland last night, France remain the betting favourites. To justify that position, the champions will have to offer more effective aggression than they did in last Sunday’s collision, where they resembled a boxer who advances dominatingly across the ring with much feinting and stylish movement but doesn’t deliver telling blows. They were equally undestructive against Croatia but we must assume they will soon start punching their weight. If they do, even the immense precocity of Wayne Rooney, that inspired and inspiring scion of a pugilistic clan, may not be enough to make England a match for them.