Tales of Zidane 7th penalty

The picture of this blog is one of my favorites featuring an important moment in 2006 final, Zidane scoring his famous penalty against the best keeper in the world, that time, Gianluigi Buffon.

So much were written about this particular penalty and how great that penalty was. One of the Scottish players and a BBC bloggers desribed it as: "Surely, given the circumstances, there cannot have been a more confident penalty than that in the history of the game.".

There is so much that was going to in my head during that moment, and so much to say more about this penalty:

- Zizo had perfect record in PKs:
Missing a PK became a norm for the super-stars in the modern football. The list is long and includes very impressive names: Maradona, Platini, Socrates, Zico, Marco Van Basten, Beckham, Raul, Mathause, Roberto Baggio, Franco Barezi, Igor Belanov and the list is too long, but, in contrast

Zidane had 7 crucial penalties in his career, all of them with France, 4 in European Cups and  3 in World Cups, and his record was a perfect one: scoring seven penalties out of seven penalties. Something impressive that is very rare to happen in modern history. It is something to tell about Zidane: He got the nervs and confidence of a football champ.

I searched so much, I only found one penalty missed by Zidane, that was prior to 2006 WC friendly against China, and it was when he slipped while taking the PK, so we should not count it. First, it had no importance at all, second, it was a funny accident:

Zidane: penalty raté
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- Best player in the world vs. Best keeper in the world:
When I was watching, I told my friends, Zizo will sure kick to the right side of Buffon (left side of Zizo).
I was wrong??!! Not exactly, Buffon had the same thought as mine as well. Whenever I thought about it, I always thought that Buffon took the right decision, and Zidane did the right decision, both in selecting which side of the goal to focus on.

Let me explain.

Before that moment, Zidane took six crucial PKs in his life, let's review them:
1- France x Holland in Euro 1996 Quarter Final:
Zidane took the first PK to give France 5-4 victory
Zidane kicked it to the right side of the keeper

2- France x czech in Euro 1996 Semi Final:
Zidane took the first PK and scored it, but france lost 5-6 and was knocked out.
Zidane kicked it to the right side of the keeper, I could not find a video for this penalty.

3- France x Italy in 1998 WC Quarter Final: (check at 03:26 minutes)
Zidane again took the first PK and scored it, exactly, to the right side of the keeper. France qualified to the semi final with 4-3 victory

4- Next, two years later, in Zidane best game ever (in my opinion) vs. Portugal in the Euro 2000 Semi Final.

After an amazing tough game, Zidane had to take a penalty at the extra time and during the "Death Goal" years. It was tremendous pressure moment. Zizo never looked more confident, he scored it,

and again, it was to the right side of the keeper

5- France x England in Euro 2004 first game:

Zizo did his routine again, his right foot to the right side of the keeper. Well, England had a bad keeper, so we might expect a lot of him.

But, the sixth crucial penalty is different:

6- France x Portugal in 2006 WC Semi Final:

Zidane did it again, with exactly same way. But, now, it was a wonderful smart Portoguese keeper. He had big role in Portugal qualifying to the Semi Final and he was able to read Zizo mind. Ricardo almost saved the penalty.

7- Now, we reach the seventh important penalty in Zizo career. At that moment, he is facing one of the smartest and most competent keepers in the history of the game, Buffon. Zizo scored all of his famous six penalties the same way, to the right side of the keeper.

Is he willing to change his style?

I think, Buffon did his right guess, taking the game of chances, he jumped to the right side.

Zidane did right decision too, he changed his style, he knew he didn't need the power this time, as he usually did in the past. But, he needed the smartness.


Zizo penalty in the final of the last mondial, was much more than a PK, it had so much history and characters behind it. I have to add something weird, considering he is my favorite ever player, and so much wow said about that PK:

I liked Zizo decision (changing the side), but I didn't like his way of taking the PK. In such an important game, I think style and art is not what we need. What is needed is precise power and focus to score. I think it was bit careless, that he might missed it.

Same thing I say about 1990 Maradona PK vs. Italy in the Semi Final, esepcially few days after missing one with exact artistic style in the QF vs. Yugoslavia. Same thing I say about Totti PK in Euro 2000 vs. Holland. Tottai was lucky that he missed it the stupid way in a normal game, that no one remembers.

BONUS MATERIAL:
Zidane 2006 PK from fans camera
Zidane talking about his Euro 2000 SF PK (very nice)
Zidane vs. Malaga PK, same routine, two months before 2006 WC