Sunday, Jun. 13, 2004

A Last Chance To Sparkle

By BRUCE CRUMLEY

In the universe some stars make spectacular exits as exploding supernovas, their auras blazing across space. Others simply peter out, becoming what astronomers call dwarfs — faint points of light that slowly go dark. For the aging stars of European soccer, Euro 2004 might offer that same stark choice of outcomes. Certainly, the European championships have before. Think of 1996, when fading English bad boy Paul Gascoigne had luminous moments throughout the tourney, then scored the ultimate solo wonder goal against Scotland: running onto a pass into the box, Gazza flicked the ball over the head of the last defender and volleyed it into the Scottish goal. In the dwarf category, Germany's Lothar Matthäus' grim performance in the Low Countries four years ago — snagging his 150th German cap, and promptly vanishing as Portugal racked up a 3-0 win — took some of the shine off his World Cup medal. What's undeniable is that this year's tournament marks the end of an era for one of Europe's most talented footballing generations — a last chance for the stars to shine brightly before their international careers come to an end.

Consider the defending champions, France. While striker Thierry Henry, 26, continues his rise to celestial heights, otherworldly playmaker Zinedine Zidane is nearing 32 — and though he backed off an announcement that he'll retire after Euro 2004, many doubt they'll see him on the pitch at the 2006 World Cup. "Zizou"

doesn't have to worry about his legacy, but he does want to erase memories of a woeful 2002 World Cup, and Real Madrid's miserable season this year. French defender Bixente Lizarazu, 34, has decided to make this his last Euro. And iconic teammates like goalkeeper Fabien Barthez, 32, and defenders Lilian Thuram, 32, and Marcel Desailly, 35 (booed loudly in recent performances), will soon face some gritty contemplation about just how solid their hold is on national team slots. "Between this Euro, and the 2006 World Cup, we'll see a considerable number of departures from national sides — in both quantitative and qualitative terms," predicts Aimé Jacquet, who coached France to its 1998 world title and launched French stars like Zidane, Lizarazu and Barthez. "It will mark a major transformation in European football." And it's not just France. For Luís Figo, 31, and the last of the "golden generation" of Portugal, this is the final opportunity to actually bring home gold. "It makes me sad," Figo said recently, "to think that this may be my last year with the national team after 12 years." Sadder still if the Portuguese come up empty at home. And for aging Dutch masters such as Frank de Boer and Edgar Davids, there's only, what, a decade of football futility to unwind? "At some point you think, now it's enough," says Frank de Boer, who at 34 and with more than 100 caps to his credit will make his last appearance with a Dutch team he joined in 1990. "It's time," he says, "to give others a chance to get into the team."

De Boer is one of only a few players who have formally set this Euro as their international finale. Others include his teammate Jaap Stam, 31, and Swiss stalwart Stéphane Chapuisat, 34. Thirty-two- year-old Glasgow Celtic legend Henrik Larsson reversed his retirement from international play after the 2002 World Cup due to ferocious lobbying from fellow Swedes, including Swedish Prime Minister Göran Persson. Others, like the scowling German goalkeeper Oliver Kahn, 35 next week, hope performances in Portugal will bolster plans to stick it out for another two years until the Germany-hosted World Cup. Still others know they might not have the choice. "If we play poorly, it may be time for the next generation of players," says defender Michael Reiziger, 31, one of nearly half a dozen potential retirees on the perennial Dutch duds.

All players long to leave the game on their own terms, but the furious competition, injury, limited spots and victory-driven logic of notoriously unsentimental national coaches make closing out an international career far trickier than retiring professionally. The French squad may experience the most profound change, but if the idea of losing Lizarazu or Barthez saddens French hearts, the knowledge that Zidane is mulling retirement strikes utter fear in them. Ever since Zidane's fairy-tale debut with "les Bleus" in 1994 — entering a match against the Czech Republic in the 63rd minute and scoring two goals for a draw — French teams have been built around Zizou. Both he and his squads reached perfection together. "Watching from the bench that night, I knew it: this was the exceptional player everything else would revolve around," recalls Jacquet. "The gap he'll leave when he retires will be monumental."

In more ways than one, adds Stéphane Meunier, a filmmaker who spent months shooting documentary footage during France's 1998 and 2002 World Cup campaigns: "As masterful an athlete as Zidane and all these guys are, it's the chemistry they've created that has been so vital to France's success. The future of French teams depends on how well that human transformation of in- dividual into a close-knit collective continues."

Finding that same alchemy may well hold the footballing key for the Netherlands — a nation that has continually produced stellar footballers, but maddeningly underachieving teams. "We are always one of the four or five best teams in Europe, but, for some reason, it seems like we always fall short in important tournaments," laments winger Marc Overmars, 31, who told Time he would retire from the national team after Euro 2004. Indeed, the Dutch are better known for agonizing defeat than for scintillating victory. Their only major title was a 1988 European crown capped by Marco van Basten's brilliance. But it is often overlooked among more recent flops: semifinal losses to Brazil in the 1998 World Cup, and a nightmarish penalty kick meltdown against an exhausted Italy in the Amsterdam-hosted Euro 2000 semifinal. The Dutch then failed to qualify for the 2002 World Cup in South Korea and Japan, despite an all-star side that included Davids, de Boer, Stam, Patrick Kluivert, Philip Cocu, Overmars and keeper Edwin van der Sar. But with so much talent, so much frustration — and so many players heading toward the exit — the Dutch may now be driven by a do-or-die determination Jacquet calls "scary." "We have only one goal: to win the title," de Boer insists. "We are anxious to win something."

In addition to Figo and Couto, Euro-host Portugal may also see old hands Rui Costa, Rui Jorge and striker Pauleta moving on. Similarly, the strong Czech team fronts a few players already into their 30s — though the most proficient like Jan Koller, Vladimír Smicer, Karel Poborsky and 2003 Golden Ball winner Pavel Nedved all hope to stick around until 2006, when age and injury probably won't make continuing an option.

Sweden stands to possibly lose only Larsson and his former Celtic teammate Johan Mjallby. Yet Larsson's departure is cataclysmic — his ability to make lightning-fast bursts to ghost beyond defenders into open spaces, leaving nothing between him and the cage but a hapless keeper, has netted him 242 goals in 315 games for his club. His retirement would deprive the team of its talisman and main scoring threat and probably force significant strategy changes. Germany — like Spain and England — boasts a relatively young and stable side, except for the increasingly shaky Kahn, who has some observers wondering about his pledge to play through Germany's 2006 World Cup. "At 34, he's still comparatively young for a keeper," argues Kahn's father, Rolf. "Just think of Italy's Dino Zoff who became world champion at the age of 40." Most German fans just think of Kahn coughing up big goals in the World Cup and recently in the Champions League for Bayern against Real Madrid.

It was Zoff, of course, who as coach brought Italy to within seconds of winning the Euro 2000 crown that the Squadra Azzurra ultimately lost to France. The defeat added Zoff to the list of 60-70% of all national coaches Jacquet says either quit or are fired after each major tournament. Zoff's successor, Giovanni Trapattoni, avoided the sack after Italy's washout at the 2002 World Cup thanks, he says, to a good-luck charm he'll be bringing to Portugal: holy water. He hopes a Euro win will allow him to retire in grace, a rarity in Italy. "I don't think [holy water] is what brings victory, because then everyone would use it and everyone would win," Trapattoni philosophizes. "But it does protect me from the negative things." He'd better keep that to himself, or Zidane, De Boer, Figo and a few dozen other senior veterans will all be reaching for his water bottle.