Zidane inspires France Ribery excited to be playing By ROB LONGLEY -- Toronto Sun Wed, July 5, 2006

FRANKFURT -- Franck Ribery remembers the celebration of eight years ago.

As a 15-year-old he joined his pals along Champs D'Elysees celebrating France's jubilant World Cup win at home in Paris.

Like the rest of his nation, he bowed down to his hero, and the clear leader of that squad, Zinedine Zidane. Now, here he is sharing the midfield with Zizou at another magical World Cup run.

"Everyone would like to play with Zidane," Ribery said yesterday after his team's final training session in advance of today's semi-final against Portugal.

"It's great to be at the World Cup playing alongside him and it will be great when later on in my career, or even when it's over, when I can say I played with Zizou."

He has done more than play alongside his hero. Instead, Ribery has been tagged as the key to France's future once Zidane retires following the World Cup.

Of course, the way things started in Germany, Zidane's final Cup was going to be marked by a quiet fade to the sunset. After lacklustre draws against Switzerland and South Korea to start, the French already were being written off as a reprise of the team that didn't score a goal in 2002.

But after a wakeup call against Togo, France destroyed Spain 3-1 in the Round of 16 before its upset of Brazil in the quarters.

That game was marked by a brilliant Zidane effort capped with his beautiful setup of Arsenal striker Thierry Henry for the game's only goal.

Not only has it renewed faith among French fans who saw '98 as a distant memory, it has reaffirmed Zidane's drive to go out on top.

"We don't want to stop now," Zidane said. "This is so beautiful. We want to carry it on."

Portugal defender Miguel said the performance of Zidane, 34, and his own elderly teammate, 33-year-old Louis Figo, has been remarkable.

"Zidane is still one of the best in the world, his ball skills are unequalled," Miguel said. "When he came into form, France started winning. I just hope he has a quiet game against us."