Blogger Lark Howorth pours his heart out to Zinedine Zidane, the finest footballer on the planet for the last 10 years, following les Bleus’ comprehensive 1-0 victory over defending champion Brazil yesterday. “Zidane is the greatest player I have ever seen.” Which isn’t to say he’s the greatest player in the history of the game, but he’s certainly the greatest player those of us who never got to watch Pele or Diego Maradona in their hay-day, have been able to see “in any quantity.” Yesterday was his finest match of the tournament; Zidane pulled all the strings in midfield, effortlessly staving off challenges from the likes of Ze Roberto and Ronaldinho. His passing was inch perfect, Howorth says, as if he were saying “no, not there, not there; yes, right there–38.2 meters from me I will deliver a ball 0.3 meters off the ground, so be there.” Mentally, he was “about three moves ahead of the rest of the players,” at times resembling Keanu Reeves’ character Neo from the Matrix series, able to slow down the laws of time and space to make things happen the way he wants.” Howorth’s panegyric certainly befits the encore performance of a man who will go down in history as one of the game’s greats. As great a player as Ronaldinho already is, Zidane yesterday showed how the Brazilian has a long way to go before he reaches the French star’s legendary status.