HAMELN, Germany _ Zinedine Zidane's career is just about over, shutting the light on a brilliant career. The end might be painful.

France's Zinedine Zidane is seen during a training session in Cologne June 22, 2006. France will face Togo on Friday in the first phase of the soccer World Cup in Germany. [Reuters]

The glory of the 1998 World Cup title has faded in a wave of international soccer disappointment. Zidane rarely has been able to place his creative stamp on France's national team in recent years.

And now he must sit out Friday's match with Togo, a game in which the French must win for any chance to avoid another opening-round elimination _ almost matching the ignominy of their goal-less departure from the 2002 tournament.

Zidane already has announced his retirement from international and club soccer. Will the final image of this star be his chucking the captain's armband into the team dugout upon his removal from a 1-1 draw with South Korea? Will the scowl on his face as he walked past coach Raymond Domenech be the lasting memory?

If so, that is a shame.

The career of Zidane, who turns 34 Friday, has been mixture of sublime skill, some genius, and a fierce passion that occasionally descended into wild aggression.

His two header goals lifted France past Brazil to win the 1998 World Cup at home. Earlier in the tournament, an angry moment led to his being red-carded for stamping on a Saudi Arabia player.

Head-bowed, Zidane trudged off the field, knowing he had let his teammates down. Coach Aime Jacquet, face boiling red with anger, refused to look at him.

A few weeks later, he was the toast of Paris and all of France as Les Bleus won its only world title.

Five years ago, Zidane head-butted Jochen Kientz in a Champions League match for Juventus against Hamburger SV. But a year later, his magical volley gave Real Madrid its ninth European title.

Zidane was FIFA World Player of the Year three times. He ranks alongside Michel Platini as France's most gifted player ever.

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