Clairefontaine (France): Zinedine Zidane thinks former winners France can go a long way at the World Cup in Germany.
"We can go far," said Zidane, who will win his 100th cap in a warm-up game against Mexico on Saturday.
The match will be his last at the Stade de France where he inspired France's 3-0 defeat of Brazil in the 1998 World Cup final with two headed goals.
"We have the possibility to experience a great adventure," the classy midfielder, who will retire after the finals, said on Friday at France's training base outside Paris.
"We have to avoid repeating the mistakes of the past and I believe we can," the balding 33-year-old with the magic touch added, referring to France's early exits from the 2002 World Cup and the 2004 European championship.
Zidane said, "We must advance step by step and must not play the July 9 final in our heads before being on the pitch on the day."
The central figure in the France team that won the World Cup on home turf in 1998 and the European championship two years later, Zidane felt France needed to recover the team spirit of previous years if they were to be successful in Germany.
"We have quite an exceptional team with many great players," he said. "If we get on well together, and everything suggests we will, we have the right to be ambitious."
Zidane, who has scored 28 goals in 99 appearances for his country, first wore the France shirt in a 2-2 draw with the Czech Republic in 1994 when he scored both his side's goals after coming on as a second-half substitute.
Zidane, who wept copiously when he played his last game for Real Madrid at the Bernabeu, said there might be more tears on Saturday. "Maybe I'll cry again," he said. "But that's allowed, isn't it?"
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