Good news for the Zidane family. Elyaz, the young son of the former player and former Madrid coach, made his debut with the French U-17 team. The striking thing about the case is that the young player will turn 16 on December 26. The most surprising thing is that he did so in an official meeting valid for the European of the category to be held in Israel next year. And the most striking thing is that it took him just over a minute to score his first goal with the shirt bleu.
Elyaz was born in Marseille, the land of his father, at Christmas 2005. Nobody sensed that four months later, in a massive press conference in Valdebebas, his father would announce his departure after the World Cup in Germany. Already settled in Madrid with his family, he would soon enter the ranks of Canillas, a step prior to entering the lower categories of the white team. Currently he plays in the Juvenil C of the white team, where he is one of the fixed for Pau Quesada, his coach (who has arrived this summer from the lower categories of Elche). Unlike his brothers Enzo (midfielder) and Luca (goalkeeper), Elyaz acts as a left back. Against Moldova he came out with six minutes remaining in the match, and it was barely out, when he scored: he is the youngest player of all those summoned by José Alcocer, the French coach of the category. One of his teammates is goalkeeper Lisandru Olmeta, son of international exporter Pascal Olmeta.
The Zidane saga, then, already has a fifth international member with Les Bleus. His father the French shirt. His father Zinedine was international on 108 occasions (in 101 he was a starter), with 31 goals scored, three of them in World Cup finals. Winner of a World Cup and a European Championship, he is one of the most elegant players of the late 20th and early 21st centuries. His last goal, a Panenka-style penalty shot in the 2006 World Cup final, entered World Cup history. But not only that. His brother Enzo was international twice with the U19 team. His second brother, Luca, Rayo Vallecano goalkeeper, is the one who has gone through the most Galas lower categories: from the sub-16 to the sub-20, reaching 30 caps. He was the European Under-17 champion in 2015, in a team in which he had teammates like Upamecano. That year he would play the World Cup in the category. Theo, the fourth of the saga, has already been called up with the U-20.
He still has two more chances to defend the French international shirt. Cyprus is measured on Friday and Greece on Monday in a home run that is being held in Greek lands. The Zidane saga continues, although in lower categories …
