WORLD CUP 2006
France
Introduction
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Predicting how France are going to do in this World Cup is like trying to bottle lightning. If you put aside their embarrassing failure and deserved first round exit in 2002, France’s recent showings in major tournaments have been simply outstanding. World Cup winners on home turf in 1998, winners of Euro 2000, quarter-final losers to eventual champions Greece at Euro 2004…it doesn’t get much better than that.
Add to that the fact the team have lost just one game – 2-1 at home to Slovakia on March 1 – since going out of Euro 2004 and you would assume they would start as red hot favourites in Germany.
So why are the bookies quoting them at odds as long as 13-1 to take the trophy? Well, the presence of a Brazil side seemingly at the height of their powers has got a lot to do with it, of course. But only once has a non-European country won a World Cup in the continent (Brazil in Sweden in 1958). And if England are being quoted at 6-1, you must look for reasons beyond “the Brazil factor”.
Well, you could begin with France’s qualifying campaign, a stop-start affair with five draws in 10 games that made the road to Germany anything but a straightforward drive. There has also been a lot of chopping and changing, with stalwarts Lilian Thuram, Claude Makelele and, of course, Zinedine Zidane having retired, only to go back on their decisions and return to Les Bleus last August at a time when World Cup qualification was far from assured. But even so...
France reacted to ZZ’s change of heart with typical hyperbole, claiming all would be well now that the Messiah had returned. Indeed, qualification was duly secured, to a large degree thanks to a superb 1-0 win against the Republic of Ireland in Dublin last September. But with a daily sports paper and a thick, twice-weekly football magazine to fill, French journalists have not been slow to cast doubts on coach Raymond Domenech’s ability to turn his undoubtedly vastly talented squad into a genuine
World Cup-challenging ensemble.
Their argument hinges on the fact that there have been just eight victories since the one-time Lyon manager took the national team reins after Euro 2004. Nine draws and one defeat have got no one over-excited. And as the team have stuttered and spluttered, people are questioning whether the last three results – a lucky 3-2 win against Costa Rica, a dull 0-0 draw with Germany and that defeat by Slovakia – only go to prove that France are totally off the pace.
After the Zizou uplift, a sense of reality, if not downright pessimism, has now set in, and people are ignoring both France’s recent history and the sheer quality of a squad that includes Zidane, Makelele, Thuram, Thierry Henry, Patrick Vieira, David Trezeguet, Nicolas Anelka, etc.
The reality is that if France perform to the best of their abilities it will take a hell of a team to stop them. The issue is not Domenech’s managerial qualities or what has happened in warm-up friendlies. It is whether France can make experience tell when it really matters – or whether this World Cup will prove a bridge too far for a squad packed with ageing legs. I believe they will come good and at least make the semi-finals.
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