WC Editorial III : Tide Turning For 'Lucky' France -- TWF

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Subject: WC Editorial III : Tide Turning For 'Lucky' France

Author:
Son

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Date Posted: 11:06:27 06/07/02 Fri

06/06/2002. Has the spell finally been broken? For the team dubbed 'lucky' more than any other over the past four years, the tide finally seems to be turning.

Many have gone to pains to point out just how fortunate Les Bleus have been to win the previous two major European tournaments.

The 1998 World Cup first. After cruising through a simple group consisting of Denmark, Saudi Arabia and South Africa, Aime Jaquet's men met Paraguay and only progressed after a golden goal from Laurent Blanc. Then in the quarters against Italy, Roberto Baggio came within a hair's breadth of putting them out before France went through on penalty kicks. Against Croatia they went a goal down before Lilian Thuram chose the perfect moment to score his first international goals his country. Even then, Croatia missed a chance to take it into extra time. They then came up against a Brazil team so crippled by the epileptic fit suffered by Ronaldo prior to kick-off that they could function nowhere near their normal level.

And the pattern continued at Euro 2000. They were outplayed against Spain in the quarter finals and who's to say whether they'd have survived extra time had Raul not missed a late, late penalty? Then came the win against Portugal in the semis following that controversial penalty award. And the final against Italy. The Azzurri fans must still be wondering quite how Alessandro Del Piero missed those two guilt-edged chances to kill off the match when they were leading 1-0. Sylvain Wiltord made him pay the ultimate price with that last minute equaliser before David Trezeguet's winner. Yet another golden goal.

These days, France seem to have lost their sparkle and no longer have that air of invincibility. Luck has deserted them. They outplayed Uruguay for long spells in the 0-0 draw but were always facing an uphill struggle after the unfortunate 25th minute sending-off of Thierry Henry. How they desperately needed a player capable of a moment of genius to unlock a stubborn Uruguay defence.

The losses of Robert Pires and Zinedine Zidane through injury were cruel blows indeed. Zizou is one of a kind but the Arsenal man is probably one of only four or five players in world football who could have proved an adequate replacement.

"Losing Robert Pires so soon before the World Cup is a real blow. Nobody can do the things he's done for us lately. Not even Zidane,' rare praise indeed from coach Roger Lemerre. True though. The former Marseille man has had a sensational season and was set to light up the World Cup. Football's fickle hand of fate can be so cruel sometimes.

But what of Zidane himself? The latest news is that he's likely to be fit for next week's crucial game with Denmark that will determine whether Les Bleus remain in the tournament or become the first World Cup holders to be knocked out in the group stage since Brazil in 1966.

"I will leave it up to him," said Lemerre. "If he feels that he is fit to play, then he will certainly start,"

France better hope he does because without him the 4-2-3-1 system breaks down. Against Senegal there was a worrying predictability about their play. Patrick Vieira and Manu Petit cut subdued figures in the middle of the park, while Youri Djorkaeff was certainly involved but gave the ball away all too often.

France created opportunities against Uruguay and looked more like the side that have entertained us so much over the past four years. This was down in no small way to the contribution of Johan Micoud who didn't do a bad job in trying to achieve the impossible �V replacing Zidane. He's an elegant playmaker who surely deserves more than a place on the Parma bench each week.

France lack width also. Thierry Henry and Sylvain Wiltord are both adept on the wing but are really support strikers for David Trezeguet who's worked hard in the tounament but without any reward. In the Senegal clash those lung bursting forays from Lilian Thuram and Bixente Lizarazu were missing and France suffered as a result.

The latter two players are ageing also. They are not alone. Marcel Desailly, Frank Leboeuf and Fabian Barthez are all the wrong side of 30 and barring the latter, will need to be replaced sooner rather than later. But who is coming through? The error-prone Mickael Silvestre? The rash Philippe Christanval? Auxerre youngster Philippe Mexes looks to be the best bet so should be given a chance in the not too distant future. Surely he wouldn't have been given quite the run around that Leboeuf received from Senegal's supremely talented striker El Hadji Diouf.

It's pretty glum for Les Bleus at the minute but the cream rises to the top as they say, and who'd bet against them going all the way to the final if they can just squeeze past Denmark in Suwon next week.

(from soccerage.com)

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