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| FRANCE - HESITATING BETWEEN EXCELLENCE AND
INGENUOUSNESS FORM & RECENT FRIENDLIES The world champions arrogant? Many could believe it if you look at the way they played against an inspired Japan team. The dreaded French defense has simply been absent during the whole match, and the ball-recoverer and midfielder Didier Deschamps seemed not as easy as usual. The consequences have not been long to come : Once again, France run after the score and avoided humiliation only thanks to a, as usual, genius Zidane, and a decisive substitution who saw Anelka shot a decisive pass for Djorkaeff a few minutes after his arrival. The score of 2-2 is worrying if you consider especially the fact that the French defense seemed outrunned by the quick Japanese forwards. Actually, speed is the major advantage of Japan who cannot rely on the same technique and physical fitness than France, but Sunday evening there were two teams, one was embarrassed and seemed old and tired while the other practiced an exciting, although sometimes naive football. In one year, 3 home goals from Russia, 2 from Slovenia in the same conditions, 2 from Japan, again, 2 from Iceland... It seems France is not attracted by "little" teams. Fortunately - should we say fortunately? Tthe group where France fall for the Euro is a big one : No less than Denmark, former european champion, Holland, super favourite, and Czech Republic, who devastates everything and everyone during qualifications... Now here's the deal : Getting the best on these teams and finish at the first place could be synonymous with "final victory". Because French team is inconsistent, because she seems to hesitate during the first half, because she - finally - takes blows like any other team, she'll have to prove everything. France is definitely not the favourite for Euro 2000, and maybe this is his major force. Never harass the wounded big cat. Kill him quickly or die yourself. Finally, for the final of Hassan II tournament, France beat Morocco 5-1 easily with a team of substitutes, without Zidane, Blanc, Deschamps, during the major part of the match. Another paradox. THE "OTHER" FRENCH STARS FRANK LEBOEUF - DEFENSE * Born in Marseille on January 22nd 1968. * 1,83 m - 72 kg * Clubs : Hyeres (1986-87) Meaux (1987-88) Laval (1988-90) Strasbourg (1990-96) Chelsea (since 1996) * Selected 28 times, 3 goals. * World Champion in 1998. * Cup Winners' Cup in 1998 with Chelsea. * English Cup Winner in 1997 with Chelsea. * French Cup Finalist in 1995 with Strasbourg. * Champions League Semifinal in 1996. Frank Leboeuf has been one of the first French player to migrate to Premier League, coming from Strasbourg. Raised to the status of star of Chelsea, Leboeuf rapidly became popular in London thanks to his clean tackles, his long forward passes, his spurtings. For the French team, he's more often a substitute of Laurent Blanc. He nevertheless got the opportunity to play the World Cup Final thanks to the holder's suspension where he completely obliterated an uninspired Ronaldo. But anyway, he's more than a simple substitute. He's completely integrated to the French defensive scheme, and will probably join his Chelsea's buddy Desailly during the Euro in central position in case the "president" would get injured. JOHAN MICOUD - MIDFIELD * Born in Cannes on July 24th 1973. * 1,88 m - 82 kg * Clubs : Cannes (1992-1996) Bordeaux (1996-2000) Parme (since 2000) * Selected 5 times. * French Champion in 1999 with Bordeaux. Designated substitute of Zinedine Zidane, Johan Micoud came from this new generation of talented French offensive playmakers, as well as Dalmat or Dhorasoo. "I'm no Zidane", insist the former gamemaker of the AS Cannes, who succeded to the Juventus maestro in Bordeaux and who, next season, will replace the little Argentinian Ariel Ortega in Parme. "Jo" thinks his game can perfectly complement Zidane's one, but Lemerre seems to hesitate putting them together. After the Euro, he wants to take a new international dimension in the Calcio. To get rapidly used to it, he will rely on his selection partner Lilian Thuram and on Alain Boghossian. He recently proved his skill and vision of the game in selection against Scotland by delivering an accurate pass "a la Zidane" in the back of the Scotish defence to his former Bordeaux's teammate Wiltord, who scored right after from a crossed low shot. CHRISTOPHE DUGARRY - ATTACK * Born in Bordeaux on March 24th 1972. * 1,88 m - 78 kg * Clubs : Bordeaux (1982-1996) Milan AC (Ita, 1996-1997) FC Barcelone (Esp, 1997- dec. 1997) Marseille (Jan. 1998 - Jan. 2000) Bordeaux (since January 2000) * Selected 38 times in the French national team, 5 goals. * 1998 World Champion. * 1996 and 1999 UEFA Cup Finalist. Christophe Dugarry came back to the Girondins of Bordeaux this year, after spending a hard time in Marseille while the team came close to relegation. Now, back to his first and preferred club, he seems to be much more confident and happy. Often whistled due to a disturbing personality, he's often considered as the bad boy of French football, being either loved or hated. But he doesn't care, getting more and more serene as years go by and experience is growing. He got an experience of high competition that many other French strikers don't have. On the other hand he scored only 5 goals in 38 selections, but has a dreadful head game. By the way, he liberated the French team during the World Cup by scoring the first goal against South Africa. His complicity with Zidane on the field is obvious. Winner, on his left side, he lies heavy on defenses. He'll be nevertheless out for the first match against Denmark. He will also have to fight to get a stable place in a team where other new young attackers are waiting for proving their maestria. STYLE OF PLAY Many people commented France's style of play since their victory in the World Cup 1998. Franz Beckenbauer once ironically said that the victory of the French was the victory of the side who feared the most his opponents. This gives an idea of Jacquet's tactics during the World Cup, that is to say defense before all : A team who takes one goal less than the opponent wins. But Beckenbauer was wrong about the frightened attitude : During the world cup France used a all-time high pressing on their opponent. Any other team practising the same way of playing would have taken many goals, but at this moment the French major defense squad, composed of Thuram and Lizarazu on the wings, and of Blanc and Desailly or Leboeuf in central defense, was imperial. Moreover, Jacquet could not rely on a strong attack force : Dugarry, the most experienced forward got rapidly injured after scoring the first French goal of the cup. Thierry Henry misses some important occasions even if he terminated the tournament as best french striker : Especially, he misses the opportunity to beat the Paraguayan keeper in a one-on-one confrontation, which almost cost France the match. Trezeguet did not get enough opportunities to play, and anyway was not as decisive as now. Finally, Guivarc'h wasted his participation. Now things are different : The french defense is not invincible anymore, but strikers are numerous and effective, therefore Lemerre, the new coach, must compromise with it. The thing that struck the most in the French way of playing is probably controlling the ball. The way the French team can play with the ball is second to none, except maybe Italy. Many big teams have been forced to run everywhere by technically impressive French defensive midfield and backs. Pressing high seems not to be the major concern of Lemerre : While this tactics greatly helped French players to take confidence and to rapidly get the ball back, France practice now a sort of "wait-and-see" game. This way of doing probably cost them many goals since their historic victory. But this could also be expected as the French defense weakened during those two years. Like many teams, the French team tends to wait his opponent in her own field half if she leads. This is always a dangerous way of managing a score, especially against skillful opponents like Denmark or Holland, future 1st round opponents. But France also proves a great morale : Overtaken by Slovenia recently (0-2 at home in 10 minutes !), she managed to get back and finally win thanks to his joker Trezeguet. Experience proves that, first, a leading French side is hardly beaten, and second, that France is vulnerable during the first 30 minutes. The main concern of France's future opponents will therefore be to score first and quickly. The main drawback of the French team is probably that his gameplay quality is far from being regular : Some teams considered as "average", like the Czech Republic, have less individual talents but practice a football made of discipline and regularity before all : They start strong, they finish strong, and they do it during the whole tournament. SOME WORDS OF CONCLUSION Lemerre has found what Jacquet struggled to build without success, a dangerous attack duo. Here's a clue : Hard to know which one is quicker. Fortunately for the future opponents, Lemerre also lost the World Champions defense invincibility. Very smart who could predict what France will do for the first Euro 2000 match, do the job, or once again stammering her football ? See you in Bruges. "Et un, et deux, et trois-zéro !" France started the Euro the same way she started The world cup : an impressive 3-0 win on a recent european champion, Denmark. While many observers, and Bo Johannson himself said that there was an offside on Laurent Blanc's first goal, everybody consider that the world champions deserved this victory. "It will be hard to stop the french attackers", Johannson noticed. This is the major fact who emerge from this match : France found a new shining striker squad. The match started as usual for the frenchs by a hesitating, somewhat shy defensive attitude, and the Danes, starting very strong and physically aggressive, created very rapidly two opportunities who failed only thanks to an impeccable Barthez. French central backs, during the 15 first minutes, were regularly surprised by passes of the Danes midfield behind them to the always restless Tomasson and Sand. The first french goal sounded reveille of the french team who scored a first time just after the first quarter by an always opportunist Laurent Blanc, after a big work of Zidane and Anelka. The first half terminated without any real opportunity for the to sides, except some spurtings of the always dangerous Anelka and also from Djorkaeff, who saw his run alone for a one-on-one with Schmeichel stopped by the referee for an imaginary offside. The first half terminated on the score of 1-0 for the frenchs. The second half appeared much more dynamic and engaged for the two sides : the Danes continuously harrassed the french midfield to prevent him of distributing sharp passes to the two arrows Henry and Anelka. By the way they commited many faults, not always punished by a referee who seemed to have decided to let the game go ahead most often, and probably because this resulted from a healthy dynamic attitude of the Danes in order to recover the ball rather than from a bad state of mind. During the 25 first minutes of the second half the frenchs didn't see the ball very often, letting probably the Danes trying - and failing - to find a hole in the regrouped french defense, who meanwhile fixed the little central defensive problem they had during the first part of the match. The game went this way until Henry, superbly put into orbit by Zidane, run alone on the left side to elude Schmeichel from a low-crossed shot (2-0, 65th minute). After an hour of game, Vieira came as a substitute for a pretty good Djorkaeff and added more stability to the french defense, in fact the configuration of the world cup winners with three defensive midifelders was on the field again. Finally, Wiltord replaced Anelka, and from this moment the Danes didn't see the ball any more, frenchs seemed to be satisfied with this victory and they concluded the match with a good pass of Henry for Vieira, who centre the ball for Wiltord to score the last goal of the match (93th minute). The world champions despite once again a difficult start, have proven that their title was not stolen. But they'll have to make a better start against a Czech team who lived a nightmare against Holland, losing on a controversial penalty. Laurent Bollini laurent.bollini@free.fr |
| France, the current
World Champions, are seen as realistic winners of Euro 2000 particularly as many believe them to be a stronger side than two years ago. Added to an experienced defence and a creative midfield is a vibrant and pacey, young attack that wants to recreate scenes of jubilation along the Champs Elysée. Unconvincing in qualifying, and a recent friendly match against Japan, which had to be settled on penalties suggests that France are not yet in top gear, but the real test comes when the tournament begins on June 11. They won the World Cup on home soil, as did the 1984 Platini-inspired European Championship winning team so they will appreciate how Holland may benefit when the sides meet in the final group D game on June 21 in Amsterdam. This group is surely the group of death for this tournament as France must also face the Czech Republic, whose 10 straight wins represented the only 100% record in the qualifying stages of the finals and will certainly provide stiff opposition. Denmark reached this stage for their fifth consecutive finals via the play-offs, and despite being winners in 1992, they are most likely to bow out in the group stage. It is no surprise that head coach, Roger Lemerre has kept faith with the same set of players, who his predecessor, Aimé Jacquet assembled and turned into World Champions, and he has changed little in the way of tactics. Fabien Barthez was the No. 1 at the World Cup and since picking up the French Championnat with Monaco last season he has joined English Premiership winners Manchester United. Back-up is provided by PSG’s Bernard Lama who has played for his country 41 times but at 37 perhaps is resigned to the bench in what will surely be his last major international tournament. Ulrich Ramé of Bordeaux is the third ‘keeper to travel. Amongst the defenders are Chelsea duo Marcel Desailly and Frank Leboeuf. Desailly has won most of the grand prizes in football in France, Italy and England and with over 60 international appearances his experience and confidence will be vital to France’s bid for glory. His partnership on the domestic front with the ever-cool Leboeuf could prove effective but that is to overlook the inspirational and long-standing backbone of “Les Bleus”, Laurent Blanc. Having amassed 88 caps, many as captain, he too knows what it takes to be a winner. Cruelly suspended for the World Cup final versus Brazil, he must see this as his international swansong. First choice full backs are likely to be Parma’s Lilian Thuram and the cultured, attacking left-back Bixente Lizarazu of Bayern Munich. France’s midfield has several options and it is a credit to 31 year old Didier Deschamps, whose leadership qualities and battling attributes have ensured he has been a virtual automatic choice in the engine room and why Patrick Vieira is not guaranteed a place in the starting eleven. Yet, after what Deschamps would agree was a less than exemplary season in club football, Lemerre might see the advantage of playing Vieira with Petit as they have formed one of the strongest midfield pairings in the English league with Arsenal. Without doubt the most skilful and creative player is Zinedine Zidane, who pulls the strings of his team and scores some important goals, and is considered as highly as Michel Platini. Youri Djorkaeff has a fine goal scoring record from the middle of the park and will expect to start the finals. After the exploits in 1998, seemingly without a genuinely quality striker, the situation has improved and in turn so have France’s prospects of further success. Thierry Henry has just enjoyed a spectacular inaugural season in the English top flight by scoring 22 goals. Even Nicholas Anelka put his troubles behind him at Real Madrid and finished the season with a smile on his face as he picked up a Champion’s League medal, and his 3 goals in 10 games is an impressive strike rate, which he can build on this summer. David Trezeguet was the second highest goal scorer in the French League and his tally helped Monaco to the title and he will be pushing for a main striker’s role. Christophe Dugarry has only scored 5 goals after 37 caps but is the most experienced attacker and will be remembered for scoring the first goal for his team in the 1998 World Cup and would settle for the chance to do it again this time. Although France’s back-line might have lost half a yard of pace their front line has gained more than that and put in another group the bookies might have made them favourites. As it is they face pre-tournament favourites Holland but can still be expected to progress. Ben Gardner bmg69@hotmail.com |