Les Bleus managed to scrap into the finals on the back of a controversial playoff win over the Republic of Ireland. The ‘golden generation’ of Zidane, Henry and Vieira is long gone as the current squad seems to struggle from one poor performance to the next. However, despite the perceived weakness of their team and manager Raymond Domenech, they were the finalists in the 2006 World Cup where they lost to Italy after a penalty shootout. The French public and media expect little of the side they are sending over, yet recent history suggests that perhaps France should not be written off just yet.
Prior to victory as the host nation in the 1998 World Cup, France had a relatively poor record in this competition. They managed to reach the last four on three occasions: 1958, 1982 and 1986 which is a fine achievement, but they have several first round exits. The most humiliating of these was certainly their dismal defense of the crown in 2002, when they were eliminated without scoring a goal in the entire tournament. It seemed that the French lacked the temperament to land the ultimate prize with players like Platini, Giresse and Tigana failing to inspire them beyond the semi-finals. Then they gloriously came to prominence in the 1998 World Cup when they crushed Brazil 3-0 in the final in their national stadium.
The 2006 tournament saw them unexpectedly eliminate Spain, Brazil and Portugal before losing to Italy in a final marred by a headbutt perpetrated by the legendary Zinedine Zidane on Italy’s Marco Materazzi. Zidane was sent off and his team mates didn’t hold their nerve in the shootout with David Trezeguet the unfortunate man to miss his kick.
France found it extremely difficult to gain any momentum in their qualifying group. They lost their first match 3-1 to Austria, and looked in serious trouble with Romania pushing them hard for second spot. In the end, France couldn’t catch group winners Serbia, but successfully fended off the plucky Romanian challenge. They were then drawn against the Republic of Ireland in a two-legged playoff and seemed on course for the finals with a 1-0 win in Dublin. However, they lost 1-0 in Paris and a penalty shootout loomed. That is until Thierry Henry handled the ball twice before setting up William Gallas’ winning goal. Henry was dubbed a cheat, but he succeeded in getting his team to the World Cup Finals.
Though France are one of the bookmaker’s favorites, they are not getting a lot of support from punters. Henry is an aging superstar, yet he still has the talent to unsettle any defense. Franck Ribery, Nicolas Anelka and Karim Benzema offer them a legitimate goal threat. That said, there are quite a number of average players, though the impressive form of goalkeeper Hugo Lloris could go some way to assuaging fears about France’s leaky defense. Under fire coach Domenech always seems to be one game away from the sack, yet he always manages to get through the many crises that have marred his reign. One thing that is certain about France is that you cannot predict what will happen next.