France: Comeback man Zidane steers the luxury liner to World Cup shores

The former football steam ship called “Equipe Tricolour” stuttered aimlessly one year long through qualifying waters. The once proud luxury liner was fishtailing. Up to that is 3 September 2005 when the captain returned on board and then proceeded to steer the leaking ship safely to World Cup 2006 shores. Thanks to Zinedine Zidane’s comeback, France now has hopes of overcoming their 2002 World Cup trauma at the 2006 finals in Germany.

Here you can find information about the star of the team ...

If one looks at the statistics it seems like the French star ensemble has again reached a summit after a series of ups and downs in the past decade. After the team peaked when winning the 1998 World Cup and the 2000 European Championships, the top favourite for the 2002 competition slithered into disaster and were knocked out without even scoring a goal. One year later the “Equipe Tricolour” secured the Confederations Cup title but then at EURO 2004 in Portugal they were surprisingly defeated 1-0 in the quarterfinals by eventual winners Greece.

Afterwards a generation change appeared to be on the cards. Superstars Zinedine Zidane and Claude Makelele announced their retirements after the harsh criticism about France’s European Championships exit. Coach Jacques Santini was forced to quit. His successor was a “nobody” in international football:  Raymond Domenech. The 53-year-old with eight international caps to his name had little to show for himself up to then: promotion to the first division with Olympique Lyon in 1989 and since 1993 he was involved with the French football association’s (FFF - Fédération Française de Football) schooling of young players – recently quite unsuccessfully as the U21’s coach.

After being eliminated from the European Championships, the team, under Domenech, once a tough and uncompromising defender, remained undefeated for 15 matches up until October 2005. Of those games, ten were in World Cup qualifying. But figures can deceive: in the first nine matches under his guidance up until May 2005, the French had only posted two victories and those were against football minnows the Faroe Islands and Cyprus. Far too little if the coach was not to find himself in the firing line.

In view of the, in part, desolate situation within his team, the discipline fanatic saw himself forced to eat humble pie. At the start of August 2005, he contacted France’s former midfield generals Zinedine Zidane (33, Real Madrid) and Claude Makelele (32, Chelsea). The coach convinced both exponents of football artistry to don their boots again for the “Equipe Tricolour”. For him and French football generally, it was the year’s biggest slice of luck. No longer so dynamic and quick off the mark as in his glory days, Zidane nevertheless immediately stamped his authority upon the team. He was its undisputed leading figure – just as if he had never been away. And success returned with the 1999 World Sportsman of the Year.

Up until his comeback, an appearance at the World Cup seemed far off. With six of the ten games played, “Les Bleus” (the Blues) were having to put up with an unworthy existence placed fourth in the group, three points behind top of the table Ireland. Trouble was brewing throughout the side. In particular, three scoreless draws in the first three home games gnawed away at the team’s confidence. The insecurity and nervousness on the pitch led to sending-offs for Patrick Vieira (in Faeroe) and David Trezeguet (in Israel). Only their individual class kept them in the running.

In the end and thanks to their captain, it was enough for their twelfth appearance at the World Cup finals. In one of the strangest qualifying groups in World Cup history, France came through at the expense of rivals Switzerland, Israel und Ireland. Strange because the quartet’s meetings against each other ended in draws – except for one: France won 1-0 in Ireland thanks to a stroke of genius from Thierry Henry. All in all it was enough to win a World Cup ticket to Germany. Qualification hung nevertheless in the balance right up to the last moment. Though Zidane and Co safely won their last group match 4-0 against Cyprus, a single Swiss goal in the parallel match in Irelandwould have been enough to have sent the former World Cup winners into the play-offs.

Even long term injuries to both the 28-year-old star strikers Thierry Henry (Arsenal) and David Trezeguet (Juventus) were put behind them in the final stages of qualifying. Top goal scorer was Djibril Cissé – the 24-year-old Liverpool player scored four of the 14 goals in qualifying. Henry, Sylvain Wiltord (31, Olympique Lyon) and Ludovic Giuly (29, Barcelona) all scored twice.

In addition to Zidane, Makelele, Henry, Wiltord and Trezeguet, the Juventus defensive all-rounders Patrick Vieira (29) and Lilian Thuram (33) from the “golden era” of French football all still play a leading role in their country’s team. In midfield, Bayern Munich’s marathon man Willy Sagnol (28) has made a regular place his own in the meantime whilst in goal Grégory Coupet (32, Olympique Lyon) has recently had his nose in front off the experienced Fabien Barthez (34, Olympique Marseille). The team is generally getting on a bit. At 24, Cissé is the youngest member of the national squad.