The Hindu : Sport / Football : Les Bleus have come a long way

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Sunday, May 02, 2004

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Les Bleus have come a long way

PARIS, MAY 1. France's soccer team has mustered a World Cup victory and two European titles, but that success masks a slow start for what is today one of the world's most formidable sides.

The national team celebrates its 100th anniversary on Saturday, commemorating a 3-3 draw in a friendly against Belgium in Brussels on May 1, 1904.

`Les Bleus' — as the team is known now — needed more than a half-century to begin making its mark, and its greatest days of fame and glory have come within the last decade alone.

The team lost its first three games to England 15-0, 12-0 and 11-0, before finally getting some revenge with a 2-1 victory against the Englishmen in 1921.

Thereafter, the history that the team made was mostly of an anecdotal sort: striker Lucien Laurent made the record books at the 1930 World Cup in Uruguay, scoring the first World Cup goal ever.

France first gained international reputation in 1958, reaching the World Cup semifinals. Striker Just Fontaine set a new record by scoring a staggering 13 goals.

As host of the 1960 European championships, France lost all its games and then missed the 1962 World Cup and Euro-64. The team fared little better at the 1966 World Cup, exiting early.

France then went into a freefall until Michel Hidalgo became coach in 1976. His tenure benefited from the emergence of Michel Platini, who scored in his first match and later became France's top goal scorer.

Hidalgo qualified France for the 1978 World Cup after a 12-year absence from soccer's showcase event.

Platini grew in stature to become the leader of a new crop of players including Jean Tigana, Alain Giresse and Luis Fernandez, who won Euro-84 and reached the 1982 and 1986 World Cup semifinals.

Platini, scorer of 41 international goals, coached France between 1988 and 1992. The team, however, failed to qualify for the 1990 World Cup and fell at the group stage in Euro-92.

Gerard Houllier, now coach of Liverpool, took over from Platini but, again, France did not qualify for the 1994 World Cup.

When Aime Jacquet took over in November 1993, France finally hit its stride. He oversaw a resurrection period that included a 30-game unbeaten streak at one point.

Its core shaped around Zinedine Zidane, Didier Deschamps, Laurent Blanc and Youri Djorkaeff, France reached the Euro-96 semifinals. Two years later, it secured the ultimate prize — beating Brazil 3-0 to win the 1998 World Cup on two Zidane goals.

Jacquet then handed over to Roger Lemerre, who took France to glory at Euro-2000, but disaster struck at the 2002 World Cup where the defending champion did not score a single goal.

Since then, Jacques Santini has restored stability, winning 18 of 21 matches. He leads France into Euro-2004 this summer as a big favourite. — AP

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