The Hindu : Sport : Zidane and France seize their final chance

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Friday, Jul 07, 2006

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Zidane and France seize their final chance

Kevin McCarra@ Guardian Newspapers Limited 2006

Munich : France has its chance to regain the World Cup against Italy in Berlin on Sunday and, as an additional prize, prove most of the planet wrong.

Having won the semifinal through Zinedine Zidane's serenely dispatched penalty, the 1998 winner will no longer hear much of a debate when they say that age makes the team experienced rather than decrepit.

France protected its lead without too much trouble. All it will rue is the booking for the substitute Louis Saha that rules the attacker out of the final.

Portugal, searching for an equaliser, scared France when Fabien Barthez fumbled a Cristiano Ronaldo freekick with 12 minutes left and Luis Figo headed over. With Fernando Meira wasting a chance in stoppage-time, though, the resurgence of Raymond Domenech's side could not be halted.

Rejuvenated

In the 0-0 draw with Switzerland it had looked sure the World Cup could offer France only condolences. The subsequent rejuvenation of body and spirit has been one of the great themes of the tournament and there was obvious pride in the players, veterans and comparative striplings alike, at being in the semifinal.

Ambition could never end there and contentiousness gradually seeped in, but the match at least started in a good-natured mood. A trace of affection for one another was apparent as the rivals stood in the tunnel before kick-off.

After the perfectly valid debate about gamesmanship from Portugal there was relief, for a while, in rediscovering that football itself can be a suitable topic of conversation.

Ricardo Carvalho did harangue Zidane over an alleged dive in the 27th minute, but the bitterness was not pervasive in the first-half. A riot even failed to erupt when the penalty was awarded six minutes later that saw Domenech's side take the lead.

Swift execution

Thierry Henry moved elusively and Carvalho, off balance, jutted out a left boot and the Arsenal forward went down. England can attest to Ricardo's specialist skill as a penalty-stopper, but Zidane, with a two-step run-up, was too crisp in his execution for the goalkeeper to have any hope.

The playmaker raised his hands to the skies in a gesture of gratitude. His career ends with this World Cup and his desire to stave off the retirement party until France has contested the final has become ever more pronounced.

Age is being made to look like a condition for which he has found a cure, at least for a couple of weeks. Ronaldo, at 21, is in no need of any remedies whatsoever. He gave an excellent display before the interval.

His confidence was set to maximum when he ran at defenders and he was the centre of a 37th-minute incident that had Luiz Felipe Scolari and his backroom staff leaping up in anger at the denial of a penalty.

Luis Figo crossed and Ronaldo received some very close attention from Willy Sagnol, whose arm was raised as he challenged, but the referee Jorge Larrionda considered it legitimate marking.

Even before going behind, Portugal was much brighter than it ever allowed itself to be against England. Deco's comeback, after a ban, partly accounted for that and he forced a save from Barthez early on after unleashing an unexpected shot.

A little later Ronaldo employed the sole of his boot to give Maniche a reverse pass and the midfielder's drive went fractionally high.

France was not cowed down and it was inexplicable that Henry chose not to lunge when he could have turned in the lovely ball that Eric Abidal rolled across the six-yard box after 14 minutes.

Impending trouble

Nonetheless, Zidane's team had put pressure on Portugal in the second half. After the interval, Scolari's men first had a demonstration of the trouble they would have in chasing an equaliser while also striving to subdue the opposition. Henry eluded Meira to put himself in a favoured, left position. His shot came off Ricardo's arm and went narrowly wide. France was poised and for a while, with Zidane putting on a demonstration of his tricks, Frank Ribéry had room for an effort that Barthez turned over.

Chronic problem

Portugal's discomfort was accentuated when the right-back Miguel hurt himself and was replaced by Paulo Ferreira. Pauleta had made enough space to avoid Lilian Thuram before hitting the side-net after 53 minutes, but Portugal's chronic difficulty in finding players at the centre of attack was being illustrated again.

Scolari removed Pauleta, who has been his usual disappointing self at the World Cup, and introduced Simao Sabrosa so that Ronaldo could play through the middle. That shuffling, however, was being asked to disrupt a France side with a settled conviction that it was destined to return to a World Cup final.

Line-ups:

France: Fabien Barthez, Willy Sagnol, Lilian Thuram, William Gallas, Eric Abidal, Claude Makelele, Patrick Vieira, Frank Ribery (Sidney Govou 72), Zinedine Zidane, Florent Malouda (Sylvain Wiltord 69), Thierry Henry (Louis Saha 85).

Portugal: Ricardo, Miguel (Paulo Ferreira 63), Fernando Meira, Ricardo Carvalho, Nuno Valente, Costinha (Helder Postiga 75), Maniche, Figo, Deco, Cristiano Ronaldo, Pauleta (Simao Sabrosa 68).

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