FRANCE 98 – FINAL PREVIEW

Saint Denis stadium dancing to
samba beat or French rock

Saint Denis Stadium will be dancing wildly to the Brazilian samba beat or French rock late on Sunday as the World Cup extravaganza finally makes its bow with either Dunga or Didier Deschamps brandishing the famous golden trophy.

The 64-match, 33-day football jamboree with an estimated total television audience of 38 billion will come to a close as the celebrations of the winners hold the attention of the sporting world.

The World Cup, which beats even the summer Olympics for media hype, could therefore be described as the world’s biggest sporting bonanza and for both countries it is a do-or-die affair.

It’s been a long road to the final for both teams, criticised in their respective countries for not being up to scratch. France coach Aime Jacquet described the French press as yobbos and Brazil boss Mario Zagallo has made no secret of his dislike of the piranha-like Brazilian media. Criticism will rain down once more on the losers but the winners will have their names ceremoniously engraved on the hallowed stone of World Cup legend.

Brazil, who already hold the record of four World Cup victories, would add a fifth to be two titles ahead of both three-time champions Italy and Germany. Should France win, they would be the seventh member of an elite club of world champions. Argentina, Italy, Germany and Brazil share 12 titles, Uruguay have won it twice and England once.

France would also level the scores between Europe and South America with both continents having captured eight titles. France, who won the 1984 European championships, will have finally overcome their psychological barrier of only being World Cup also-rans and gain the composure and confidence of the world’s best. Brazil are the masters at the World Cup challenge. They have qualified for all 16 finals and are synonymous with everything one expects from the land of beautiful football. Victory would also equal their 1958 achievement of being the only country to win on a different continent.

France have played in every qualifying event since 1930 and their previous best performances were in reaching three semi-finals in 1958, when a Pele hat-trick undermined them, 1982 and 1986.But neither the current sides of both Brazil and France are considered the best ever that their country has ever produced. The 1970 vintage of Brazil is generally believed to have been the zenith of spectacular football when the midfield of Gerson, Pele, Rivelino and Clodoaldo wowed the world on their way to their third title to keep the Jules Rimet trophy forever. And defender Lilian Thuram, the unlikely two-goal hero against Croatia in the semi-final, believes the current French team is not as good as some of the euphoria surrounding their success might lead people to believe. Only 24 hours after he put France into their first ever World Cup final the 26-year-old was quick to dismiss claims that this side was the best ever. For Thuram the generation of players which included Jean Tigana, Alain Giresse and Michel Platini during the 80s was the best ever. “Tigana was my idol and that French team had really great players. I feel they cannot be compared with the current French side and that they were better than us,” Thuram said.

But there won’t be an asterisk in the sporting manuels against the winners saying: “Although they won the trophy, they really weren’t that good.” The champions will be remembered forever in the tomes of football yearbooks.