Brazil-France – A. Jacquet: “France has seen that it had great players and a fine team”

“We have been working hard for the last two years. We wanted to win this World Cup, we didn’t just want to be finalists. The victory was deserved. We have been very demanding with the players and they have responded in a truly professional manner. None of this has been easy for us. We have had to overcome all the obstacles, compensating for the absence of Zinedine ZIDANE (10), then Laurent BLANC (5), who has suffered psychologically, but who helped us enormously. The sending-off of Marcel DESAILLY (8) was the last straw. ZIDANE and GUIVARC’H (9) have had two very contrasting World Cups: I had immense confidence in both of them, they brought us this fire and will to win. Zinedine lit a beacon for us with his two goals. Overall, we have managed to create a real spirit of community with the players, a lot of close understanding, strength and generosity that the public has recognised. The confidence we had built up continued to grow as we scored more and more goals. We are proud of everything we have achieved and my feeling is that this group was completely united. The papers betrayed us, but FRANCE has seen that it had great players and a fine team. I shall never forgive a certain section of the press for what it has printed. Since the competition kicked off, the French people have been able to see for themselves that the press lied shamefully. The whole of FRANCE was behind us. The supporters saw that the players were wearing the French shirt with pride and honour. I would also like to say that Mario ZAGALLO is the world’s best coach. I admired him as a player and I have admired him as a coach. He is a great sportsman. I would need two lifetimes to equal his track record. I know that he appreciates the qualities of French football.”