FRANCE 98 – France – B. Lizarazu: “Our immediate objective is to beat Italy”

Comments from Clairefontaine (78, west of PARIS)

Robert PIRES (11):

“This Paraguayan team really surprised us with its defensive organisation. I could not fault it in the slightest and they played with no hang-ups. The goal scored by Laurent BLANC (5) came about after I picked up a clearance from the Paraguayan defence, at which point I saw David TREZEGUET (20) unmarked in the defence, and meeting my pass, David saw at the same instant Laurent calling in space. Then we were free to score at last. The goal came from the wings, as our coach Aimé JACQUET had wanted. For a long while we had been playing down the centre without much luck. Our perseverance finally paid off. I was slightly surprised to see Aimé Jacquet so excited after our goal. He loves his French team and it was nice to see him so thrilled.

Personally, this match did me a lot of good. I was criticised against DENMARK (match No. 38 on Wednesday 24 June in LYON) and I understood that from now on I must play tough and speak tough if I am to break into this French team.

Against ITALY we must not allow ourselves to miss goal-scoring opportunities. It will be a very tactical match since the players on both teams know each other very well.

Bixente LIZARAZU (3):

“The delivery from David TREZEGUET (20) is one of those moments in a match, a fraction of a second, which only happens once. It’s true that we suffered yesterday, but so did our opponents. We’ve always played under pressure. I was a little more stressed than in previous matches. You must know how to strike a balance between being too cool and being over aggressive, and for the first ten minutes I was slightly too aggressive. After that everything fell into place. We performed well physically but our usual efficiency was missing. I’m not sure how serious the injury to Thierry HENRY (12) is. During the match there was a lot of tension since the slightest mistake could have been fatal. We had the chance to get our noses in front; if we had scored in the first half, we might have relaxed, but it is obvious that extra time did not make our job any easier.

Our immediate objective is to beat ITALY. We can’t begin to dream about playing GERMANY in the semi-finals. The Paraguayans spent most of their time defending and let us call the shots. Whenever a team feels inferior against its opponent, they strengthen their defence. That won’t be the case with ITALY, who should be more attack-minded.

Right now, we’re going to recuperate and make sure we’re in the best possible shape for the quarter-finals. Physical fitness is important at this level of competition.”

David TREZEGUET (20)

“We all played mediocre football yesterday. We couldn’t find solutions against a team that was very well organised. We left too much space between defence, midfield and attack, which made life difficult when we tried to move the ball around. For me, it wasn’t a fun match, given the difficulty I had getting hold of the ball and making an opening for myself. But today we’re all relieved and we’re looking forward to getting back in shape and ready for the quarter-final match against ITALY (match no. 57 on 3 July at 16h30 at Stade de France).

The FRANCE-ITALY match will be more tactical and physical. We’ll have to forget about playing any pretty stuff and do whatever it takes to win. For me, I have to keep working at my game if I want to make progress. I’m only 20 and I’ve got lots of work to do. I’ll watch the ARGENTINA-ENGLAND match (match no. 50 in SAINT-ETIENNE, Tuesday 30 June at 21h00), and it goes without saying, I’ll be the number one fan of Daniel Alberto PASSARELLA’S team.”

(Although he was born in FRANCE, David TREZEGUET spent his childhood in ARGENTINA.)

Lilian THURAM (15)

“Before extra time in the FRANCE-PARAGUAY match (no. 52), we had a discussion to calm our nerves. It was out of the question for any one of us to give less than 100%. Everyone had to remember that the team comes first, and that’s what helped us win the match. At one point during the match, the ball went back and forth on the pitch. We were trying too hard. I don’t think that we missed Zinédine ZIDANE’S (10) absence that much. Perhaps we couldn’t get our attack going like we did in the previous matches.

The quarter-final match will be different, more offensive: ITALY know they can win.”