France – L. Blanc: “I'm not sure that Paraguay will be an easier team to play than Spain”
Comments from Gosnay (twenty kilometres from LENS) at the “Distillerie”, Saturday 27 June
Laurent BLANC (5):
On PARAGUAY: ” I’m not sure that PARAGUAY will be an easier team to play than SPAIN. Nobody can say that; we will see what happens. It is true that it is a team that we don’t know much about except for a few players like CHILAVERT who, is without doubt, a symbolic figure, a key character in this team. He does a lot of things: he’s the goalkeeper and he takes free kicks and penalties. He must be an incredible player. But that might also mean that the other players do not possess quite the same abilities. And I honestly believe that BARTHEZ is also capable of converting a free kick…”
On being favourites: “We mustn’t pussy-foot around, we must simply accept the situation. It makes it neither easier, nor more difficult for us. In any case, second round ties are always crunch games. Every team that gets this far deserves to be here. For us, no matter who the opponent, we must do our utmost to win. It is up to us to make sure that we play well in the match itself. FRANCE’s strength comes from our ability to counteract the qualities of the opposing team and then impose our own game to dominate them. But once again, whoever the opponent, we must concentrate purely on this game and not the fifth or sixth match. It’s simply another game that needs to be won. It’s no different from any other game except that the result is decisive. Matches like this are nothing new for the players; every player has played in one and we know that the result is the thing that matters. All the players on the French team know how to deal with that. As we thought we would, we are gaining in physical strength as we go on. This may be a benefit that will enable us to better prepare for matches to come and that will play a key role in this World Cup.”
On the French forward line: “There was a little apprehension before the first match, we had to handle it carefully; the first goal freed us up a bit. We just needed to be patient so that we could realise our potential. It happened in the first round and it’s one of the most positive points that we can take from our games so far: we scored goals and created a lot of chances and consequently the attackers gained confidence. I don’t see any reason why that should change for the fourth game. Let’s go with the flow. We needn’t question our ability as far as attacking play is concerned.”