France-Paraguay – A. Jacquet: “I would have preferred to win before that point”

“I’m very happy at having got through. Of course I would have preferred to win before that point, especially as we had so many chances to do so. It was a very difficult match. French domination wasn’t rewarded but it was so overwhelming that we were sometimes worried that we’d make a mistake that would have ended it all. We controlled the game but we lacked clarity of thought, confidence and cool-headedness. But that’s to be expected when you’re up against a team like PARAGUAY who play in a very close-knit, stifling way and who for long periods in this game were a very difficult obstacle to overcome.

I’m not surprised by PARAGUAY’s performance. We knew certain things about their way of playing. They are a team who retrench themselves extremely well in defence. They play a short, quick and very lively game which allows them to break with long balls from deep inside their own half and which means that we had to work incredibly hard to get the ball upfield. With their way of playing, we were prevented from producing a complete style of play. In the first half our two lines in midfield and defence were too uneven and we lacked support in attack.

As far as the ‘Golden Goal’ is concerned, it’s awful but for once the ball fell in our favour.

ZIDANE’s suspension has been a blow for us, mainly because he’s the technical orchestrator of our squad. But perhaps he’s the happiest of all this evening. Now I hope he’ll rejoin his teammates and try to take them as far as they can go.

For the quarter final against ITALY we’ll be playing against friends, real mates because many of our players play in ITALY. It will be a great match, a great challenge for the FRANCE team and, I hope, a great victory”.