French national football team. EURO 2008. Group C

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The French national football team is fielded by the French Football Federation and competes as a member of UEFA. It represents the nation of France in international football.

France was one of the four European teams that participated at the inaugural World Cup in 1930. In the 1980s, led by midfielder and captain Michel Platini, the team reached semi-finals at both the 1982 and 1986 World Cups. They won the 1984 European Championship. France is one of the most successful football nations in the world.

France then reached an even higher status in international football by being especially successful at the end of the 1990s and in the 2000s; in 1998 they won the World Cup as the host nation and the European Football Championship two years later, while also placing second at the 2006 World Cup tournament. Midfielder Zinedine Zidane was particularly instrumental in achieving those honours.

France and Argentina are the only national teams in the world which have won the four most important titles organized by FIFA: World Cup, Gold medal in football in the Olympic Games, Confederations Cup, and the Continental Cup.

History

Early years

France’s first ever game was a 3-3 draw against Belgium in 1904.

They played in all three of the pre-World War II World Cups. Lucien Laurent scored the first ever World cup goal in 1930 , in a 4-1 win over Mexico . They reached the quarterfinals in 1938 when they hosted the World Cup.

France was third in the 1958 FIFA World Cup. They defeated Germany 6-3 for the bronze. France was beaten by Brazil in semi-finals, after central defender Robert Jonquet ’s injury and Pelé hat-trick. Striker Just Fontaine scored a record 13 goals in the tournament, doing so in just six matches. The team used mainly players and former players from Stade de Reims.

Platini era

During the captaincy of Michel Platini France’s World Cup performance markedly improved, finishing fourth in Spain ‘82, and third in Mexico ‘86 . In both tournaments, they lost in the semi-finals to West Germany. France were also knocked out in the semi-final 1986 and with Platini, now recognized as one of football’s all time greats they could have won. However, with Platini as skipper, France, as host nation, won Euro ‘84 , as well as capturing Olympic gold in Los Angeles the same year.

Zidane era

France’s most successful years were the late 1990s, the generation of Zinédine Zidane. This team started off well by reaching the semi-finals of Euro 96. After Euro 96, coach Aimé Jacquet adopted a very defensive strategy and made fans anxious because his team never seemed to develop a definitive offensive tactic.Hhis methods were called ” Paleolithic ” and claiming that the team had no hope for the upcoming World Cup which would be hosted in their home country. In June 1997 at the Tournoi de France , cries of “Resign!” could be heard from the stadium as the French team came in under Brazil, England and Italy.

Euro 2000

Jacquet stepped down after France’s World Cup triumph and was succeeded by assistant Roger Lemerre who guided them through Euro 2000. Zidane cemented his FIFA World Player of the Year form, scoring a direct free kick in the quarter-final against Spain and a golden goal penalty in the semi-final against Portugal.

France defeated Italy 2-1 in the finals. David Trezeguet scored the golden goal in extra time after a controversial equalizing goal from Wiltord in the 5th minute of stoppage time. This gave them the distinction of being the first national team to hold both the World Cup and Euro titles since West Germany did so in 1974, and it was also the first time that a reigning World Cup winner went on to capture the Euro. France held the top position in the FIFA World Rankings system from 2001-2002.

2002 World Cup and Euro 2004

The 2002 FIFA World Cup was nit success to the Franch natiomnal football team, possibly due in part to an injury to key playmaker Zidane. Lemerre was dismissed after the failer in World Cup.

A full strength team started out strongly in Euro 2004, with Zidane scoring a free kick and a penalty to overcome a 0-1 deficit and defeat England in the group stage, but they were upset in the quarter-finals by Greece. Jacques Santini resigned as coach and Raymond Domenech was picked as his replacement.

2006 World Cup

France struggled in the qualifiers for the 2006 FIFA World Cup, even though the team was seeded in a group that included the relatively unheralded teams of Togo, Switzerland and South Korea. This prompted Domenech to persuade “golden generation” members Claude Makélélé, Lilian Thuram and Zinédine Zidane out of international retirement to help the national team qualify. This was France’s first successful World Cup qualification since 1986.

The team was greeted with modest expectations as it entered the World Cup tournament, with many arguing that despite the return of the three stars, its squad was too old to be competitive.

France had thoroughly outplayed Brazil in the match, only facing one shot on goal. The game made France the first team to have shut out the five-time champions in consecutive matches; Fabien Barthez was the keeper in both matches.

France emerged from the semi-finals winning 1-0 over Portugal .

France took on Italy in the final, but the teams were level at 1-1 at the end of normal time. With extra-time failing to produce a victory, penalty kicks were required to settle the match. Italy won the shoot-out 5-3 to be crowned 2006 World Champions. The tournament’s Golden Ball Winner Zinédine Zidane scored the opening goal of the final, but his accomplishments in the finals were marred by his sending off for violent conduct when he headbutted Marco Materazzi with only ten minutes until extra-time.

Euro 2008 Qualifiers

France started its qualifying round for Euro 2008 on September 2 , 2006 by beating Georgia in Tbilisi 3-0. They then took on world champions Italy 3-1 in Paris on September 6 , 2006 but suffered an upset when beaten 1-0 by Scotland on October 7, 2006, their first European Championship qualifying defeat since they lost 3-2 to Russia on June 5 , 1999. On October 11, 2006, France defeated Faroe Islands by 5-0. France beat Lithuania 1-0 on March 24, 2007. France took on Ukraine on June 2, 2007 in Paris. Then on June 6, 2007 France defeated Georgia in Auxerre by 1-0. On September 8, 2007, in a much-anticipated rematch, France and Italy played to a 0-0 draw at the San Siro in Milan. Once again though, on September 12, 2007, France fell to Scotland and were defeated 1-0. With Italy’s victory over Scotland on November 17, 2007, France only just, by 2 points over Scotland, qualified for Euro 2008.

Euro 2008 team’s squard

Goalkeepers

• 1 Steve Mandanda
• 16 Sébastien Frey
• 23 Grégory Coupet

Defenders

• 2 Jean-Alain Boumsong
• 3 Eric Abidal
• 5 William Gallas
• 13 Patrice Evra
• 14 François Clerc
• 15 Lilian Thuram
• 17 Sébastien Squillaci
• 19 Willy Sagnol

Midfielders

• 4 Patrick Vieira
• 6 Claude Makelele
• 7 Florent Malouda
• 11 Samir Nasri
• 20 Jérémy Toulalan
• 21 Lassana Diarra
• 22 Franck Ribéry

Forwards

• 8 Nicolas Anelka
• 9 Karim Benzema
• 10 Sidney Govou
• 12 Thierry Henry
• 18 Bafetimbi Gomis