Beaten team looks to World Cup glory

The manager of France’s 1998 World Cup-winning team, Aimé Jacquet, said problems in preparation were one of the main reasons for the team’s defeat.

He spoke exclusively to The Connexion following France’s exit from the competition.

You led France to great success in your day,
what has gone wrong this year?
One problem was that it was hard to get the French team all together to prepare in the run-up. Some key players were missing, playing in cup finals and the final of the Champions League, including Henry and Vieira who are lynchpins. Also the players had some hard games this season and didn’t come to Euro 2008 in good condition, which handicapped [the manager] Domenech.
That meant the team was not able to be in a really excellent state of preparation. That’s the main excuse we could give for it, but in football there are also unknowns – for whatever reason the team just didn’t shine and gel. We were surprised at their lack of results.

Do you think the manager should be replaced?
He’s a top quality guy and very professional, but he’s aware he’s disappointed this time. He had great hopes for the team, which is a quality one with a good mix of experienced players and young talent – but it just didn’t rise to expectations. But even if the manager is the one who takes responsibility, you can’t say everything’s his fault. It will be up to the president of the federation to decide on what happens next. There will be a big meeting of decision-makers in early July to work out the future of the French team, to agree how to prepare for the World Cup qualifiers. It all starts this September, so we must be ready – including deciding if Mr Domenech should continue or be replaced. That’s up to the bosses. In 2006 he took France to the World Cup semi-finals, so you can’t suddenly say he’s a bad manager. There are several people who will be retiring from the team, including Thuram and Makélélé. The World Cup team will be a new adventure, a new line-up. The generation that I managed from 1994 is disappearing today.

Would Didier Deschamps de a good choice for manager?
Certainly. He has been a manager for Monaco and Juventus and could do the job for France with no problem. However there are plenty of coaches who could do it – for example Jean Tigana. The problem is not so much the manager, as having the right vision for the future – OK we made errors in preparation, but was the line-up solid, was it the best we could do? We need debate about our plans for tomorrow.

Who has impressed you during Euro 2008?
Well we’ve seen some great football and Spain is a real favourite for me. Spain has great players and talented young players, but for a long time they didn’t really have a team, but Aragonès has put a very, very good one in place. The Netherlands team was also magnificent and the Germans.
It’s been an excellent championship and the public have been extraordinary – enthusiastic, friendly… It was like a big party with everyone sharing and getting on well together. International football has everything to gain from this kind of attitude.

Did Thierry Henry benefit greatly from his time playing for Arsenal?
He was already an exceptional young player when he played for me in 1998 aged 20, but he had an exceptional career at Arsenal. He has made his mark on his generation. His time in England helped his progress very much. Right now some of the English clubs – Arsenal, Manchester United, Chelsea – are among the best in the world, along with some of the Italian and Spanish ones. It is very beneficial for the French team to have players from these great clubs.

The FA has set a target for England to get to the semi-finals of the World Cup. Is that realistic?
Certainly. We were very surprised England were eliminated in Euro 2008, because they have some great, great players. They should be up there among the best teams in the world and I expect to see them do well in the World Cup. I am sure a coach like Capello, who has had a lot of success in Italy and Spain, will not fail in his task.

Aimé Jacquet will be giving an after-lunch speech (in French) on June 27 at the Café de Paris in Monaco. For more information visit the www.azurproductions.com website.