Payet gets party started but I can’t see repeat of ’98
WHEN Dimitri Payet struck that 89th-minute winner on Friday night, it was hard not to recall 1998. The Stade de France has sometimes been criticised for a lack of atmosphere but once Payet had scored, it was as passionate and loud as anything I have experienced.
There was a sense of national fervour sweeping through the stands. I would imagine the last time it felt like that was on that historic day when they won the World Cup in 1998.
There is, of course, an awful long way to go before this side can emulate the heroics of that team or Michel Platini’s team from Euro ’84 which was also victorious on home turf.
And all host nations have to suffer a bit along the way, as France did on Friday. Romania raised their game and played better than they have done in the qualifiers. I had studied their games prior to kick-off and they surprised me with a quality they had not previously shown.
It took something extremely special from Payet to clinch a 2-1 win that will give the host nation — and the tournament — a huge boost.
But if you aspire to lift the trophy, you have to be ready to endure painful moments. As the clock ticked down, it looked as though the victory would elude them. But older Frenchmen and women will remember their difficult games against Paraguay and Italy on their way to win in 1998. And Englishmen and women of a certain age will remember the nation’s 0-0 draw with Uruguay in the opening match of 1966.
France clinched their win with a little help from the Premier League. It was not just the goals from Payet (West Ham) and Olivier Giroud (Arsenal), but the excellence of N’Golo Kante (Leicester) in midfield. Neither Kante nor Payet would have been expecting to play in the game or even be in the squad six months ago. Payet had been dropped and Kante only made his debut in March.
Now they look to be central figures for the national team, which only goes to re-emphasise that players develop at different speeds and that we are far too quick to write off those who are not excelling at 19 or 20.
Kante, 25, was playing in the third tier of the French league three years ago; Payet, who was rejected by Le Harve as a teenager and returned to play for a club in Reunion, the Indian Ocean island which is his home, is 29 and only now coming into the best period of his career.
Yet despite the echoes of 1998, I still have doubts about the ability of this French side to go on and emulate that World Cupwinning team. Before the tournament I was concerned about the vulnerability of their full-backs and nothing I saw on Friday persuaded me that I was wrong to question them.
Patrice Evra, 35, has been a superb player but is now clearly vulnerable to players cutting inside. And it showed in the penalty he conceded. A good team will also exploit the space behind Bacary Sagna. And Laurent Koscielny and Adil Rami have not played together enough to be a strong partnership in the centre.
Yet we were treated to an excellent opener that hopefully will set the tone. France have all the tools to impress. One or two interchanges were sublime. They remain among the leading contenders and are hardly alone in having an exciting attack and questionable defence. England are similar.
If they can find the right balance, there is a possibility we might be seeing a re-run of the past two tournaments which France have hosted but, on the evidence of Friday, I have not yet seen enough to convince me.