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The French resilience
Host nation bends backward to cheer team forward
Posted: Friday July 03, 1998 06:38 PM
PARIS (CNN/SI) -- It doesn't sound like much of a way to spend a Friday
afternoon does it?
Twenty feet up a lamppost in the center of Paris. Or, being wedged so
tightly against your neighbor on terra firma that you can barely get your
hands out of your pocket to light a cigarette -- smoking being de
rigeur for the locals in France at every
social occasion it seems.
Despite the discomfort, however, that's exactly the way an army of French
fans and a smattering of Italians spent their Friday afternoon, clawing for
any vantage point to watch France face Italy in the
World Cup quarterfinal.
The Place de l'hotel de Ville, or town-hall square if you must, is the
prime spot among a number of big-screen venues in Paris where French men
and women heed the call to arms every time the host nation dons the blue --
or white as it was for the quarterfinal -- to defend the national pride.
The heaving mass, barely visible from the air amid the aforementioned
cigarette haze I'd guess, was not what you'd expect of your average
football crowd. In place of the "here we here go, here we go" rabble that
many would associate with the game, there were middle-aged women with the
look of those who lunch -- or dejeuner in the local parlance --
complete with Pekinese dog in one case.
There were children, many wearing the No. 10 shirt of French hero Zinedine
Zidane. And there were numerous teenage girls who, it appears, suddenly
have begun to look at soccer stars, instead of Leonardo Di Caprio, as
poster boys.
Yes, with the French making greater strides in the World Cup than they
have since 1986, when they lost in the semifinals to Germany, the
beautiful game is universally hip, if your universe is France.
Before the tournament, customary French indifference to football was a big
talking point. Despite the lopsided allocation of tickets to the locals by
the organizing committee, it was felt home supporters, whose fondness of
soccer leaves many French league games playing to meager houses, would
simply not embrace the World Cup.
Now, however, the detractors must eat their words. Group matches
nationwide played to full houses. The knockout section, likewise. And as
France kept the flag flying with a dramatic penalty-shootout win, it seems
that, in relative terms, this could turn out to be one of the most
well-supported Finals ever.
All credit then to the French, who said their fans would respond and have
been proven right. Those with tickets. Those without tickets. And
especially those prepared to spend an uncomfortable afternoon up the
nearest lamppost in the name of football.
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