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The moment of truth
France, Brazil compete for glory and the stuff of legends
Posted: Saturday July 11, 1998 08:51 PM
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Regardless of the outcome of Sunday's World Cup final, the streets of France will be alive with celebration (AP) |
SAINT-DENIS, France (AP) --
If France conquers Brazil in its
moment of truth Sunday night, one poll shows, nearly half of all Frenchmen
will pop open the champagne. But Pascal Junon did not wait.
On a bench by the Seine, bellowing out La Marseillaise, he waved his
nearly empty bottle and sang even louder at the phrase of the French
anthem, "the day of glory has arrived."
Brazilians, meanwhile, worked themselves to a fever pitch in the heart of
Paris, from Napoleon's Tomb to the Arc de Triomphe, chanting repeatedly,
"Five times!"
The fuss was over a soccer game, the final match in the month-long World
Cup, but nobody thought it was only about that.
"It's no secret, France will win," said Junon, a 25-year-old radio
announcer. "We have to. We're ready. We're the best. It's our time."
Junon, who is black, announced with pride: "I'm from Thuram," renaming the
French Caribbean island of Guadeloupe -- home of Lilian Thuram, who scored
both goals in the semifinl win over Croatia.
Since that game Wednesday night, this racially sensitive nation has gone
colorblind, recognizing only blue, white and red. Half of France's team,
Les Bleus, is a darker shade than pale.
The Blues' ethnic roots run to Algeria, black Africa, the South Pacific
and South America.
"People are realizing that France can't win anything big without blacks,"
Junon said. "Mixed blood is our future."
Millions of others were looking no further ahead than 9 p.m. (1900 GMT)
Sunday, when they would crowd bars, cafes and parlors to watch the game.
Street people have staked out their favorite appliance store windows.
This was national and personal all at once. When the Spanish referee
ejected Laurent Blanc on Wednesday for what looked like a minor
transgression, the country reacted in unison as if invaded.
For those who follow soccer, the century-ending game could hardly hold
more promise.
Brazil is the defending champion, having won its fourth World Cup in 1994,
and the team is full of stars. Everywhere but in America, the young striker
Ronaldo is as famous as Michael Jordan.
The Brazilians attack like guerrilla fighters, moving the ball with
dazzling control until it is suddenly in the net and thousands of
yellow-shirted fans are doing backflips in the stands.
France, the host, has surprised everyone with elegant teamwork around its
own hero, Zinedine Zidane, a balding French-Algerian from the tough
northern suburbs of Marseille.
The French mount a heavily fortified line of defense. In regular-play
cometition so far, only two balls have gotten past Fabien Barthez, the
bald-headed mountain in black who guards the goal.
Although odds are on Brazil, it is clear that anything could happen. The
French are behind their team with a fervor not seen in this country since
the jubilation following World War II.
"I know Brazil is better, but France will win because of the adrenaline
rush," said Hazel Young, a London-born barge hostess. "It's like how a
mother miraculously lifts a car to save her child."
If France does win, according to a poll by IPSOS and the daily France
Soir, 72 percent of the population will pour into the streets.
Clusters of riot troops are camped discreetly off the Champs Elysees and
at strategic points around the capital. Similar measures have been taken in
provincial cities.
After the semifinal with Croatia, 350,000 people mobbed the Champs
Elysees. They drove down boulevards and back streets blaring their horns.
Canned air horns were sold by the case.
"I don't know what police will do," Young said, on her boat just off the
Place de la Concorde. "The other night the noise kept me up until 6 in the
morning, and that will be nothing compared to this."
If the Brazilians win, it should be a different party. Frenchmen will
likely samba in the streets, joining infectious gaiety. For many, just
giving Brazil a run for their money would be glory enough.
"But France has to win," Young said, agreeing with Pascal Junon and just
about every Frenchman. "It is too important for them."
For years, she said, the nation has been crippled by recession and
unemployment, internal strife, racial divides and a loss of self image in a
changing world.
"Now there's something different in the air," Young concluded. "I never
cared about soccer in my life, but now I couldn't possibly miss a game.
Symbolically and spiritually, it's just too important."
Copyright 2003 Associated Press. All rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten, or redistributed.
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