”Greek Tragedy,” ”The Blues’ pitiful exit” or simply ”The End”. The French press on Saturday deplored ”the dismal end of the reign,” of France’s footballing heroes, knocked out of Euro 2004 by rank outsiders Greece 1-0 in a quarter final match in Lisbon.
”France’s failure signifies the end for a whole generation. ”The golden generation, which won the World Cup in 1998 and the European Championships in 2000,” said the popular Aujourd’hui/Le Parisien daily, wallowing in nostalgia.
The national sporting disaster, comparable to France’s shock exit in the first stage of the 2002 World Cup held in Asia, was a joint effort by ”players at the end of the line and a coach (Jacques Santini) who decided, even before the competition had started, to jump ship and sign a lucrative contract with an English club side (Tottenham),” the paper opined.
Against the Greeks on Friday, as they had done throughout the competition, the French seemed out of it, ”almost anaesthetised” in the middle of the noisy stadiums.
”There was absolutely nobody to impose even a semblance of real football,” the paper continued. France ”bowed out of Euro 2004 via the tiniest of doors. Their
defeat by Greece was a close one, but the difference in play, in spirit and in workrate was enormous,” the Liberation daily complained.
For L’Equipe sporting daily the French legacy in the tournament was of ”their disorganisation and impotency,” with the team abdicating its title with a performance unworthy of its standing. The match against Greece was ”a derby between the two most impotent European teams of the moment,” and France’s elimination
was well-deserved, L’Equipe thundered.
The Blues displayed ”no desire, no ideas, no enthusiasm, no collective talent. Other than two or three players of genius, there wasn’t much on display. Perhaps it’s time to wipe the slate clean,” the paper continued.
The Parisien pondered the eventual, or expedited, retirement of some of the heroes of the famous 1998 and 2000 victories, with the defence at the top of the list, notably captain Marcel Desailly at
the top of the list closely followed by Bixente Lizarazu and Lilian Thuram.
Even the talismanic Zinedine Zidane, whom some consider the best player in the world, did not escape criticism, despite his three goals in the tournament.
L’Equipe described the 32-year-old Real Madrid midfielder’s performance as ”lack-lustre”, while admitting that if ”Zizou” were to announce that he was calling it a day he would leave ”a huge hole in the French team”. – Sapa-AFP