As far as most people on the planet with an interest in football are concerned, one image crystallises the previous World Cup final. It is the jaw-dropping sight of Zinedine Zidane, the finest player of his generation, burrowing his head into Marco ÂMaterazzi as a bull aims at a Âprovocative matador.
Nearly four years have passed since that moment. Florent Malouda has still not shaken off the emotions of that hot night in Berlin. His senses heighten as he rakes over the memories. Like the majority of players on the pitch who were focused elsewhere at the time, he was suddenly caught up in a whirl of confusion. What the hell happened?
“I was wondering what was going on because nobody understood,” he recalls. “I asked the masseur: Did they use the video to see what happened? Afterwards, the night was really terrible. It was really hard to watch the Italians lift the trophy.” As Malouda churned it all over in his mind later that night, he could not sleep at all.
As it happens – and this gives you an insight into the man’s genial nature – Zidane’s eruption is not the memory that first springs to Malouda’s mind when he thinks of the 2006 World Cup final. It is the picture as he emerged from the confines and pent-up pressures and expectations of the tunnel. There, right in front of his eyes – close enough to caress – was the World Cup itself. Just remembering how he felt brings such light to his eyes he looks as if he just might levitate. “They put the World Cup between the two teams. I was just walking past this Cup and it was so wonderful, so brilliant. I was just thinking, wow, this is the real one. I wanted to kiss it!” He hoots with laughter.
As Malouda touches down in South Africa with a French squad that has endured a choppy ride since they finished the previous tournament as runners-up, he feels desperate to get close to the World Cup again. “Afterwards I realised we did a great campaign but it is really unfinished business,” he says. “You want to take revenge after a game like that. When you are so close it is really difficult. When I look at the games I played I was proud of what I did. But I will try to be stronger than that to win that trophy one day.”
The critics don’t fancy France’s chances this time. A turbulent qualification campaign, friction sparking around the coach, Raymond Domenech, and a squad that lacks the experience of recent attempts doesn’t add up to universal Âoptimism.
Malouda is not the type to hide when trouble appears. He admits it has not been the happiest of camps. “The problem is, after what we did in 2006 – and of course there was a great generation in 1998 and 2000 – expectations are very high. And the Euro in 2008 was a disaster. So when you are in a bad situation everything is coming out and people are pointing the finger. The World Cup is really close and honestly we have a lot of problems to fix. When there is tension, when there are high-pressure games, you need characters. You need people to come out and say: ‘I will take responsibility.'”
Malouda talks about the example of 2006. In the build-up France were in disarray, until two of their grandest figures were persuaded to come out of retirement. Zidane and Lilian Thuram returned armed with cures for most of Les Bleus’ ills. “When they came back they took everything on their shoulders,” Malouda recalls. “They were real leaders and we just had to follow. When Zidane arrived it was a strange atmosphere – like God was coming on Earth. The moment he came back the confidence turned around and we felt like we were the best in the world.”
But who can do that for the 2010 generation? This time no old warriors marched back through the gates of Clairefontaine. There was not even a place in the squad for Patrick Vieira. Rumours that Claude Makélelé would be convinced to come back at the age of 37 were a mirage. Malouda admits to being “surprised” at the lack of experienced voices.
“Honestly we have a lot of problems. We have to talk about a lot of things. But for that you need someone to take the first step. Guys like Vieira and Makélelé who can take the lead. If they are not there, somebody has to do it.”
Not afraid to speak up
In the absence of others Malouda, a father of four who will turn 30 two days after France play their opening game against Uruguay, is ready. He has already proved he is not afraid to speak up for what he believes in. He did so at the beginning of the campaign. He was dropped and it has taken nearly two years of excellent performances for his club to work his way back into the regular starting line-up.
“I said if we lost it is because we had problems in the team,” he reflects. “I spoke about the management. I took my responsibility. I paid the consequences. But if I have to do it again I will do it. But I need to be followed by people who will express themselves. More people have to say what they think.”
That was a feature of France’s golden generation and it was no coincidence that the entire 1998 World Cup-winning squad played abroad at some stage in their careers. Since then there has been a feeling among aspiring French players that you have to gain foreign experience to prove yourself as a truly big player. Malouda had that impulse, which is why he was only too happy to sign for Chelsea three years ago after a prolonged period of domestic Âsuccess with Lyon.
“To bring something to your national team you have to get experience of what is the best in the world, to learn from other leagues and bring that back,” he says. During his spell at Stamford Bridge he feels he has learned how to be more present, more involved, more competitive as a player and as a man.
Tellingly, he didn’t just win the Players’ Player of the Year award as voted for by Chelsea’s squad, he won it by a landslide.
Malouda is desperate to bring some of the positive vibes he experienced this season at Chelsea into the French camp. He is acutely aware that France do not just need encouraging performances but some constructive PR to repair the damage that was done by the controversy that engulfed their qualification.
After the notorious Thierry Henry handball that decided the play-off against the Republic of Ireland, France’s players feel they need to show a more positive face.
So how do you change identity when the players are the same, the coach is the same, the ideas are the same, the atmosphere is the same? “You have to find your identity again. In a football club when things are going wrong you go back to basics. The basics of France is this: it has always been a team tactically well disciplined, hard to play against, defending well, with good counter-attack and fast players up front. We have Henry, [Nicolas] Anelka, [Franck] Ribéry, Malouda, so we have reason to be confident.
“But the basics are defending well and discipline. The reference for this World Cup right now is Spain and even when you look at Brazil, it is not like when you are watching old tapes and they were just passing the ball and having fun.”
Malouda enthuses about “the new model” of football and reckons France do not have to rewind too far to find it. In 2006 they played with solid defensive foundations and quick, creative attacking. He is keen to remind people how France, playing that way, beat Spain 3-1, beat Brazil 1-0, beat Portugal 1-0 and drew 1-1 with Italy in the final, only falling on penalties. “That’s our identity and we have to get back to that,” he concludes.
Does a player ever fully recover from losing a final like that? “Of course. You have to think, next time I will be there, don’t be scared, change things, take responsibilities – and make sure you will be the winner.”
- France are in the same group as South Africa and open their campaign on Friday when they face Uruguay in Cape Town.