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CELEBRATION >>>> France's Patrick Vieira, second left, is mobbed by his teammates

Web Exclusive | The World Cup | France v Togo Laboring Through To New Challenges Okay, so les Bleus made it through against one of the tournament's weakest teams but are they united enough to beat the mighty Spaniards? By BRUCE CRUMLEY subscribe to TIME Printable Version email this story Preview: Reasons To Be Fearful Crumley's Blog: Chilled Out In Dortmund

Posted Saturday, June 24, 2006; 11.04BST
Sixty million people let out a collective sigh of relief Friday night in France, and the breeze from it was almost perceptible in far-off Cologne. In beating the scrappy but still rather rough Togo, France snatched away Group G's second qualifying spot from South Korea — who at the same time was losing 2-0 to Switzerland.

Though held scoreless despite a flurry of opportunities in the first half, France shook off fears of its second straight Cup failure to advance to the knock out round. Reminder: a highly-billed French side not only couldn't win a game in the 2002 tournament — but didn't even score a goal. In fact, France only scored its first Cup goal since the 1998 final against Brazil on June 18, when it went up (then was tied) in its match against South Korea. In Cologne, however, it was a different matter — albeit a laborious matter.

Salvation didn't come easy — and the new lease on life isn't convincing any French fans that renaissance out of Craptown is nigh. After squandering an near incalculable scoring chances in the first half, many France fans felt revisited humiliation on the global football pitch was somehow their destined portion to chow. For nearly an hour, it seemed like someone had affixed Saran wrap over the Togo cage. But captain Patrick Vieira — who frankly stunk up till then — took a pass from Frank Ribery and suddenly gave Le Peuple Bleu new hope by spinning in the left hand side of the penalty area and curling a shot into the right side of the goal.

Thierry Henry quickly followed up with a second goal, which was more than enough to put France through — what with Switzerland adding a second score against Korea, yet probably inspiring those noisy fans just to get louder.

Joy in Bleuville was thick and sweet. French fans heaped behind the Togolese goal in the second, scoring half quite nearly stood as tall English and Dutch fans — well, English and Dutch knees, anyway — by keeping their cheers and chants going a goodly amount of time, and even urging their side on with renditions of La Marseillaise. Vieira — named Man of the Match — seemed to promise hope of better things to come by saying he was proud of his own role in sparking the back-from-death French revolt. He also contradicted the view of many fans that, based on what France has done thus far, it didn't deserve a playoff spot. "We really wanted to get through, because we think we have a good team," Vieira said.

Later, when journalists sought to sound him out on possible dissentions within the squad, Vieira visibly stiffened, narrowed his eye, and nailed all chirping beaks closed. "Don't look for the evil little problem," he said. "The one you think you know about, but only think you know. This French team is very happy together, and we battle together. The feeling between players is very good, and we're all pulling in the same direction. That's why we won tonight."

Fair enough: we don't see the bile flowing in the aquifers on Planet France. However, Vieira and his team mates now have just three days to figure out how to deal with a Spanish side that looked so slick in group matches many fans are now praying Raul and Co. can wind up facing Argentina or Germany in the final. The good news for France is, les Bleus have a pretty solid record of upending the Spanish oxcart. Ditto that the current French side is known for its defensive solidity; Spain for its offense. Perhaps the best news of all, however, is that no matter how seductive Spain looks today, it's still destined to wind up pounding its fists and feet into the turf in fury after it's been (yet again) denied. This Spanish team isn't going to win a world title — even if this French squad won't either.

That all coming from a 20-year die-hard France fan who predicted les Bleus wouldn't beat Togo.

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