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World Cup 2002

[02/06/2006]

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LAST MINUTE >>>>
France loosen up during training at Munich's World Cup stadium

Web Exclusive | The World Cup | Preview | France v Portugal

Vying For The Home Favors

Now that the Germans are out of the running, the race is on to grab the largest share of fans for an eagerly-awaited final

Jeff Israely: The Conflict Behind The Azzuri Victory
Preview: How France Can Eliminate Scolari's Survivors

Posted Wednesday, July 5, 2006; 17.53BST
Germany awoke groggy Wednesday— even slightly stunned in the wake of the Nationalmannschaft's semi-final loss to Italy in they dying minutes of extra time. But anyone who feared the Germans might prove themselves kill-joy by turning off the lights to this party once their team was ousted can feel relieved. "It was a bad loss, and I still think we should have won, but that's football!" shouted 25 year-old Matteus Bremmer, a student and part-time shop worker in Cologne. "There are still three games left, so this World Cup won't be over for anyone in Germany until Sunday."

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That's the spirit. And Bremmer's philosophic approach to handling Germany's defeat seems to be widely shared. By Tuesday morning — not even 12 hours after Italy scored its winning goal — Germans had begun looking for new teams to back, and broken out the jerseys, flags, or face paint of their freshly adopted side to stay fully in the game. "It would be too hard for my German heart to wear the French shirt, but I did buy this," Bremmer laughs, tugging on the new French flag draped over his shoulders atop his German jersey. "I want France, but think most people will back Portugal. It seems like the little team taking on the bigger ones."

Indeed, even in the almost impossibly packed tram and subway trains moving people from Dortmund's stadium to the city center following the semi-final, disappointed Germany fans punctuated their defiant team cheers with shouts for favorite nations still in the running. "Go Italia!", screamed one shirtless man, provoking a chorus of boos. "'Okay: Go Portugal,' then!" he shot back. (Good intention, wrong teams, Dortmund Sweat Guy. Try "Allez les Bleus!")

A quick straw poll seems to suggest Germans are split around 50-50 on which side they want to get through to face Italy in the final. The slightly larger half indicates it wants the Portuguese win the whole salami — for both the novelty of seeing it win its first world title, and as pay back to the Italians for knocking the Germans out. The rest say they'll pull for France less out of affection for the nation or team, and more as a calculation of who would be the better bet to thwart the Italians. (Les Bleus did just that in the the 1998 World Cup quarter final, and in the final of the 2000 European Championship showdown — when they pulled the same late-game magic the Squadra worked on Germany last night.)

There was one other reason cited for liking the French. "Zidane", said a 20-ish woman who would only give her name as Tania. "Great player. Nice man." Without doubt, the Portugal fans might also note they've got the similar sentimental incentive at work: the desire to send their own Zidane-magnitude hero, Luis Figo, out with a great exploit his career most certainly deserves. Though he won't be willing to sacrifice his own final to make way for Figo, there's little doubt Zidane would be happy to see his former Real Madrid team mate go out in glory, if he can't have it himself.

Since taking the pulse of the football masses was going so well, it was decided to sound French fans flowing towards Munich for the match on how they feel their team's chances are against a combative Portuguese side that — despite being near the top of the international heap for years — never seems to get its due. For optimistic analysts, the average French pre-match outlook is cautiously confident; for those more inclined to see roiling panic anytime a football fan isn't a geyser of boasts, then the read is something closer to "hoping and praying for the best, but well schooled in expecting the worst".

Most queried explained that, rationally speaking, there wasn't much that wasn't playing to France's advantage going into the match; without selling the talented Portuguese side short, many don't see how losing is an option if France keeps playing the kind of football it has since this knock-out round began. "No offense to Portugal, but how could we lose if we play the same kind of match we did against Brazil?", asks Xavier Moret, an IT technician from Nice. "I don't think we can, though it's true, anything is possible — especially with a team like Portugal. So I'm mostly confident, but there's part of me that's worried still."

There's a Team France fan club of about 60 million people also battling those pesky willies just now.

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The Matches

Sun, July 9 – 20:00*
FINAL: Berlin


Italy	v	France
1 (5)		1 (3)

*local time (CEST)

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