Q&A

By MICHEL PLATINI

ichel Platini, now 42, became France's most celebrated footballer by twice taking the team to a World Cup semifinal and by leading it to victory in the 1984 European Championships. In 1992 after a brief stint as national coach he became co-president of the organizing committee for the French World Cup.

TIME: What does hosting the World Cup represent for France and for you?

Platini: For me it's a matter of presenting my idea of what the World Cup is and should be. As far as France goes, I don't think France has really understood the importance of the World Cup. I think this is part of a society brought up with certain notions of culture and philosophy that sees football as--I don't know--perhaps something inferior.

TIME: What is your prediction for the French team in World Cup play?

Platini: The favorite, in my view, is Brazil. But I think this may be one of the most balanced World Cup finals ever. I think Yugoslavia could be surprising--so could England, Nigeria, Spain, France.

TIME: How do you feel now, in your current role, compared to when you were part of the French team in the 1984 European Championships?

Platini: Older. It's not the same kind of expectation and pressure. I don't think people are really worried about the organization of all this--it's a secondary thing. Today, we're really the manual laborers preparing everything for the players, while in 1984, I was responsible for an entire team, and I was supposed to score so we'd win.

TIME: What are the strongest memories or lingering emotions from your time as a player in the World Cup?

Platini: It wasn't all that great, because I was injured in both 1982 and 1986, and wasn't in the best condition. I was also always taking anti-inflammatory medication for the injuries, so I wasn't in either the best condition physically and my morale was not high.

TIME: But isn't the World Cup a different experience from all others in your career?

Platini: Yes, it's totally different, because everyone is watching. So it is an important time. But it's also a time when you are at the end of your [professional] season, when you've played your league or national championships. After all this you are pretty tired, and may find yourself in situations where you feel exhausted. That happened to me in 1986. Because my team [Juventus] was playing for a title, I only got a few days off before the World Cup started. The people who tend to be in really good form during this period are the ones who were injured during the season. Those who played all their matches during the season have a much harder time of it in World Cup play.

TIME: Have you remained in contact with the people you played on World Cup teams with? Is there any special bond created by the experience?

Platini: Yes, there is something, since you make up a group for a month and a half. But the life of a group is not that easy, since you've got 22 players in it and only 11 who play. So you've always got to handle those who don't play carefully. The ones who play, there's no problem--they're happy. The journalists always go right for the ones who don't play.

TIME: What made you decide to take the job as national coach in 1988?

Platini: I was there more as a favor than anything else. I had already won a European Championship [as a player], and I didn't need another one. I don't believe much in coaches. I know the players are the ones who decide how things go. I think more like a player than a coach. The coaches are killing soccer players.

TIME: So for you, your tenure as a coach was just...

Platini: A necessity. A moral obligation.

TIME: When it's all over this summer, what'll you be feeling--relief, sadness...?

Platini: I think that it'll be a feeling of relief as far as the work is concerned, since it'll mean that it's finally over and everything came off for the best. There will also be sadness in parting with people you've worked with for four years, and it'll be a period coming to a close.

TIME: Do you see this job as part of the trajectory that took you from player, to coach, and now apparently to something larger in football administration?

Platini: No, I'm not a plotter. I think it's destiny that decided at some particular time that I'd have certain opportunities. When I was a kid, I didn't know I'd become a professional player, when I was a player I didn't know I'd become a national team coach, and when I was coach I never knew I'd be doing this. And now, destiny has arranged it that just as this job is about to come to a close, there will be a vote at FIFA that may create opportunities for me [Platini has allied himself to FIFA presidential candidateSepp Blatter]. It's fate.