Will French football be able to profit from its home advantage?

By BRUCE CRUMLEY /PARIS

"rance Qualifies for the 1998 World Cup!" screamed the daily Liberation in a 1993 front page headline after France won the right to host this year's games. Given France's failure to qualify for U.S.A. '94 the previous night by losing to Bulgaria, and the national team's earlier inability to qualify for Italia '90, the ironic acidity of the headline was lost on no one. The only certain way for France to play in a World Cup final would be if the games were held on its soil, because the host country is always guaranteed a place.

So, assured of automatic qualification for 1998, the French were able to sit back untested while the rest of the world suffered through two years of qualification matches. Despite a lack of competitive matches, French fans, who have not seen les Bleus play in a World Cup since Mexico in '86, have begun replacing sarcasm with guarded optimism. "In bets with my friends I am picking France to win, even if in reality we are far from being the favorite," comments Alain Cayzac, vice president of the Paris Saint-Germain football club. "We've never had such a good collection of individual players, and I think Aime Jacquet is one of the most underrated coaches in football."

Because they know that lifting the trophy is a long shot at best, most French fans and commentators feel their team will have done well if it makes it to the semifinals, as they did in the 1996 European Championships. Whatever its prospects, the multi-ethnic mix of the French side will be a source of pride to those concerned about the rising influence of the xenophobic, extreme-right National Front party. The squad will be led by midfielders Zinedine Zidane, of North African extraction, and Youri Djorkaeff, whose father is Armenian. Goalkeeper Bernard Lama and defenders Marcel Desailly and Lilian Thuram are of African descent. Team captain Laurent Blanc will be listed alongside less typical French names--Stephane Guivarc'h, a Breton and Bixente Lizarazu, a Basque.

But apart from such social symbolism, no one will remember much about France's World Cup side unless it wins games. To do that, France will have to abandon its traditional--and legendary--reliance on dull defensive play. That strategic change will require midfielders Zidane, Djorkaeff and Didier Deschamps to give more support to forwards Guivarc'h, David Trezeguet and Christophe Dugarry. Defenders, meanwhile, will need to move into attacking situations. All this is something the fans are begging for. "We've seen the defensive strategy for years now, and we're tired of it," explains Paris computer engineer and avid football fan Eric Platel. "France was eliminated from the last two World Cups because of too much defense. Maybe it can at least get close to winning one by putting more stress on attacking."

By scoring more, winning matches and making a dramatic run for the coveted Cup, les Bleus '98 could finally reinvigorate the waning attention of a once great footballing nation. With most of its stars playing abroad, average attendance per match in the French first division last year was just 16,550 compared with about 30,000 for Italy, Spain, England and Germany. Michel Platini, co-president of the World Cup '98 Organizing Committee, complains that "The French still think a tour by the Bolshoi Ballet is a bigger event than the World Cup." That could change if the French team beats the odds and gets through the first two rounds. Otherwise, it could be a long time before they're back in the finals, and longer still before anybody in France much cares.