France-Belgium is also a simple friendly match for the Blues before the 2002 World Cup which triggered the XXL rout of the 98 world champions in South Korea. The end of a legendary team.
Of the 77 France-Belgium in history (before the new clash between neighbors next Monday in Brussels, in the League of Nations), the 2-1 defeat at the Stade de France on May 18, 2002 seems anecdotal. However, it was this meeting that tipped the Blues, world champions of 98 and winners of Euro 2000, towards an incredible catastrophe during the 2002 World Cup. Without Zinédine Zidane, who left to be at his wife’s bedside for the birth of his third son Théo , Roger Lemerre’s players lost at the end of the match to a goal from Marc Wilmots. Ulrich Ramé is beaten, Fabien Barthez being withdrawn.
Before their departure for East Asia, captain Marcel Desailly and his teammates spend a cataclysmic week. They are superstars adored by an entire population and spend their last days at Clairefontaine not recovering from their respective seasons but honoring the requests of dozens and dozens of FFF sponsors. As reported in an article from France
Info on this France-Belgium, Willy Sagnol points out a
“VIP week, with obligations towards sponsors”. Adidas is putting crazy pressure with a two-star jersey. A giant reproduction will be deployed at the SDF.
“We were not consulted anyway,”
regrets Desailly.
The end of this French team
The beginning of the end has begun. “This match left a mark”then says Emmanuel Petit. “Before we even left, it was already dead. The notion of a group was nothing more than a memory. We won the 98 World Cup and Euro 2000 thanks to her, but in the French team, it is individualism that now takes precedence”says the midfielder who scored the 3-0 against Brazil in 1998, in a book, The Secret History of the Bluesdedicated to the rout of the France team at the 2002 World Cup in Japan and South Korea.
However, Roger Lemerre’s team looks great. Laurent Blanc and Didier Deschamps have retired, but all the other executives from 98 are present. Sylvain Wiltord, one of the heroes of the Euro, is there, but not Nicolas Anelka, excluded from the 23. Except that Zidane will be injured during the preparation match against South Korea, five days before the inaugural defeat against the Senegal (1-0), in Seoul. Then Thierry Henry was sent off during a 0-0 against Uruguay and the return of “Zizou” changed nothing during the third match, against Denmark, for a 2-0 defeat and a terrible elimination.
