2. France National Team (post- Zidane era)
In the late 1980s, France talisman Michel Platini called quits on his international career and soon became the manager of the national team. During this period, France already had established players like Jean Pierre-Papin, Luis Fernandez, Manuel Amoros, etc and soon had other star players like Didier Deschamps, Eric Cantona, David Ginola and Laurent Blanc.
Despite having such a talented squad, France was disapointing,to say the least as they failed to reach their full potential. Failure to qualify for the 1990 and 1994 World Cups coupled with a disappointing outing in the 1992 Euros sandwiched in between made for gloomy days south of the English channel.
Platini’s replacement Aime Jacquet dropped the likes of Cantona and Ginola and built his squad around younger players. One such youngster was Zinedine Zidane who scored a brace on his debut. Zidane soon became France’s most essential entity and propelled France to victory at the 1998 World Cup and Euro 2000. He then led France to the 2006 World Cup Final which they lost to Italy on penalties. Zidane announced his retirement from the national team following the World Cup.
Zidane’s departure from the national setup was a huge blow for France. However, they still had the likes of Thierry Henry, Patrick Vieira, Claude Makelele, William Gallas and Lilian Thuram in their side as they qualified for Euro 2008.
However, Les Blues had a very disappointing outing as they were eliminated in the group stages with losses to Italy and Netherlands. Makelele and Thuram announced their international retirements following the tournament.
France’s struggles continued as they had to qualify for the 2010 World Cup through a controversial play-off against Ireland. It didn't get any better as France had a disastrous tournament, exiting the 2010 World Cup in the first round, finishing last in their group.
Although France have been resurging in recent years, their performances in Euro 2008 and 2010 FIFA World Cup just depicts the huge gap left by Zizou’s departure.
