In the first leg against Manchester City, Zizou didn’t have his main man and didn’t want to lose.
It was Zidane’s first semi-final as a coach and he didn’t want to make a mistake.
As I watched the first 20 minutes of that game I saw that Zidane had gone for belt-and braces by keeping all his midfielders behind the ball.
Looked to me as if the great Zinedine had remembered 1998 and done an Aime Jacquet.
OK, people might quibble and say: You can’t compare! None of France’s games were two legs. And,clearly, none were in Manchester.
But Aime Jacquet’s approach to winning the World Cup wasn’t cavalier.
IT WAS VERY PRAGMATIC.
Against teams he thought France could beat, he played Henry on the right wing.
Facing teams he respected, he played a team of half-backs with Karembou on the right flank.
Karembou was a fast,rugged player who could make sure you didn’t lose a game, leaving it open for somebody else to win it.
After 90 minutes against Italy the score was 0-0 and this was Jacquet’s team.
GK Fabien Barthez (Monaco)
RB Lilian Thuram (Parma )
CB Laurent Blanc (Marseille )
CB Marcel Desailly ( AC Milan)
LB Bixente Lizarazu (Bayern Munich)
RM Christian Karembeu (Real Madrid)
CM Youri Djorkaeff (Inter)
CM Didier Deschamps (c) ( Juventus )
LM Emmanuel Petit (Arsenal)
MD Zinedine Zidane (Juventus)
CF Stephane Guivarc’h (Auxerre)
Subs Thierry Henry ( Monaco) & David Trezeguet (Monaco)
France won 4-3 on penalties and then played Croatia in the semi-final.
————————–
Tonight at 7.45, who knows?
I reckon Joe Hart and Kevin De Bruyne are colossal players.
So is Vincent Kompany when he is 100%. But the erratic Otamendi worries me.
And Ramos, Pepe, Bale and Ronaldo are alpha male gladiators geared to big occasions.
Those four can dominate Hart’s penalty area on corners, crosses and free-kicks.
Citeh need a miracle and a strong referee.