On the eve of the World Cup in Russia, France have relived their glory years by reuniting their winning 1998 team to play an All-Star side, and once again ran out winners.
20 years ago, France beat Brazil 3-0 to claim their, so-far, only World Cup, at the Stade de France, with arguably the greatest player of all time Zinedine Zidane scoring a brace and Emmanuel Petit following up in injury time.
This time, at U Arena Stadium in Nanterre, ex-Real Madrid manager Zidane could only manage the single strike; but with an excellent free-kick from just outside the area with the scores tied, it was like he had never been away.
For the France XI's opening goal Thierry Henry- who was in the ’98 France squad but didn’t feature in the final- contributed with some excellent link-up play with Zidane to produce a curling shot from directly outside the penalty box.
The two were supported by the entire France team to feature in that historic match two decades ago, as well as their retired coach Aimé Jacquet. While Frank Leboeuf began on the bench, only ’98 skipper Didier Deschamps was the figure not to feature, for the obvious reason that he is attempting to do what only Franz Beckenbaur has done in the history of the game: to win the World Cup as both as captain and as manager. Laurent Blanc and Henry took their place.
Fabien Barthez, Lilian Thuram, Marcel Desailly, Bixente Lizarazu, Christian Karembeu, Petit, Youri Djorkaeff, and Stéphane Guivarc’h all started, making many a football fan slightly teary-eyed and the odd Francophile positively overcome.
Henry’s former manager Arsene Wenger, recently departed from Arsenal to be replaced by Unai Emery, took charge of the All-Star team which featured Cristian Vieri, Samuel Eto’o, and Zidane’s ex-Juventus teammate Edgar Davids.
Fernando Morientes and Gaizka Mendieta came off the bench to score for the All-Stars. David James was the only English representative.
Usain Bolt has seemingly acquired a taste for charity matches following Sunday’s SoccerAid and made an appearance for the All Star team.
The final score: 3-2 to the France XI.
You can watch both Zidane and Henry’s goals below.
