“Sven-Göran Eriksson, confronted with arguably Europe's weakest qualifying group, has a problem; it is the same one that afflicted Jacques Santini, the France coach at the time, before Euro 2004. Not that there are no easy matches at international level; rather, there are no hard ones. In qualifying for the 2004 European Championship finals, France faced a group not of death, but of sun-block, comprising Slovenia, Israel, Cyprus and Malta, which they duly won by ten points, averaging 3.6 goals per game. We all know what happened next.” KnowsHardProblemNextGamesEasyGoalLevelsSunHappenedGroupsFootballTenEuropeFinalsInternationalIsraelCoachesBlockFranceSoccerRanAnalysisChampionshipEuroQualifyingCyprusMalta Author:Martin Samuel
“And now with Argentina out, they will be on the plane home with France” HomeFootballFrancePlanesCommentatorsArgentina Author:Clive Tyldesley
“For Irishmen, there is no football game to match rugby and if all our young men played rugby not only would we beat England and Wales but France and the whole lot of them put together.” IfsMenWholeTogetherYoungGamesFootballBeatsEnglandFranceYoung ManRugbyWalesFootball GameIrishmen Author:Eamon de Valera
“It's true, pressure is something that goes with football nowadays. You need to accept it, and everything that it involves - the good and the bad.” NeedsAcceptingFootballPressureFrance Author:Zinedine Zidane
“It's sometimes difficult living in France. People are more open minded in England, and of course I'm missing England in terms of football and the passion that the fans show, they're really passionate.” PeopleSometimesShowsPassionCoursesDifficultTermFansMissingFootballEnglandPassionateFranceOpen MindOpen Minded Author:Emmanuel Petit