Euro 2012: Revival has started for France after World Cup debacle

Les Bleus have a fresh squad and new impetus under Laurent Blanc, writes Richard Jolly

The France squad is full of new faces, with only three members of the 2006 World Cup finalists left. Franck Fife / AFP

It was less a case of "Vive La France" than a mission: revive La France. When Laurent Blanc replaced Raymond Domenech as the manager of the national side he graced 96 times as a stylish defender, Les Bleus had the blues.

France had become an international laughing stock at the 2010 World Cup, failing to win a game in a tournament notable for the players' decision to boycott training one day.

The president, Nicolas Sarkozy, became involved, summoning leading players for an explanation. The French FA had already turned to Le President, Blanc. "The image of French football and the French team was horribly compromised," he said.

If the one consolation upon his appointment was that the only way was up, France took the long route. They went down first. Losses in Blanc's first two games meant they reached their lowest Fifa ranking, 27th, in September 2010.

And yet a corner had already been turned. Blanc began by omitting all 23 miscreants from South Africa for his debut fixture and, while Norway defeated France, it is notable how many of that weakened pool of players now figure in Blanc's first-choice squad: the centre-midfield partnership of Yohan Cabaye, first capped then, and Yann M'Vila; Samir Nasri, who scored the goal that took France to Euro 2012; Karim Benzema, now the striking spearhead; Philippe Mexes, finally given a chance to realise his potential in the national team.

Factor in Adil Rami, Mathieu Debuchy, Blaise Matuidi, Hatem Ben Arfa and Jeremy Menez and 10 of that untarnished squad will travel to Ukraine. "A definite statement," said Cabaye, looking back at the left-field choices against Norway.

An inspired PR move had footballing merit, a disciplinary measure allowing Blanc to experiment as a new-look team presented him with a vision of France's future.

Now they have belatedly banished the past: this is the first French squad at a major tournament that has not included a member of the 1998 World Cup-winning group. Their achievements were immense, their legacy too lengthy.

France tasted victory at neither the last World Cup nor Euro 2008. Only Alou Diarra, Franck Ribery and Florent Malouda, survivors of 2006, know what it is like to win a game at a major tournament.

No wonder, then, that Blanc has said he cannot see his side lifting the Euro 2012 trophy. His ambitions, he said, are more limited. "We're hoping to reach the quarter-finals first and foremost," he said.

Given France's underachievement on the major stages, it would appear progress. Given their form, however, they may be capable of rather more.

Since losing Blanc's first two matches, they went unbeaten in the next 21. Those include away wins against England and Ukraine, two of their group opponents, and, most impressively, Germany, beaten in Bremen in February.

In a group no longer able to hark back to past glories, a sense of teamwork has been restored and renewed purpose is apparent.

"Things went badly wrong in 2008, we went out in the first round, and the same in 2010," Nasri said. "We all have some revenge to take, to show that we can repeat our club form with the national team."

France's leading talent presents a particular challenge. Ribery has long been accused of delivering less for France than Bayern Munich.

He was banned for three games for his part in the World Cup ructions, Patrice Evra, then the captain, for five.

Now both are back in the fold, a sign Blanc is still more evolutionary than French revolutionary. But there is a new captain, in the goalkeeper Hugo Lloris, and a younger group of players.

It is a sign of how far France fell that they were in the fourth, and lowest, pot of seeds for the Euro 2012 draw and an indication of their progress that Blanc has been linked with the Chelsea job. But having hit rock bottom, France have rebounded. They have been revived.

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