So I was thinking about World Cup stuff the other day, and that France team from 2002 came to mind. I remembered they were the big favorites, holding both the World Cup and Euro titles. Seemed like a good topic to just kinda… look into again. Just a little personal project, you know?
First thing I did was try and pull the players from memory. Zidane, yeah, him for sure. Henry, Trezeguet… the goalscorers. Barthez in goal. Desailly at the back. It started coming back a bit. But I knew I was missing loads.
So, I went online. Didn’t do crazy research, just a quick search for the squad list and their results. Wanted to see who I forgot and remember how they actually did.
What I Found Out
Man, looking at that full squad list again… they were absolutely loaded. Seriously, world-class players everywhere.
- You had guys like Thuram, Vieira, Makélélé
- Then Petit, Wiltord, Djorkaeff too.
- And Cissé and Trezeguet up front with Henry.
- Basically, superstars all over the pitch.
These guys were the reigning champs from ’98 and Euro 2000. Everyone, including me back then probably, thought they’d cruise through the group stage at least.
But then I looked up the results. Ouch. It was worse than I remembered. They crashed out in the group stage. Didn’t win a single game. And didn’t score a single goal! Lost 1-0 to Senegal first up – that was a huge shocker. Then a 0-0 draw with Uruguay where Henry got sent off. And finally, a 2-0 loss to Denmark.
I tried to piece together why it went so wrong. The big thing that always comes up is Zidane’s thigh injury he picked up right before the tournament. He missed the first two games completely. They rushed him back for the Denmark game, but he clearly wasn’t 100%. Losing your best player like that, yeah, that’s massive.
Still, you look at the rest of that squad… you’d think they could score at least one goal, right? Maybe the pressure got to them? Being defending champs is tough. Or maybe complacency? Hard to say for sure just looking back now. It just felt like the whole team chemistry was off.
Anyway, that was my little trip down memory lane looking into the France 2002 team. Quite the story, really. A team that had everything going for them just… collapsing. Crazy stuff. Makes you think, doesn’t it?
