There is France which, in a little over two decades, has won everything: a first star in the World Cup in 1998 on its soil, then, twenty years later, a second brought home after the “campaign of Russia”, Euro 2000 or the League of Nations in 2021.
Marius Latour, 15, belongs to that France. “For six years, the Blues have not experienced a major defeat”, notes the teenager, interviewed before the last weekend of the World Cup. A Euro 2016 loss after extra time against Cristiano Ronaldo and his family, then an elimination, five years later, on penalties against Switzerland do not affect the confidence of the young man as to the chances of winning, Sunday against Argentina, a second World Cup in a row. “When we have opportunities, we take them, even if we are dominated”, argues Marius. For him, it is obviously not a surprise to find the band of Didier Deschamps in the final of this World Cup in Qatar, the fourth final disputed in twenty-four years.
It would be a bit quick to forget the other France, that told by Marius’ father, Bertrand, a 50-year-old engineer. The one who grew up with the band of Michel Platini, surprise guest of major competitions that she suddenly began to hope to win. This France has a date of birth, the evening of a small death: July 8, 1982. In a Sevillian stadium, Platini, Giresse, Tigana, Rocheteau… lost on penalties against West Germany, in the World Cup semi-finals. The frustration of the match led and then lost. Hatred of goalkeeper Harald Schumacher’s attack on Patrick Battiston goes hand in hand with the certainty of now being one of the greats of football.
“In 1982, I was only 10 years old, but I rememberBertrand explains. I can still see my mother-in-law shouting: “it’s an attack!”. I know the frustration of the matches of the 1980s, where the Blues dominated but did not win. In each match of the France team, I am extremely careful. I have experienced disappointments, I want to avoid new disappointments. When we are in front of a match with my son, I always see him serene, I am stressed! »
This match against Germany is “an anthology match, from which the country came out with mixed feelings: defeat, of course, but France was finally placed on the football world map, all with a flamboyant gamesummarizes Nicolas Hourcade, sociologist at the Central School of Lyon. The problem is that those born with this team have experienced a real identity crisis. Les Bleus by Michel Platini who played, made people dream, and sometimes won (Euro 1984) have been succeeded by generations of a less brilliant game. But much more winning.
After the fiasco of 1994 (absence at the World Cup), France will settle on the roof of the world (World Cup 1998 and Euro 2000). A fiasco (early elimination in 2002) and a scandal (elimination and bus strike in 2010) will barely tarnish two decades of epic (finalist of the 2006 World Cup and Euro 2016) and success (World Cup 2018). Sunday’s game will place the Qatari competition in one of these two categories. France wins, therefore, but it would play badly.
Romantic defeats against cold victories
Hence a victorious but cold generation. Inverted mirror from the 1980s. “When I watch the matches with my son-in-law, he takes me for a romantic loser with my pride in the defeats and my old Sevilla stories: for him, only the result counts, no matter howbreathes Rémy Pierre, 59 years old. If I weren’t French, I would hate this team. I have the impression of supporting the old Germans, without play and all padlocked. » Two supporters who each defend their football, one romantic, the other realistic.
Behind the evolution of the game (and the prize list) of the Blues also points to the evolution of the view of the supporters. The sport where the story was told in the plural, even in the shadow of imposing leaders (Pelé, Michel Platini, Johan Cruyff, Diego Maradona…), would have succeeded a discipline passed under the shadow of its stars. Where the statistics and actions of Ronaldo, Messi and Mbappé are isolated and broadcast in Mondovision; and the matches in their entirety enjoyed by a handful of fans.
“The opposition between generations is partly based on the evolution of the way of following football, largely individualized around a few great players who combine income and media attention, observes Ludovic Lestrelin, sociologist and lecturer at the University of Caen-Normandy. From there a segmentation of the supporters in two poles: a “literary”, carried by the collective narratives, whether they are victorious or not; a ” mathematical “, with the triumph of statistics, individual or collective. A cult for “data” which does not prevent a certain chauvinism. Even among the youngest. “We sometimes remember that Pelé won three World Cups and [Kylian] Mbappé one, for nowconcedes Marius. But we must not forget that Brazil was playing against gardeners at the time. »