Will he or won't he?
Even coach Roger Lemerre said yesterday in Busan, South Korea, he was unsure whether Zinedine Zidane would play today in France's crucial game against Uruguay.
Not for the first time, the future of France's World Cup campaign rests on the shoulders of its talisman Zidane, after losing to Senegal without him in the opening game of the World Cup tournament.
Lemerre said Zidane, voted FIFA world player of the year twice, had largely recovered from a torn thigh muscle five days before the shocking loss against Senegal, but was 50-50 for the match today.
"He is recovering steadily and ... although it's not sure whether he will be able to play, he is working hard. If Zidane says he is ready to play, I'm going to let him play. It's up to him."
Though Lemerre was keeping the world guessing about the Real Madrid star, it is likely that he will play, if only because his stand-in Youri Djorkaeff is also on the injury list.
The 34-year-old pulled a leg muscle in the match against Senegal and has taken longer to heal than anticipated.
In addition, it was the opinion of most observers that Djorkaeff had a poor game against the West Africans and Lemerre was said to be thinking of drafting in a replacement, Parma's Johan Micoud.
Turning to the match today, Lemerre said he did not think France needed to learn anything from its opening match.
"We had no problem with our strategy, but we were surprised at the result," he said.
"The analyses are taken care of and we need no further study of the past match. By any means, we will strive to win."
History is in France's favor for the game against the South Americans as no defending champion has ever lost the first two matches of group play.
* Match venue : Busan, South Korea
* Match referee: Felipe Ramos Rizo (Mexico)
* Coaches: France - Roger Lemerre Uruguay - Victor Pua
* World ranking: France - 1 Uruguay - 24
* Squad average age : France - 28.26 Uruguay - 25.3
* Most capped current player:France - Marcel Desailly 95 Uruguay - Paolo Montero and Gustavo Mendez 46
* Previous meetings: 1966 - Uruguay 2 France 1 - World Cup - England 1985 - France 2 Uruguay 0 - Friendly - France
Source: Reuters
But they should be wary too, as Uruguay defeated France 2-1 in the first stage in 1996.
This time, however, Uruguay goes into the game carrying an eight-game winless streak against European opponents.
No titleholder has exited the World Cup in the first round since Brazil in 1966. The only other champion to do so was Italy in 1950.
"For us French this match goes far beyond soccer," Lemerre said. "The World Champion is in difficulty, that's something we have never experienced before."
Lemerre said he hadn't thought about whether he'll continue coaching France if the team loses against Uruguay. His contract runs until the summer of 2004.
"I haven't asked myself the question," he said.
The only light moment of a somber conference was when a British journalist asked Lemerre to answer a question in English.
"Mon anglais is very bad," came the reply.
Additional reporting by AP
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