Deflated, stunned by defeat and puzzled at the red-card exit of star player Zinedine Zidane, French soccer fans trudged home overnight after their country's loss at the World Cup final late on Sunday.
The famed Champs-Elysees in Paris, which had been crammed with flag-waving supporters watching the match on big screens, rapidly dwindled to just a few thousand diehards after Italy tucked away the decisive penalty.
Many just milled around, stunned, but others headed directly to metro stations to go home, French flags trailing despondently in their hands.
PHOTO: AFP
A few teenagers let off fireworks, and a squad of police fired teargas to clear a knot of sullen fans throwing bottles. A few skirmishing Italy and France supporters had to be separated.
A voice cried out, half-heartedly, "We came second!"
Zidane's face was projected onto the Arc de Triomphe, under a sign reading "Zizou, we love you," but few looked up at it.
The dejection on the faces spoke volumes. With the game coming down to penalty shootouts, they had harboured hopes right to the end of beating Italy to take the trophy, but a one-goal deficit shattered that.
Zidane's expulsion from the game for a headbutt to the chest of Italian player Marco Materazzi -- an incomprehensible act for the midfielder in what was his last professional game before retirement -- was foremost in the minds of many.
"For his last match, it wasn't really fair play," said a 24-year-old woman who gave her name as Cindy.
"I would have liked to see Zizou end it differently," said Ahmed, who had come with his children.
"I just cannot understand what was going through Zidane's head, it just doesn't make any sense," said one fan, Cyrille Bonet.
His brother, Emmanuel, added: "Italy didn't deserve it, but it's typical of the Italians, they played terribly for the whole match and then they win it on penalties."
An Italian fan in the crowd, Sergio Guardi, begged to differ.
"Italy were good, that's all there was to it. Now the French just have to be good losers," he said.
French President Jacques Chirac, speaking to French television in Berlin, where he watched the match, also expressed puzzlement at Zidane's red card behavior.
"I don't know what happened nor why he was sanctioned," he said, but added that Zidane was a man "who incarnated the best values of sport, the best human qualities and who did honor to French sport and simply honor to France."
Chirac said he was "both happy and dejected" because of the fine performance of France and the outcome, which he said came down to pure bad "luck."
US national team star Folarin Balogun was among the scorers as AS Monaco on Friday won 3-1 at Paris Saint-Germain, dealing a blow to the side from the French capital before they face Chelsea in a crunch UEFA Champions League round-of-16 tie. Maghnes Akliouche gave Monaco a first-half lead at the Parc des Princes, and Aleksandr Golovin doubled their advantage early in the second half of the French Ligue 1 clash. Bradley Barcola pulled one back for the reigning European champions, but Balogun struck shortly after with a fifth goal in his last five games as Monaco claimed a precious
Teenage star Lamine Yamal’s superbly-taken goal on Saturday earned Barcelona a 1-0 win at Athletic Bilbao in Spanish La Liga. The champions restored their four-point lead over second-placed Real Madrid, who had on Friday temporarily closed the gap by beating Celta Vigo. Atletico Madrid tightened their grip on third with an entertaining 3-2 win over Real Sociedad. Yamal, 18, curled into the top corner after 68 minutes to split the sides at Athletic’s San Mames stadium. “We’re already seeing what Lamine can do — he puts it right in the top corner, and there’s nothing the keeper can do,” Barca
West Ham United on Monday advanced to the FA Cup quarter-finals with a 5-3 penalty shoot-out win against Brentford, who paid the price for Dango Ouattara’s spot-kick blunder. Nuno Espirito Santo’s side twice blew the lead as Jarrod Bowen’s double was canceled out by an Igor Thiago brace to force extra-time in the 2-2 draw at the London Stadium, but in the shoot-out, Brentford winger Ouattara attempted a chipped Panenka penalty, but his woeful effort was straight at West Ham goalkeeper Alphonse Areola. It was an awful mistake by the Burkina Faso international and West Ham took full advantage. Bowen, Valentin Castellanos, Callum
CHANCE TO QUALIFY: Both teams now have three points from two games, and Taiwan sit ahead of Vietnam and behind Japan, who last night beat India 11-0 Taiwan yesterday defeated Vietnam 1-0 to move into second place in Group C at the AFC Women’s Asian Cup with one match remaining. Su Yu-hsuan scored the decisive goal in the 26th minute after Taiwan midfielder Saki Matsunaga’s shot hit the crossbar, leaving Su to nod the rebound into an empty net for the team which won the last of their three Asian Cup titles in 1981. It was a deserved victory for Taiwan, 2-0 losers to Japan on Wednesday, who created several chances to extend their lead. Vietnam, the 2022 quarter-finalist, beat India in their opener, but struggled to
RSS