Euro 2016 final: France, who had fallen to such lows, nearing a restorative high

Ian Hawkey writes in the intervening period since France won the 1998 World Cup, they have had moments - such as in 2010 - that have hurt the soul of the team, and that can be made right in the Euro 2016 final.

Left to right, Olivier Giroud, Blaise Matuidi, Paul Pogba, Samuel Umtiti and Dimitri Payet of France line up for the national anthem prior to the Euro 2016 semi-final on Thursday night. Lars Baron / GShow more

Time was that Didier Deschamps could sound a bit fussy about the quality of noise you got at the Stade de France.

The venue was still new when he prepared his French national team to try and win the World Cup there.

He was captain then, and in his final press conference before the 1998 final of that tournament, he urged the crowd to sound a bit less like corporate-box debenture holders and more man-on-the-street raucous.

To see the same Deschamps on his podium on Saturday, addressing the press ahead of another major final in Paris, carried an eerie sense of deja vu.

In the 18 years between then and now, France has learnt to appreciate more and more how unique, impassioned, spontaneously joyful were the sights and sounds at the Stade on July 12, 1998, when Deschamps became the first French captain to lift the World Cup.

More Euro 2016 final

• France v Portugal: Everything you need to know

• Richard Jolly: 'Ugly duckling' Portugal, with fine-tuned defence and remodelled midfield, can win

Men and women of all social strata poured onto the streets of Paris to celebrate the triumph, full of patriotism and pride in a notably diverse team who represented the country.

Some of that joy was revived in Marseille on Thursday, when Germany were overcome in the semi-final of Euro 2016, but for much of the last decade and a half, the French have become more and more bashful about asking, as the player Deschamps did, for full-throated, generous-hearted support.

They cannot afford to be so demanding of their constituents. The French public have been let down by their team too many times.

Deschamps does not shy away from that. He spoke about “the ugly things in the last year” ahead of Sunday night’s final against Portugal.

He meant the off-the-field problems arising from a police investigation into a blackmail attempt on the midfielder Mathieu Valbuena, during which Karim Benzema, the striker, was questioned.

Neither Benzema, twice a Uefa Champions League winner with Real Madrid, nor Valbuena are in the current squad.

Some of the players who have let down France in other ways feel ready, at 90 minutes away from delivering the championship of their continent in front of a home crowd, to acknowledge scars.

The current captain, Hugo Lloris, was a member of the squad who went on strike during the 2010 World Cup in South Africa, protesting at the expulsion from the camp of their colleague Nicolas Anelka, who had sworn at then-manager Raymond Domenech.

He said: “We went through a crisis. We’ve been able to pick ourselves up, step by step but it has taken time.”

Defender Bacary Sagna, also among the mutineers in the coastal South African town of Knysna, said: “Knysna left its mark. We made mistakes. We brought French football down, and left a negative image.

“We have had to do a great deal of work, to try and get the public back with us. Six years later, we are in the final and, though we can’t erase the past, we want to put a smile on peoples’ faces.”

To do so, France need to come back down to earth from the thrilling triumph over Germany.

They need, as Deschamps put it, to enjoy the “special, unique privilege” of playing for a title at home, and “stay true” to their principles.

They need, probably, a dominant Paul Pogba, and for Antoine Griezmann to maintain his electric form.

They need to cultivate the spirit that Lloris insists has “been steering us to this final, stepping up in terms of maturity.”

And they need to guard against the finest European footballer this century has known.

Will there, against Portugal, be an anti-Cristiano Ronaldo plan? Deschamps smiled at the question. “A plan to stop him? No one has yet found the recipe to do that.

“He has two of the toughest things to combat, pace and aerial threat. But, yes, we need to limit his influence.”

Ian Hawkey’s verdict

If they conform to the type established over the past month, Portugal will defend deep, and look to hurt France on the counter-attack.

That is what the French anticipate and they have the patience to deal with that: it was the pattern in their group-phase matches, and against the Republic of Ireland in the last 16.

If they do not freeze, the French should have enough about them to triumph, although a high margin is unlikely, and Portugal have at least one goal in them.

Extra-time may be needed, too, though hopefully not an unsatisfactory denouement of frightened men marching one by one to the penalty spot.

France to lift the Cup, after a close two hours.

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