Annecy 2018 Ambassador Optimistic About France's World Cup Chances

(WFI) Aime Jacquet, the coach of France's 1998 World Cup-winning team, tells World Football Insider he believes his country can silence the critics to reach the quarter-finals of the tournament in South Africa.

France play Uruguay later today at Cape Town's Green Point Stadium in the second match of the World Cup. Mexico and South Africa are their other opponents in Group A.

Jacquet, who also guided Les Bleus to win the Euro 2000 championships, acknowledges his country's "arduous qualification" to the finals and that the out-of-sorts France team managed by Raymond Domenech have a tough challenge ahead.

"We have a great deal of ambition considering the quality of the players which will be decisive in the progression of the team during the competition," he tells INSIDER.

"We should go at least to the quarter-final.

"At that stage of the competition, anything could be possible. Football teams have so many resources... they can go way beyond their limits and become exceptional. That’s why these championships are so outstanding.

"They give all players the chance to surpass themselves."

France have underperformed since Zinedine Zidane inspired them to reach the 2006 Germany World Cup final where they lost out to Italy. At Euro 2008, co-hosted by Austria and Switzerland, they could only muster one point.

They were fortunate to qualify for South Africa after beating Ireland with a Thierry Henry handball-assisted goal and have looked dismal in warm-up games.

Last week, a strong France team, featuring Franck Ribery, Henry and Florent Malouda, were humiliated by 84th-ranked China, losing 1-0 in their final friendly before the June 11 to July 11 tournament.

Despite the lacklustre performance and the disbelief of French fans, Jacquet remains confident that Domenech's blend of experienced players and emerging talent can perform well on football's biggest stage.

Of the other 31 nations competing for the Jules Rimet trophy, he singles out Brazil, Spain and England as the main threats to France.

"Brazil is the best team in the world, both in quantity and quality of their athletes," Jacquet said.

"Spain are dangerous. But their players have been overused in the last three years with 60 to 65 games per season. I’m afraid that they might not have the necessary physical force.

"England is a great country that could excel and they have a generation of players who have never won the World Cup and are approaching the end of their career.

"They have a new Italian coach [Fabio Capello] who is well known for pushing teams beyond their expectations."

But Jacquet insists the competition is "tough and very open".

He added: "It could be Argentina, Italy, the Netherlands or France. In the end, the best team wins. The difference is won technically. It is neither luck nor coincidence. Everything that is won is prepared and earned."

Jacquet believes the first World Cup in Africa will unite the nation: "The country has a difficult past. I hope that this World Cup will bring people together and will bring revival to the country."

Asked who he is most looking forward to seeing apart from his countrymen, he said: "I would like to see an African country in the quarter-finals. They deserve it.

"I’m thinking of the Ivory Coast, Cameroon, Ghana or Nigeria. The French would be happy and proud because our national football owes a lot to our African friends."

Jacquet: France deserved Euro 2016

The 68-year-old, whose managerial career included successful spells at Bordeaux, Montpellier and Nancy,also gave his thoughts to INSIDER on France being awarded the UEFA 2016 European Championships.

Two weeks ago, UEFA president Michel Platini opened the special envelope to reveal that his nation had secured Euro 2016 following a vote by the governing body's executive committee.

France won by a narrow margin. They received 7 of the 13 members votes in the second round of voting, with Turkey getting 6. Italy were eliminated in the first ballot.

Jacquet, who is now an ambassador for Annecy 2018's Winter Olympic bid, praised the French Football Federation, led by president Jean-Pierre Escalettes, for its hard work in assembling a winning bid.

"This campaign has had strong political support backing the technical project assets, which is also the case for Annecy’s bid for the 2018 Winter Olympics," he said.

"Winning the Euro 2016 is a sign of vitality for the country and reviving the winning circle. The more France organizes international sports events, the stronger we will be in terms of worldwide sport, and the better chance we will have to host the greatest worldwide sports events."

France, which staged the 1984 European Championships, was a strong favourite to beat Italy and Turkey for Euro 2016 following a favourable assessment in the UEFA evaluation report.

"When we have the opportunity to host such major events, where we can demonstrate our organizational know-how, we must be at our best," he explained. "This creates team spirit, the winning spirit, where participating is not enough, but the importance is to stay on top to the end.

"In France, particularly since the World Cup in ‘98, we are aware that sport is the basis of bringing people together, independent of race or religion. We have understood that organizing sports events can unify the nation."

Under its Euro 2016 bid France aims to modernise its national football stadia infrastructure and "provide French football with a mobilising and unifying project over the next 10 years, creating positive sustainable effects".

A total of $2.1 billion would be spent on stadium projects. The host stadiums are in 12 cities: Bordeaux, Lens, Lille, Lyon, Marseille, Nancy, Nice, Paris, Saint-Denis, Saint-Etienne, Strasbourg and Toulouse. Only nine of the 12 would be used for matches with the others earmarked as back-ups.

"Winning the right to stage Euro 2016 is an international reference for the quality and level of competition and is also proof of our know-how in terms of sports organization," said Jacquet.

He believes France will take UEFA's flagship tournament to the next level and leave a lasting legacy.

"France is already a worldwide reference in football in terms of training youth as well as training coaches. That is probably a point that we will be able to develop further with the Euros," he emphasised.

"Legacy, passing on trained and well-considered sports practices, represents fundamental aspects for France that we have been working on for years. We are the only country in the world which trains coaches specifically for youth with the psychology that is necessary for kids and teenagers.

"Also in terms of legacy, modernizing sports structures and practices means that we have at last understood that a stadium should not remain empty," he said.

"New stadiums should be a living structure, a place to bring people together for all different types of events – not only for sports – and more profitable."

He added: "The legacy also touches on sports practices. Children identify with footballers and other athletes and we can expect a 10 to 12% increase in young players. This is a direct and visible effect after each hosted sports event. Women’s football is also booming in France."

UEFA's flagship tournament will be expanded from 16 to 24 teams after Poland-Ukraine’s co-hosting of the 2012 edition. A total of 51 matches will be played during the month-long Euro 2016 tournament in France.

For continuing on the scene coverage of the World Cup, be sure to visit World Football Insider.

With reporting from James Corbett and Mark Bisson in Johannesbug.