"I hope that France can do it. The pressure on us will be huge, and for some players that might be a negative thing, but for most of us it will be good. We might not be the side of Platini and champagne soccer of a decade ago, but soccer has changed even in the last 10 years and we've become more defensive. It is also true that we're in good shape in defence and midfield, but perhaps not so much in attack." - Didier Deschamps, French captain.
"I tell you one thing, one simple thing: we're hungry for success." - French schemer Youri Djorkaeff.
"My player Thuram is convinced that France will win the World Cup, he's been telling me that for months." - Parma coach Carlo Ancelotti on central defender Lilian Thuram.
In the weekend that was in it, one's thoughts inevitably turned to the World Cup finals, scheduled to start with Brazil v Scotland at the Stade de France in Paris, just four weeks from tomorrow. After all, with the exception of the two remaining European finals - tomorrow night's Cup Winners' Cup in Stockholm and next week's Champions Cup in Amsterdam - the European club season is over. Last weekend saw Celtic in Scotland, Lens in France and Juventus in Italy all lift their domestic league titles and thus join the ranks of already confirmed national champions such as Arsenal, Kaiserslautern, Barcelona, Porto, Bruges and Ajax. As the final, downhill run to France '98 begins, one's first thoughts inevitably turn to the host country. Ancelotti probably spoke for many professional observers when suggesting on television the other night that France have to start among the favourites, not only as the home team, but for the all too obvious quality of their squad.
"It's frightening to think of the experience and class of just the ones (French players) who play here in Italy," he said.
The players in question - Deschamps and midfield playmaker Zinedine Zidane (both Juventus), Djorkaeff (Inter), rugged defenders Marcel Desailly (AC Milan) and Thuram (Parma), battling midfielder Alain Boghossian (Sampdoria) and full back Vincent Candela (AS Roma) - do not look bad. Add to that list experienced sweeper Laurent Blanc (Olympique Marseilles), midfielder Christian Karembeu (Real Madrid) and perhaps even Arsenal's Patrick Vieira, Emmanuel Petit and the end of season revelation, 19-year-old Nicolas Anelka, and you have a formidable looking squad.
It is a cliche, faithfully repeated by us soccer writers every four years, that the potential for a successful World Cup will be greatly enhanced by a good run from the home team. If they do well, then the event tends to take such a fierce grip on the host country's collective imagination that the atmosphere becomes chaotically and cheerfully super-charged; in such an atmosphere, the possibility for some memorable sporting moments increases dramatically.
If our cliche proves correct, then we ought to prepare for some exciting fare. Put simply, unlike the USA host team of four years ago, this French World Cup team is a serious soccer reality and it will come as one of the major surprises of the tournament if they do not make it at least to the quarter-finals.
Apart from coach Aime Jacquet, no one will bear more of the burden of the home fans' (and FIFA's local organising committee) expectations than captain Deschamps. On Sunday, he warmed up for the task in the best possible manner by collecting his third Italian league title in four seasons as Juventus saw off Bologna, Roberto Baggio et al, with a 3-2 home win that wrapped up one of the most controversial title races in years.
Next week, he can continue the preparations on a positive note when the all-conquering Juventus line out for their fourth successive European final and their third successive Champions League final when they meet Spanish champions Real Madrid. All in all, everything would seem to be going perfectly for the French captain. Or would it?
Speaking to your correspondent, deep in the dungeons of the old Stadio Communale in Turin where Juventus now train, Deschamps recently conceded that he had two major concerns about French preparations. Firstly, there is the obvious host country disadvantage of having played only friendlies since Euro '96 in England, given that the home team receives an automatic qualification. Secondly, there is equally obvious concern about the physical and psychological well-being of the squad at the end of a long, hard and stressful European club season.
"Modern footballers play too much: 60-70 games per season is simply too much, the physical and mental pressure is too much and eventually something gives, your body just explodes as some part of you cries enough. That is what happened to France in Euro '96. We were exhausted by the time of the semi-final, we could do no more and we lost to a team, the Czech Republic, that were not as good as us."
Deschamps, however, hopes that this time it will be different and that the huge stimulus generated by French fan pressure will enable tired players to regenerate themselves. He admits that the side goes into the finals without a confirmed, international class striker.
"It is true that we don't have a Ronaldo, a Bierhoff, a Batistuta, a Sukor, a Del Piero or a Shearer in attack, but we have players like Dugarry, Trezequet and Guivarc'h, and maybe one of them will come good this summer."
If "one of them" does come good, then France are going to be hard to beat.
