There was a moment in time, a brief, beautiful moment when the Champs Elysees
was filled with more people than it had seen
since the Liberation of Paris, celebrating a unifying
moment that brought French people from all walks of life together.
Zinedine Zidane, the son of two Algerian immigrants, had his face projected
onto the Arc De Triomphe three years after
Jean-Marie Le Pen's far-right anti-immigrantion party Front National
had received a then-record 15% of the vote.
People sang "Zizou for President".
Of course, one football tournament could not solve France's deep-seated social issues,
and nor should it have been expected to.
For those interested in this aspect of the '98 World Cup, the superb
documentary "Les Bleus: une autre histoire de france"
or "The Blues, an alternative history of France" looks
at the relationship between the French national team
and wider French society in more detail and is one of the best football documentaries
of recent years.
But whatever followed that brief, beautiful moment, the moment itself was remarkable,
and it came about as the result of a remarkable team at a remarkable world cup.
France '98 had more than its fair share of really good teams.
The hosts and eventual winners won this and the subsequent Euros.
The Brazil side who fell to them in the final—more on that later—
were packed with talent, and won the world cups on either side of this one.
Beaten semi-finalists Holland and Croatia graced the tournament
and there were impressive performances along the way
from Denmark, Nigeria, Argentina and an England side made exciting once again by the presence
of young upstarts like David Beckham, Paul Scholes and an electrifying Michael Owen.
Owen and Beckham had seminal moments in their second round tie against Argentina, though
for very different reasons.
The former scored the goal that announced him on the international stage,
the latter kicked out at Diego Simeone and got sent off, making himself a pariah in England,
forcing a siege mentality to develop around him at Manchester
United which resulted in probably his best- ever season, the 1998/99 treble winning campaign.
Major Premier League players played a key role in this World Cup.
Emmanuel Petit and Patrick Vieira combined in the heart of France's midfield,
and their Arsenal teammate Dennis Bergkamp scored
one of the goals of the tournament—one of the all-time great world cup goals—against
Argentina in the quarter finals.
Frank De Boer hit a long raking pass into the area from deep in his own half.
Bergkamp killed the ball with his instep, cut inside sending his marker, well, to the
shops, then poked the ball home with the outside of his boot.
The Dutch commentary, which consists of a man shouting
Bergkamp's name in ever-more excited fashion, is one of modern football's great moments.
Holland only lost on penalties to Brazil in the semi-final.
The truly phenomenal Ronaldo reached four goals with his goal in that game.
On the other side of the draw, France faced the glamorous and
thoroughly effective Croatia, spearheaded by tournament top , and illuminated by the
languid brilliance of Robert Prosinecki.
Concerns about where France's goals would come from proved
misguided thanks to a surprising source.
As Musa Okwonga points out in his article for uMaxit, Lilian
Thuram, the brilliant defender, scored 15% of his total career goals with a brace in
one World Cup semi-final.
The final started amid fierce controversy.
Ronaldo's name was not on the teamsheet, then it was
again, in spite of the fact that he was clearly nowhere near his best.
The rumours of what happened have been varied and ongoing.
In 2014, Celso de Campos Jr catalogued the speculation for Four Four
Two and they included sponsors' influence, a mysterious medic, speculation around a nervous
​breakdown, the involvement of FIFA, and a sex scandal.
In spite of Brazilian parliamentary enquiries, we are still unsure of the truth.
The final, then, belonged not to Ronaldo, the best player in the world at that point,
but to France's talisman.
Zidane struck twice with headers from corners.
Petit put a shine on the scoreline with his injury time third.
France celebrated its diverse and brilliant football team, and for a moment it felt like
the world had changed forever.
In the end, of course, it had not.
But it is not up to football to change the world forever.
Football's job is to change it for a moment and France '98 certainly did that.