France is most often synonymous with great misfortune for Brazil in the World Cup. If Pelé and his men had put an end to the magnificent run of the Blues in Sweden in 1958, the French team has continued to take its revenge ever since. Whether in the quarter-finals, like in 1986 in Mexico, Michel Platini’s gang winning on penalties, or in 2006, the Blues winning 1-0 after a performance by Zinedine Zidane.
The French playmaker reminds Brazilian supporters of another (very) bad memory. In 1998, during the final, the Marseillais had in fact put the Blues on the path to success by scoring an improbable double with a header. A bruise for Roberto Carlos, branded by this defeat at the Stade de France, synonymous with tragedy in Brazil. “ In Brazil, winning the World Cup is an obligation,” he recently explained in the columns of The Team.
Aimé Jacquet had everything planned
“ Our mistake was to have thought that we would win this final without problem, but unfortunately for us Zizou scored the only two headed goals of his career that evening. he remembered about his former teammate’s two goals at Real Madrid. But by the admission of the executioner of the Brazilians, the merit goes to Aimé Jacquet, who had pointed out the weaknesses of the Seleçao on the corners, in particular due to the small size of Roberto Carlos and Leonardo, at fault on both goals.
“The days before the final, Aimé Jacquet focused on the corners: “Zizou, I know that heading is not necessarily your strong point but this Brazil, he is 1.70m (Roberto Carlos), this one, barely more (Leonardo, 1.75m), so I guarantee you that if you go there with conviction you can do something, told in the past about the 2018 Ballon d’Or. Manu (Petit) takes the first corner from the right, Youri (Djorkaeff) the second from the left, and each time I found myself alone with the advantage of size. »
