Criticized by the press in the run-up to the 98 World Cup because of his defensive football, Aimé Jacquet took quite a revenge by offering the very first world title to France. At the edge of the pitch at the Stade de France after the 3-0 success thanks to Zinédine Zidane's double header and the latest achievement by Emmanuel Petit, the Blues coach assured that he would never forgive a certain press (the newspaper The Team
not to mention it).
Tactically, it was in 4-2-3-1 that the host country of the French World Cup dominated its three opponents in the group stage (South Africa, Saudi Arabia and Denmark). It is the same system that was aligned from the start, with Bernard Diomède left winger, for the endless round of 16 against Paraguay, concluded by Laurent Blanc's golden goal at the end of extra time.
Jacquet then returned to his basic plan, imagined in the Euro 96 qualifiers with the advent of the Zidane-Djorkaeff duo, namely a 4-3-2-1 with three defensive midfielders. Facing Italy in the quarter-finals, Croatia in the semi-finals then Brazil in the final, Christian Karembeu formed a three-way midfield with Didier Deschamps and Emmanuel Petit. For the final clash with the Auriverde, Karembeu was responsible for slowing down Roberto Carlos while helping Lilian Thuram against Rivaldo.
Jacquet also targets Dunga
Marcel Desailly recounts Aimé Jacquet's game plan for the final, on the site ultimouomo.com: “Our coach was very intelligent in countering Cafu and Roberto Carlos and thinking of specific marking on Rivaldo and Dunga”. “The Rock” believes in any case that his team was in an irresistible dynamic and that he was “unthinkable” not to win this final at home.
We thus discover that Carlos Dunga, the Brazilian captain, defensive midfielder and hub of his team, was also targeted by the technical staff of the France team. Zinédine Zidane, Youri Djorkaeff and Stéphane Guivarc'h were responsible for limiting Dunga's influence. If Guivarc'h missed his opportunities in front of Claudio Taffarel, the Brazilians also missed their opportunities in the first half, notably falling on a Fabien Barthez of the great days. Especially since Ronaldo was weakened after feeling unwell during the day.
