France return from World Cup 2002 in Japan/South Korea early after failing to score a single goal!

Nobody in France really saw the victory coming in 1998, despite the tournament being on held on home soil. Then the French stars divided and conquered Europe's biggest clubs, only Dugarry staying in France (the French fiscal system leaves clubs unable to pay the huge salaries of modern football stars), coming back together to win the European Championship in 2000. This was the 'proof of the pudding', in many pundits views, because the '98 final had been such a shambles. In 2000, with Brazil in decline, the French football team really looked like the best in the world.

But they returned home from the 2002 World Cup without scoring a goal

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- the first title-defender ever to do so badly! They were without their acclaimed playmaker and French superstar Zinedine Zidane for their first two matches, providing the first shock of the tournament by losing to Senegal in the opening match. Then the early sending off of Thierry Henry, arguably victim of some harsh refereeing, left them to fight off the Uruguayans for over an hour in what was a very physical game. Neither side managed to score and the French were left needing to beat Denmark 2-0 in order to qualify.

In spite of this I found many French fans optimistic that their side would pull the necessary result out of the hat with the return of their all-powerful magician, Zizou le magnifique. In the event Zidane seemed not to have fully recovered from the thigh injury that had kept him out of the first two encounters. Denmark were strong and France seemed unable to find their rhythme. 2-0 was indeed the restult, but it was the Danes who found the net. France never did in Japan and Korea in 2002, and their will be much said in the coming days about where it all went wrong. C'est la vie!