Ecstatic French supporters dream of 1998 epic

PARIS: French fans and media hailed the 3-1 victory over Spain as their side's best World Cup finals performance since winning the title in 1998.

Thousands of chanting supporters filled the Champs Elysees in Paris after the match last night, returning to the scene of the rapturous celebrations that greeted ''Les Bleus'' when they won the title as hosts eight years ago.

Late night metro trains reverberated to choruses of ''On a gagne! On a gagne!'' (We've won! We've won!), the traditional cry of victorious French supporters, until the last underground services stopped after midnight.

''Giant!'' headlined Le Parisien newspaper on Wednesday over a full-page picture of Franck Ribery and Zinedine Zidane celebrating the goal that sealed France's victory. ''This time we really saw 'Les Bleus','' it said.

The outburst of support, which filled the French capital's streets with honking cars and flag-waving fans until the small hours, was in stark contrast to the resignation that accompanied the team's lacklustre first-round performances.

After a humiliating 2002 World Cup campaign in which the team were sent packing after three matches without scoring a goal and a first round in Germany in which it laboured to get through a relatively easy group, many believed the team's best days were behind them.

But the reinvigorated performance in Hanover from a squad previously criticised as too old and slow left the country looking forward to the quarter-final clash with Brazil, their opponents in the 1998 final, with renewed confidence.

''We're off again,'' Liberation said on its front page.

''Could the epic of 1998 be repeated?''.

France beat a below-par Brazil 3-0 in the 1998 final to win the World Cup for the first and only time.

REUTERS
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