Allez les Vieux? France to Rely on the Old Guys Again

It is now a part of French football lore.

In summer of 2005, the France team was sitting in fourth place in their World Cup qualifying group. Coach Raymond Domenech went to Zinedine Zidane, Lilian Thuram and Claude Makélélé, each of them a couple of years past that thirty year milestone, and implored them to come out of international retirement. They did.

The result was synergistic, a pulling together of the team that saw them through qualifying, through the group stage, past Spain, past Brazil, past Portugal… A magical run, right up until the point in the Final where Materazzi was lying on the ground and Zidane was seeing red.

Fast forward a couple of years. Zidane is gone, but Makélélé (now 35) and Thuram (36) are still around. Both were integral to the team’s Euro qualfication, and both are expected to be starters for most games in the finals.

And, since time doesn’t stand still, in the interim they’ve been joined in the over-thirty group by players like Willy Sagnol (31), Patrick Vieira (31) and Thierry Henry (30), as well as the post-World Cup goalkeeper Grégory Coupet (35.) With the possible exception of Sagnol, who’s been hampered by injuries in the past year, all are expected to start regularly.

It’s a somewhat risky strategy. Neither Thuram nor Henry has started regularly this season for Barcelona, and Henry has had a difficult time maintaining fitness. Vieira, the France captain, has also battled injuries. Sagnol has struggled to regain his starting position at Bayern Munich since coming back from a serious knee injury earlier this year. Makélélé has been integral to Chelsea’s success in the 2007-08 season and doesn’t seem to be feeling the years as much as others his age, but even he can’t play as long or as frequently as he used to. He’ll also be coming off of an intense league season that’s seen his team both challenging in the EPL title fight and heading to the Champions League final.

In qualification, coach Raymond Domenech has seemed content to assume that these players will be up for the challenge. He has given experience to some younger players (notably Jérémy Toulalan at central midfield, François Clerc at rightback and Karim Benzema in attack,) but for the most part he seems to be trusting that players over thirty can get the job done.

France fans are hoping he’s right. Come Euro time, they’ll be praying, Allez les Vieux.*

*Go, old guys!

For more on the France team, check out our France page.