For France, World Cup 2014 should be considered a victory

Like most teams who’ve exited a tournament, France will be hurting following their elimination from the 2014 FIFA World Cup.

And while their 1-0 quarter-final defeat to Germany will be met with commiserations by the French, there were infinitely more positives to take from Brazil than there were negatives.

The French contingent that travelled to South America was being closely watched by the entire footballing world after their very public meltdown in South Africa four years ago. For the French Republic, South Africa 2010 was a catastrophic failure, not just on sporting levels but on diplomatic levels as well.

Those who’d credited Raymond Domenech with France’s Cinderella run at Germany 2006 were left eating humble pie as it became quite clear that it was Zinedine Zidane’s brilliance that had taken them up to the Olympiastadion eight years ago.

Without Zizou’s magic on the road to Euro 2008, the French fell apart and Domenech – whose eccentricities ranged from an extreme distrust of David Trezeguet and Robert Pires because they were Scorpios to proposing to his girlfriend on national television after France’s embarrassing exit from the Group of Death in Austria-Switzerland – was never going to have the firm hand required to lift the French out of their listless performances.

His successors, Laurent Blanc and Didier Deschamps, are no-nonsense, hard-nosed men who understand that a united squad was key to achieving results on the pitch. They knew that the French were sorely hurting after seeing their nation collapse in Africa and the best way to heal those wounds was to get France to return to their winning ways.

The first step to managing their players’ egos was to show those players who was boss, and that was precisely what both coaches have done. Blanc suspended the 23 players who’d represented France in South Africa and told them in no uncertain terms that they were to respect the nation they were playing for.

With him at the helm, France qualified for Euro 2012 at the top of their group, the first time they’d done so since the 1992 European Championships.

Deschamps has only built on what his fellow World Cup winner has achieved. Thierry Henry’s handball against the Republic of Ireland four years ago was a sign of desperation because he knew that there was no other way the French were going to make it to South Africa.

For Deschamps and the French nation, their decisive second leg of their playoff against Ukraine brought all those bitter sentiments rushing back. There was a distinct sense of déjà vu amongst the French because they knew their honour and their reputation was on the line at the Parc des Princes.

It is said that a team that remain united in the face of adversity and overcome it are forever changed for the better afterwards and France’s comprehensive 3-0 demolition of Ukraine in Paris was perhaps a sign of how far Blanc’s and Deschamps’ healing process had come.

More importantly, the heart of the French team beat in unison with the populace they represented. As players and fans stood as one, they all knew that the spectre of Domenech’s rapid fall from grace was finally evaporating.

The undercurrents of mutiny that ignited the proverbial powder keg that the French had been sitting on in South Africa had been replaced by a wave of solidarity that coursed through the nation, a wave, alive and pulsing with undulating energy that showed the world that the France team that would be travelling to South America would indeed by a united symbol of the French Republic.

A symbol of liberté, égalité, fraternité.

It was this unity that France brought to Brazil. They knew they had a point to prove and they set about proving it straight away. Every goal was celebrated collectively, often in front of the cameras to drive home the point that this was a changed France, a unified France.

It is a spirit that promises to be part of the France teams of the future. The single-mindedness, dedication and doggedness that the French have showed in Brazil have given French fans a reason to hope that was decidedly absent four years ago.

While a quarter-final finish may not be as glittering an achievement as years past, it is an achievement that Frenchmen and women everywhere can admire with pride because it emphatically ended France’s ignominy.

In 2010, one wondered whether the French would muster enough gumption to get out of the group stages. 2012 showed that that nous had returned to the French side, 2014 gave French fans renewed cause for optimism.

The 2014 World has allowed French fans to dream again and that is why they should treat Brazil 2014 as a moral victory. With the 2016 European Championships taking place on home soil, there is every chance the world will see France return to its place among football’s elite, especially since the team is bursting with talent that should come of age two years from now.

They will take with them the experiences of Brazil 2014, knowing that they did their country proud, knowing that they brought back honour to their country, knowing that they’ given reasons for their fans to dream again, knowing that they’ve lifted the doom and gloom that surrounded their national football team.

Knowing that they’ve erased forever the scars of 2010.