French revolution seeks revenge
French revolution seeks revenge
France have surprised many by emerging as World Cup contenders but face their toughest test yet against nemesis Germany in a quarterfinal clash of European heavyweights at Rio de Janeiro's Maracana Stadium today.
For France coach Didier Deschamps the past, heart-rending World Cup semifinal defeats to the Germans in 1982 and 1986 do not matter at all.
But with French media splashing the word "Angstgegner", the German word for bogey team, across their front pages and broadcasts, Deschamps must conquer the fears of an entire nation if he is to restore his country's World Cup eminence.
France, who have scored 10 goals in four matches in Brazil, have already gone a long way to restoring some pride after their hapless first round exit in 2010.
Reaching the last eight with solid teamwork has already done much to rebuild their image but facing the Germans in a knockout game is motivation in itself.
They have only excruciating memories of their last two World Cup battles against them, losing a nerve-racking semifinal in 1982 in Spain.
After scoring twice to lead 3-1 in extra time they conceded two goals and crashed out on penalties in what has become known as 'Seville '82'.
Germany keeper Toni Schumacher's reckless challenge on France's Patrick Battiston which left the player with broken ribs, an injured vertebrae and shattered teeth, further added to the bitterness of that loss.
Four years later it was again the Germans who killed off their world Cup dreams with a 2-0 victory in Mexico.
For Germany, it has been 24 years since their third and most recent World Cup crown.
They have come close in the past two tournaments, reaching the last four but stumbled at the penultimate hurdle.
After a laboured extra time 2-1 win over Algeria in the round of 16, the Germans are facing mounting pressure from their fans, desperate to see an end of their title drought.
"You get games like that in a tournament and you just have to battle your way through," said Germany coach Joachim Loew. "In a tournament you cannot always play fantastic football."
A question mark hangs over Loew's shaky defence and how it will react to its biggest test so far in the tournament, with France's Karim Benzema, Olivier Giroud and Antoine Griezmann posing a far bigger threat than the Desert foxes attack.
Brazil are under intense pressure to breathe life into their World Cup campaign and produce a performance worthy of champions when they face Colombia and their free-scoring midfielder James Rodriguez in Friday's quarterfinal.
After their laboured win over Chile in a penalty shootout in their last match, the Brazilians have been berated by their fans and former players. Among them is none other than Zico, their great playmaker from the 1980s.
"The fact is that we are lacking a proper game plan," he wrote in a column in British newspaper the Guardian.
Brazil coach Luiz Felipe Scolari has taken such criticism in his stride.
"It's normal that they [the fans and the media] are demanding," he said.
"We're facing up to our difficulties and we'll see if we can improve our balance in the next game from start to finish, and not have the ups and downs that we had in the previous games."
Striker Neymar, scorer of four of Brazil's eight World Cup goals, is nursing a thigh injury picked up against the Chileans but looks certain to start.
Scolari's biggest selection headache is in midfield, where Luiz Gustavo is suspended after being booked against Chile. Ramirez is his most likely replacement.
In stark contrast to the angst-ridden Brazilians, the Colombians seem to be enjoying every minute of their best ever World Cup campaign.
They have won all four matches, scoring 11 goals in the process and conceding just two.
In Rodriguez, they have produced one of the revelations of the competition. He has scored five, including a contender for goal of the tournament in a 2-0 defeat of Uruguay in the last round.
"There's no point in just stopping James. We need to stop the whole Colombian team." Scolari said. "They're a team that plays easily, nice football, they are calm and organised."
History is firmly on Brazil's side.
In their 25 previous meetings Colombia have won just twice and the last time was 23 years ago, before the baby-faced Rodriguez was even born.
The five-times champions have not lost a competitive match on home soil since 1975, when Peru beat them 3-1 in the Copa America.
That remarkable record will be put to the test in Fortaleza's Estadio Castelao on Friday as perhaps never before.