Twenty-three egos in one boat

After two successive defeats, the French football team travelled to Germany for the 2006 World Cup. From this moment onwards, whether the twenty-three chosen stars were to form a group with a united team spirit or not was to depend on a number of tiny details, some of which were controllable, while others were not. Football has an indomitable magic that demands strict organisation in order to build an environment in which talent can come to the fore. A team which has reached the highest level does not leave anything to chance. A tremendous amount of work was carried out by the Federation to train young, talented footballers as well as coaches, and to organise talent-spotting. In 2004, a plan was devised to win the 2006 World Cup. A strategy was developed which would enable the team to get to the World Cup Final two years later in the best possible physical, moral and organisational state. All that was left to do was to make it all gel.