After their late show against Albania, their second in succession after similarly scoring a winner late on against Romania, the French newspaper L’Equipe christened the French national team “Les rois du suspense” – the Kings of Suspense.
“Kings of suspense” is a fabulous phrase, so good that it could be a great band name (à la Kings of Leon), or perhaps the title of a documentary about the great cinematic masters of suspense, such as Hitchcock, Clouzot and De Palma.
France earned their new sobriquet after leaving it very late (even later than against Romania) to score their winning goals against Albania. First, Antoine Griezmann put them ahead in the 90th minute with a sublimely flicked header after the lumbering Giroud had missed several much easier headed chances. Then Dimitri Payet confirmed victory in extra time with his second goal of the tournament.
Of course, it is a tribute to France’s sheer staying power that they have scored three of their four goals so far in the 89th minute or later. When asked after the Albania match whether he was surprised by their new-found penchant for late winners, coach Didier Deschamps said that he was not surprised, because it is increasingly common in football for goals to be scored very late in the game, even in added time.
In the first week of Euro 2016, there have been several extremely late goals, with England almost rivalling France for dramatic finishes to games, first conceding an injury-time equaliser against Russia and then scoring a winner against Wales in the 91st minute.
Similarly, Spain left it very late before beating the Czech Republic, and both Italy and Germany had to wait until just before the end of the game to score their second and clinching goals against Belgium and Ukraine respectively. And mighty minnows Northern Ireland produced the latest goal of the tournament so far, scoring their second against Ukraine (who must be heartily sick of conceding late goals) in the sixth minute of extra time.
France are not alone in having had to rely on winning games, or at least confirming victory in games, right at the death. However, so far they are the only team to have done it twice, and, even more importantly,because they are the host nation they may find that the emotional exhaustion of waiting so long to finish games off eventually takes its toll.
Being the host nation in a major international tournament has obvious benefits: support from home fans wherever the team plays; complete familiarity with the conditions, language and stadia; and the ease of being able to see loved ones even if the team is notionally “holed up” in its hotel. However, there are also disadvantages, the most daunting of which is the sheer weight of expectation from the entire home country, which can ultimately overwhelm the host nation’s team.
If that were not the case, then host nations would surely have won far more major international tournaments than they have. In the entire history of the European Championship (since 1960), host nations have only won three of the 14 tournaments so far: Spain in 1964; Italy in 1968; and France in 1984. In World Cups, the record of the home nation is little better, with only six hosts triumphing in the 20 tournaments since 1930, and none at all since France in 1998.
The overwhelming weight of expectation, whereby the entire country—even those people who ordinarily would not watch football—seems to be supporting a home team, can exact a heavy price.
Perhaps the most famous example in recent times is Portugal in 2004, when, after succumbing to little-fancied Greece in the tournament opener, they fought their way through to the final where they faced the same opponents again. This time, thought the whole of Portugal, the hosts would get it right and avenge their opening-day defeat.
In fact, the long coach-ride through Lisbon that the team took before the final, with the vehicle reduced to a crawl by the presence of tens of thousands of fans on the street to hail their heroes, meant that by the time Portugal actually arrived at the stadium they were already emotionally spent, and produced little or nothing in the final as they again lost meekly to Greece.
Indeed, such is the enormity of home pressure that it has overwhelmed even the most successful national football team in the world, Brazil, costing them a World Cup win on their own soil not once but twice. In 1950, Brazil only had to draw their final game against Uruguay to secure the trophy, because there was a final league phase rather than a final per se. Of course, they lost to their neighbours 2-1 in a game that thereafter was known in Brazil simply as “the defeat”.
Consequently, when Brazil hosted the World Cup again in 2014, many Brazilians consoled themselves with the thought that whatever happened, it could not be as bad as the experience of 1950. Of course, the footballing fates are endlessly inventive and cruel, and Brazil collapsed even more spectacularly in their semi-final against Germany, losing 7-1, a record defeat that means the game will forever be remembered in Brazil and around the world simply by its score.
All of Brazil’s five World Cup wins have been on foreign soil, perhaps because they were not overwhelmed by the incredible weight of expectation generated by a home support of a hundred thousand or so in the stadium and two hundred million outside.
Of course, France have previously thrived on home soil, famously winning the European Championship in 1984 and the World Cup in 1998. And on both occasions, they overcame seemingly impending defeat, particularly in their thrilling semi-final wins against Portugal and Croatia respectively.
However, those nerve-shredding victories came late on in the tournament, whereas this time around France have already begun expending precious nervous energy in the first round. And wonderful as it is to score late winners, in the long run it can mean that a team simply runs out of steam, or more precisely adrenaline, particularly in the closing stages of a tournament.
That is the danger that France must be wary of. Fortunately, they have a wily old campaigner in charge, Deschamps, who, having won the World Cup on home soil in 1998, knows exactly how to overcome the difficulties of playing at home, under what can seem like suffocating and ceaseless pressure.
He will surely try to transmit that knowledge to his charges, so that they set out to win their final group game against Switzerland as easily and early as possible, and thus save precious mental and physical energy for the knock-out matches to come. If they do not do so, the “Kings of Suspense” may be at risk of the ultimate unhappy ending later in the tournament.
