Rogers: France-England friendly sends message that resonates beyond pitch
Friendlies, as exhibition matches in international soccer are globally known, are often dismissed as exercises in futility. All too often the finest players skip such games on the pretense of some make-believe injury, only to appear for their club teams at full speed days later.
There are too many substitutions, not enough commitment, and generally a sense of boredom that is overwhelmingly, er, underwhelming.
Yet an exception will be played out at London’s Wembley Stadium on Tuesday, when France meets England in a game that comes on the heels of a tragic weekend and signifies so much more than two teams of men kicking a ball about.
In the aftermath of the horrific terror attack on Paris it would have been the logical step to cancel the game. Such a choice was open to France’s players and their federation, a choice they opted to forsake.
No one would have blamed them. Like the rest of the country and much of the world, the squad is in mourning. The bloodshed had personal ties to the group, with a cousin of midfielder Lassana Diarra having perished and forward Antoine Griezmann’s sister narrowly escaping the besieged Bataclan theater.
The players had heard two blasts with their own ears while they were playing Germany on Friday night, with one bomber having unsuccessfully attempted to enter the Stade de France, where tens of thousands of spectators were assembled.
At that moment the players had no ideas of the devastation unfolding nearby and were stunned to be told of the carnage at the conclusion of the game.
The decision was taken, swiftly, decisively and with a broader focus in mind, to play on through the pain and participate in Tuesday’s match, to refuse to give in to those who would disrupt life and spread fear.
To suggest France’s troubles can be cured through sports is awfully trite, yet there is history to suggest the beautiful game can serve as a force for good in a nation that needs it.
At a time when understanding between ethnicities is required more than ever, France’s soccer stars form a symbol of unity. A broad mix of ethnicities will be on display when La Marseillaise is played over the Wembley loudspeakers and the television cameras rest momentarily on each face.
They also seem to be a group committed to solidarity and cognizant of the power in the soles of their collective cleats. Instead of returning to their homes on Friday night, they remained in the stadium locker rooms with the German team, who were stuck there for their own safety.
Their predecessors from a generation earlier would have been proud. In 1998, the France national team won the World Cup on home soil, as far-right nationalist politician Jean Marie Le Pen spouted anti-immigrant rhetoric in advance of a presidential run.
The victorious team included Zinedine Zidane, the son of Algerian immigrants, Marcel Desailly, originally from Ghana, and Patrick Vieira, born in Senegal and now head coach of New York City FC in Major League Soccer.
It was a team the nation learned to love and it found its voice on and off the field. When Le Pen took a run at the presidency in 2002, the side publicly urged voters to support his rival Jacques Chirac instead.
Wembley on Tuesday will be a night of emotion. Like any close regional neighbor with a long shared history, England and France occasionally like to snipe at each other, but there will be none of that this time.
Already, the French flag’s colors of red, white and blue have been lit on Wembley’s iconic arch and a symbolic silence will be held to commemorate those who were lost as Paris came under fire.
If nothing else, if this is a friendly that truly espouses friendship, it won’t have been pointless at all.
PHOTOS: Sports world pays tribute after Paris tragedy