Thierry Henry could use an ally. Someone like Pierre Issa, who on a June night in Marseille some 12 years ago, helpfully ushered two Henry shots across the South African goal line
This set the momentum for a glorious month for Les Bleus, a fabulous era for French football, and added his footnote to a chapter in the story of one of France's greatest strikers, their record goal scorer.
Now, as the next World Cup meeting between Bafana Bafana and Les Bleus approaches, France are at a low ebb, Henry at one of his lowest. For most of Wednesday night, when Les Bleus took on Spain in Paris, the memory of the French as world champions, as the last team to seize the World Cup on home soil, seemed as distant as the reign of Louis XVI.
The team were booed from the field, the dominant Spanish applauded by French fans and shrill whistles reserved for the French captain, the out-of-form Henry. When he was substituted, with Spain comfortably in charge, their 2-0 victory secure, he was jeered.
Henry is the one remaining survivor in the current Les Bleus team from the squad that made France the 1998 world champions and the 2000 European champions. Part of the trouble, he explained after the match, is that French fans become easily nostalgic for that triumph, and compare the team of 2010 with the one of 10 years ago.
"People here continue to look back at the France team of 1998 and when we lose, they don't like it." In this, Les Bleus suffer from a syndrome not unlike South Africa's. Just as the present Bafana squad hear of how strong the 1996 African champions were compared to the next generation, so the French hang on the words of ex-players turned pundits like Emmanuel Petit, Bixente Lizarazu and Christoph Dugarry, all of whom shared the 1998 success, and wonder where it went wrong.
An easy place to start is Henry. He admits he is playing poorly, that he no longer commands a place in the Barcelona first XI, and knows that much of the warmth he used to attract as one of the most exquisite, exciting and devastating footballers of the Noughties was lost in the moment of France's qualification for the 2010 World Cup, the Henry handball which enabled William Gallas to score the winning goal in France's playoff against Ireland.
But that was not why he was jeered on Wednesday. French fans tolerated Henry's illegal manoeuvre because it meant their team going to South Africa.
What they protest at is the prospect of another early departure from a major tournament. World Cup finalists four years ago, France were dumped out of the last European championships at the group stage, with one point from three games.
The possibility they might finish outside the top two in a group comprising South Africa, Mexico and Uruguay seems a real one on present form.
"I got booed," admitted Henry, "but so did our coach Raymond Domenech. So did Franck Ribery, so did Nicolas Anelka. It's happened before in Paris."
Indeed, the Stade de France, built for the French World Cup, has turned into a fiery crucible for the French team. They feel especially unloved there.
Domenech, who has been in charge six years, is an eccentric whose haughty manner has alienated the public, and by many accounts, several of the players. A new book, Domenech, The Secret History of an Imposter, has just hit French shelves and it details numerous clashes over tactics and training methods. Those nostalgic for the class of '98 would have Laurent Blanc, the former defender and coach of Bordeaux, put in Domenech's place.
But Blanc would probably select more or less the same players as Domenech does. The personnel are not the problem. On paper, a France which assembles excellent fullbacks like Patrice Evra and Bacary Sagna and fine wide players like Ribery and Florent Malouda ought to play with panache. Instead, they look disjointed.
"We were chasing the ball against Spain," acknowledged Henry. "Against Spain, that's what most teams do. They are like France were 10 years ago."
