Emperor of Football: Julien De Rocca

France was not only drawn in the same group as England, but they would face each other in the first round.

Group D consisted of four teams: Ukraine, France, England, and Sweden.

The most talked-about fixture was the England-France clash.

When it came to stirring up controversy, English media claimed second place to no one.

After Blanc's press conference response, The Sun continued reporting a piece of gossip about Ben Arfa, who played for Newcastle:

"Ben Arfa privately told friends that Blanc was dissatisfied with too many African and Arab players in the French national team. That's why he preferred using traditional white French players like De Rocca, even if De Rocca's ability wasn't particularly outstanding."

However, French fans weren't buying this kind of news. Instead, they cursed England for always trying to play dirty tricks off the field.

Their only major tournament victory came from home advantage, winning the World Cup through the controversial goal-line incident in the final.

They even asked on English fan forums: "Has football come home yet?"

"Football's coming home" came from the song "Three Lions" by the band Lightning Seeds, created to celebrate England hosting Euro 1996.

The lyrics contained the line "It's coming home."

Since England was the birthplace of modern football, fans changed it to "football's coming home," representing England bringing the championship home.

But as England's performances declined in the 21st century, fans chanted this slogan less and less.

French fans saying this was a direct mockery of England never winning a European Championship.

France, meanwhile, had won twice.

The endless disputes among fans outside contrasted sharply with the tranquility at Clairefontaine.

At Clairefontaine, France's training ground, Blanc repeatedly explained tactical positioning and movement to the players.

Julien listened quietly.

After hearing Zidane's words, he understood he was here to gain experience at this European Championship. His mindset was relatively relaxed.

However, when he heard Blanc asking Benzema to drop deeper and drift wide, Julien felt somewhat puzzled.

Having Benzema, a striker, drift wide, wouldn't this severely compress the space for both flanks?

Moreover, France's midfield: Nasri, Cabaye, and Ben Arfa, none had the ability to link the midfield together.

Each seemed to possess strong individual ability and technical skills, but when needed, none had the ability to step up.

Seeing how several players seemed distracted when Blanc spoke, Julien suddenly began to understand Zidane's words.

Perhaps it wasn't that Blanc didn't want to use him, but that Blanc didn't have much control over this European Championship squad either.

Blanc's credentials might truly be insufficient to command this France team that outsiders called the "North African United."

They would only show cohesion when facing a legendary name or a coach with the determination to make drastic changes.

Training proceeded carefully.

The external turmoil seemed to leave no trace within the France squad.

Before the official start of the European Championship, the French Football Federation arranged friendlies against Serbia and Estonia as pre-tournament preparation.

France won both matches.

France defeated Serbia 2-0, a team featuring Tadić, Matić, and Ivanović.

They beat Estonia 4-0.

Blanc's strategy emphasizing solid defense seemed effective.

Julien and Giroud combined for perhaps ten minutes of playing time.

After the second match, Giroud privately said to Julien with resignation, "We might just be here for tourism this time."

Julien smiled carefreely, "Don't worry, perhaps our time hasn't come yet."

Giroud said self-deprecatingly, "You're still young, but I'm different. I'm so much older than you—this might be my last chance at a major tournament."

"Don't worry, remember what I'm telling you: the French national team's starting striker position will be yours for the next ten years."

Giroud smiled, "Only you believe in me like this. Don't comfort me—Karim is much stronger than me. I know what his ability is and what mine is."

Julien shook his head slightly, "No, if I had to choose, I would definitely pick you as my partner."

Giroud indeed wouldn't get much playing time at this European Championship. Despite being Ligue 1's top scorer, Montpellier's pedigree certainly couldn't compare to Real Madrid's.

The reputation of the "Four Little Swans" also influenced Blanc's decisions.

Giroud just smiled. He didn't take Julien's words seriously, still thinking Julien was just comforting him.

However, Giroud felt Julien was quite decent, making him even more regretful that Julien hadn't joined Arsenal.

Giroud believed that under the Professor's guidance, Julien would definitely become much better.

After all, he had gone there because of the Professor's reputation.

As they said, no French player could refuse Wenger.

Now there was one exception—Julien De Rocca.

After the match against Estonia, the entire French squad traveled to Ukraine, where they would play their three group matches in Donetsk.

Soon, the world's attention focused on the Poland-Ukraine European Championship.

At 6 PM local time on June 8th, the opening match of the 14th European Championship kicked off on schedule at Poland's National Stadium in Warsaw!

Poland, one of the host nations, faced Greece, who had previously created their Greek miracle.

Greece's performance at Euro 2004 was indeed magical, led by coach Rehhagel, who had created the famous "Kaiserslautern miracle" in the Bundesliga.

However, after coaching the Greek national team for eight years, Rehhagel stepped down in June 2010.

Leading the team at this European Championship was Portuguese coach Fernando Santos.

For this match, Blanc had everyone gather in the hotel's lounge to watch together, but many didn't show up, including Benzema.

Benzema's excuse was: "These two teams won't advance. I need to rest well and conserve energy for England."

Blanc endured this obvious excuse.

With the big match approaching, he didn't want to create chaos within the squad.

Julien watched the entire match.

23-year-old Dortmund striker Lewandowski helped Poland take the lead, but Poland's strength was indeed relatively poor, and they couldn't hold on.

The opening match ended Poland 1-1 Greece.

After this match, the European Championship was officially underway. The battle among 16 teams was about to begin.

France's match against England would kick off at 3 PM local time on June 12th.

Julien was about to return to his room with Giroud to rest when Blanc called him over.

Blanc pulled Julien aside and said. "Julien, be ready to come on at any time during the group stage. I hope you can show your attacking instinct, though you might only get very little time."

Julien was somewhat surprised.

Was his official national team debut about to come?

________________________________________________________

Check out my patreon where you can read more chapters:

patreon.com/LorianFiction

Thanks for your support!