Ten Years Ago, 1998

First thing. If you haven’t seen the get-together of the France 1998 team in the charity match from last weekend, you need to download the game. Now. http://www.megaupload.com/?d=E1XNKRIJ. (Thanks, Sandrahn!!) Up towards the top right, it will give you a three-letter combination to input. Then click on “Download.” Once you do that, you’ll have to either fork over money or wait a little bit for the download to start. (I waited. It’s not a big deal.)

Once the download starts, it will take a few hours to complete (depending on you internet speed.)

But once it’s downloaded? Magic.

Zizou is still amazing. His every touch on the ball is startlingly good. Still.

And Barthez is a pleasant surprise. I mean… You know your eccentric cousin? The one who’s disappeared for the last year, and you figured he was a homeless drug addict somewhere? And then he shows up at the family reunion in a three-piece suit and gives you a business card that says he’s the marketing manager for a Fortune 500 company? That’s our Fabien. He’s still the same, and doing okay. And surprisingly still very good at what he does.

And young people everywhere are watching Bixente Lizarazu and saying, “You mean the TV guy played FOOTBALL?!?!”

And everybody else is just… Oh my. Trezeguet… Thuram… Desailly… Blanc… Still our guys. Just…older. (And aren’t we all.) Didier Deschamps goes in for a tackle, and I’m thinking, “Honey, you’re turning forty in a couple of months. That’s going to hurt tomorrow!!”

Yes, they’re older. They’re slower. They’re less precise. (Aren’t we all.)

And yet they’re still the same. If you’re a France fan, you need to watch the video.

And here are a few photos to whet your appetite.

The team

The memories

Still magic.

Aimé, the trophy still belongs to you

So many good years