Youri Djorkaeff had barely taken his seat when the inevitable question came, first in French, then Korean, then English. A pause. "Replace Zizou?" he sighed, a wry smile spreading across his face. "No player in the world could replace Zinedine Zidane. Sure, his absence is a problem but that just strengthens our solidarity as a squad. Now it is all about the team, not individual."
That is fighting French talk, yet amid the gleeful pandemonium in Seoul's imposing World Cup stadium tomorrow the best team in the world will discover whether they can do without the best player on the planet. Zidane's torn thigh muscle may keep him out for the entire first phase with Djorkaeff likely to fill his shoes against Senegal, if not necessarily in an identical role, and win his 81st cap.
Four months ago the 34-year-old was languishing in the reserves at Kaiserslautern, a bitter rift with the coach Andreas Brehme leaving the former Internazionale midfielder looking as much for a summer holiday destination as a new club. Yet, after joining Bolton on a short-term deal in March, the revival in fortunes for Lancashire's most celebrated trotteur has been staggering.
"Certain people thought I was finished and they made it known but thankfully Roger Lemerre [the France manager] was not one of them," he said. "If it hadn't worked out at Bolton, I would not be here today. I experienced a different kind of football. It was not about winning the championship but staving off relegation. That taught me something new.
"To be here now is a dream and, if I play while Zizou is out, so be it. We are weakened without him but we are not trying to replace him. We may have to play a slightly different way but we have the ability and the confidence to do so."
Judging by the pessimistic arm-flapping among the French press pack and even the somewhat beleaguered look of the team doctor Jean-Marcel Ferret, not all are as convinced. Though Zidane did not truly light up the tournament four years ago until the final - and then against a jaundiced Brazil - France's displays in the two games he missed through suspension lacked attacking flair.
The French forte at that tournament was more their stingy rearguard than creative spark, but times have changed. The first-choice defenders are now all the wrong side of 30 so Lemerre prefers to exploit the breathtaking pace offered up front via a 4-2-3-1 formation with Zidane at its heart, providing the passes on to which Thierry Henry, David Trezeguet and, in the absence of the crocked Robert Pires, Sylvain Wiltord charge. "It's all about speed," said Trezeguet. "That is why we need the machine to tick. Losing Zidane broke that machine."
With Lyon's Eric Carrière ignored and Johan Micoud underused, Lemerre may yet prefer to overhaul his entire formation in the tournament's opener than to employ Djorkaeff exactly in Zidane's role, leaving the Wanderer on the left wing in a 4-4-2. For most countries such late upheaval would be unthinkable though, as risks go, thrusting Henry alongside Trezeguet up front hardly smacks of the foolhardy.
France's domestic league may be a mish-mash of selling clubs with little prospect of illuminating the latter stages of the Champions League - Lyon became the eighth different team in 10 years to claim Le Championnat - but the national game continues to boom. The seniors have won every competitive tournament they have entered in the last six years; the Under-17s are world champions; the Under-21s lost the European title on penalties on Tuesday. "We have generated a winning culture," said Bayern Munich's Bixente Lizarazu. "That brings pressure but we handled it fine two years ago in Holland, didn't we?"
Aimé Jacquet, the coach in 1998 and now technical director at the French football federation, believes the current squad is better than his own of four years ago. Of the 23 players in Korea, 12 claimed either domestic or European honours last season while a further eight belonged to the trophyless elite of Manchester United, Bayern, Barcelona, Roma and Chelsea. That leaves three "stragglers": Djibril Cissé, who propelled Auxerre into the Champions League; Djorkaeff, who kept Bolton in the Premiership for the first time ever; and Marseille's Frank Leboeuf, who is probably the weakest link, though "weak" remains a relative term.
Yet Les Bleus' blistering run of success since they went out of the Euro 96 semi-finals on penalties does offer a glimmer of hope for the also-rans. Marcel Desailly conceded earlier this week that France may find it hard to eradicate a nagging "been there, done that" feeling at this tournament. Just as significantly, the team has been fed a diet of endless friendlies over the last six years, having had to qualify for only one major finals - Euro 2000 - in that time. They won the Confederations Cup here last summer but football's most gruelling international competition could yet shock the French system.
"None of the games we played have been 'friendlies' because everyone has tried harder to beat us," retorted Desailly. Even so, while their opponents may have been throwing themselves at the world champions, Lizarazu has found it hard to emulate opponents' mental focus. "You cannot play with the same intensity in friendlies as in competitive games," he said. "We have become accustomed to that over the last few years. The key remains motivation and concentration."
Those qualities will be needed tomorrow. Senegal, a former French colony, are the World Cup's unknown quantity, all wide-eyed enthusiasm and raucous, raw talent, but Lemerre will know their players better than most. The majority of Bruno Metsu's squad play their football in France, with Arsenal's Patrick Vieira not alone in relishing this tournament curtain-raiser.
The 25-year-old was born in Dakar before emigrating to Paris seven years later. He intends to telephone his relatives in Senegal this afternoon, though that will be his only concession to emotion. "I will shut it out," he said. "My memories of living in Senegal are quite vague and I consider myself French but it will still be a strange occasion, particularly when the national anthems are played.
"This is a celebration and a present for both me and Senegalese football. It's an adventure. In the past African teams have struggled tactically but the French influence should iron out that problem and make it tough for us. Maybe it will be the test we need in ZZ's absence."
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