The two goals that put racism on the back seat

The thousands of fans who partied through the heart of Paris in the early hours today to celebrate France’s dramatic 3-0 victory over Brazil had few doubts who was the nation’s saviour.

“Zidane for President,” they chanted, while the banner “Thank-You Zizou” was flashed across the Arc de Triomphe, one of the most resonant symbols of the French Republic.

Yet Zidane, the son of Algerian immigrants, was one of the many players in the current French side who front leader Jean-Marie le Pen has publicly written off for not having pure `Gaul’ blood running through their veins.“France has won the World Cup, Le Pen has lost,” said Iticham Elmardhi, a young Frenchman of North African origin who joined the impromptu World Cupstreet party in the heaving Champs Elysees.

The triumphant success of France’s multi-cultural soccer team over the past month has lifted hopes that the country as whole can patch up its deep racial divides.

“Le Pen can say what he likes but no one is listening any more. This team has shown that all types of people can work together,” said Benoit Chiaramonti, a white French student proudly sporting a number 10 Zidane T-shirt.

Le Pen’s National Front regularly polls 15 percent of the vote in elections on a platform of repatriating tens of thousands of immigrants and giving preference in the workplace and social security to natural-born French.But while most politicians have scrambled over themselves to share the glory of the French soccer team, the National Front has been uncharacteristically mute at a time of unprecedented national pride.

It is easy to see why. Besides Zidane, many of the other top team players are what Pen would call foreigners.

Lilian Thuram who scored both goals in France’ssemi-final win over Croatia is a black Frenchman from Guadeloupe. Marcel Desailly, for many the player of the tournament, and striker Thierry Henry are also both of Caribbean descent. Midfielder Youri Djorkaeff is the descendant of Armenian refugees.

In the southern port city of Marseille, where Zidane grew up and which suffers possibly the worst race relations of all big French towns, tensions were shunted to the sidelines — at least for one night.

“In all the time I’ve lived here I’ve never really established any contacts with my north African neighbours,” said one white local, Jean-Patrick. “But Zidane changed that tonight. For the first time I shook my neighbour’s hand. I don’t even know his name.”