Zidane issues rallying call to his troops

French skipper Zinedine Zidane tells the press he regards Wednesday's World Cup warm-up against Slovakia as the perfect opportunity for the 1998 champions to start showing their true colours

French skipper Zinedine Zidane regards Wednesday's World Cup warm-up against Slovakia as the perfect opportunity for the 1998 champions to start showing their true colours.

France were spluttering their way through qualifying for Germany 2006 until the return of elder statesmen like Zidane and Lilian Thuram helped guide them safely through to the 2006 finals as group winners.

"If we want to go really far (in Germany) we have to play better than we did in qualifying. We're all certain about that.

"If we play in a World Cup it's to go as far as possible in it, and to try and win it.

"If we all turn up on the day in form we can beat any team, that's for sure, I'm convinced of that," Zidane said here Tuesday at Les Bleus' training camp to the south of Paris.

The 1998 world champions are anxious to draw a line under their unhappy experience at the last World Cup in 2002 when they fell at the first hurdle without scoring a single goal.

And Zidane believes they have the ammunition to do just that. "We've got the team and the players, now we all have to do is turn up there (in Germany) feeling 150 percent.

Wednesday's friendly at the Stade de France is a vital part of their World Cup build-up, Zidane said.

"It's a prep game and provides us with the chance to try and find again the good things we've done at past World Cups, and not repeat the same mistakes.

"We're also using the fixture to organise ourselves, not only on the pitch but also in terms of blood tests, sponsors, the media."