Every four years, the hierarchy of world football is shaken up. Fallen favorites, inspired underdogs, moments of genius, flashes of temper: the World Cup always brings its share of surprises. This series looks back at those scenarios that defied every prediction.

France might finally be able to claim that second star.

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Before the 2002 World Cup, Adidas and Les Bleus thought that quest would be an easy one.

It should be remembered that at the time, Les Bleus were the defending champions and were stringing together dominant performances in friendlies.

Even before the World Cup kicked off in Asia, Adidas released an ad in which Les Bleus talked about the second star. Some jerseys were even already ready to be sold.

Everyone knows what happened next, with a memorable collapse from the very first match against Senegal (0-1). Disillusionment.

This article was translated into English by Artificial Intelligence. You can read the original version in 🇫🇷 here.