The streets of Paris during the early stages of the 1998 World Cup were hardly awash with the colours of the tricolour.

	Deschamps delight after leading another championship win (BenRadford/Allsport)

In a country where displays of excitement and high emotion are reserved for weddings, historical anniversaries and rugby union internationals, conquering the world of football was not particularly high on the public agenda.

But two years on France reflects on another remarkable football achievement and it does so as a country falling in love with what has become a truly beautiful game.

Domestically, France has no football to speak of. Apart from Marseille's now discredited European Cup triumph in 1993, club sides have rarely figured prominently in major club competitions and the French league is low on excitement and real quality.

But the success of the national team - firstly under Aime Jacquet and now Roger Lemerre - has finally fired French passions. It has been brought about by a football system that holds valuable lessons for those charged with turning around the fortunes of England on the world stage.

The English may not quite be the luddites they once were but they still have lessons to learn, some of them amazingly simple. The Premiership dream has brought England the attractive, lucrative domestic game that looked beyond its reach 15 years ago but it would appear to have cost the national side dearly.

An examination of affairs in France reveals a game where young players are reared on a diet of ball skills and high technique, where the vast majority of professional players are French and where the season is longer and yet contains fewer games.

A midweek 'break' is spent training at altitude and playing experimental friendlies, while the summer rest period is only three weeks as opposed to eight in England.

Unspectacular wages - at least by Premiership standards - and a remarkably high tax bracket - 53 per cent - mean that most of France's best players move abroad; 17 of Lemerre's Euro 2000 squad for example.

Without doubt, this has detracted from the French domestic spectacle but Lemerre accepts the experience of playing abroad has played its part in developing his players.

While 21 of Kevin Keegan's failed squad chase the pound in the hurly burly of the Premiership, those players who represent the top side in the world are taking the best that English, Italian and Spanish styles have to offer and the results have been evident during the past three weeks.

'We are stronger than we were in the World Cup and there is no doubt that we have developed as a team,' said Lemerre last night.

'But European football is still evolving and our players have learned a lot from playing in Serie A.'

With the emphasis on developing home-grown talent, the French league is no magnet for foreigners seeking a fortune. For example, while 22 foreign goalkeepers are employed in the English top flight, France has none.

Furthermore, the proliferation of high-profile overseas centre forwards in England is placed in perspective by the one of note in the French league, Marco Simone, who plays in the tax haven of Monaco.

The opportunity to develop young French players is clear and it is an environment aided by the youth academies that have been compulsory in France for 20 years.

Again, England - where academies are still under development - is playing catch-up. 'The southern European teams have dominated at Euro 2000 and it's not by chance, it's by design,' said former Scotland coach Andy Roxburgh, now UEFA's technical director.

'I deal a lot with the youth programme and France, Portugal and Spain are the top countries as far as developing youngsters goes.

'When it comes to combination play, you look at the French, the Spanish and the Portuguese and they're exceptional at it.

'They have the knowledge and the technical ability. It's really what's done first of all with children and the youth players. That's where the intensity and seriousness of development has been demonstrated in France, Spain, Italy and Portugal.'

Roxburgh, Lemerre and Liverpool manager Gerard Houllier - who believes that Germany have been equally negligent in recent years - are well qualified to talk of the advancements made in France since their failure to qualify for the 1994 World Cup.

Chris Waddle speaks from a player's perspective. The former Newcastle and Tottenham winger enjoyed a prolific period of his career during Marseille's heyday in the early 1990s and has since played and coached at Sheffield Wednesday and Burnley.

Waddle revealed to Soccernet that the modern English footballer still trails his continental brother when it comes to preparation and physical maintenance.

He scoffs at what he calls the 'myth' of the mid- season break and remains incredulous that English players are handed so much time off during the summer.

'I still can't believe that players who are paid so much money are given two months to essentially do whatever they like with their bodies in the summer,' said Waddle. 'It's ridiculous. In France, they have three weeks. During the season they often train twice a day and 80 per cent of that work is with the ball.

'The winter rest period lasts five days around Christmas and New Year, the rest of it is mountain training and games. French players are blood-tested every few weeks so that the clubs know if they are drinking too much or are eating badly.

'That's still alien to a lot of our players. The French game is not as interesting to watch as ours but the whole object is to build a successful national team.'

Certainly, the French blueprint is bearing fruit. Attendances in the French league do not match those in England and never will but they have risen steadily since the World Cup. It's a remarkable story but England should perhaps take heart. The framework appears incredibly simple.