THEIR CUP RUNNETH
REJECTED JUNE 2002

While it may be true that life occasionally imitates art, it almost never imitates a World Cup soccer match. This aphorism, good every four years, was put to the test over the last two days of May. Thirteen hours before the French national team tangled with Senegal in Seoul, South Korea, in the Cup's first match of 2002, a team consisting mainly of French restaurant workers challenged a group of predominantly Brooklyn-dwelling Senegalese--in an event billed as the Coup d'envoi--in East River Park.

The plan for the Coup d'envoi was hatched several months ago, not long after the pairings for this year's World Cup were announced. Zucco, a bartender at the West Village bistro Les Deux Gamins--by way of Algeria, Paris and Marseilles--was having dinner with his good friend Pierre Thiam, a 37-year-old chef from Senegal. (Like many great pop music stars, soccer players and French bistro bartenders, Zucco prefers just one name). Both men knew a squad's worth of footballers and were looking for a way to celebrate the Cup so--voila!--it was decided. Each side immediately promised victory. Soon, game jerseys were arranged for. "We started teasing each other from the moment the (Cup) draw was decided and we haven't stopped yet," Thiam said gleefully, an hour before the Coup d'envoi kickoff.

Thiam resembles a walking pipe cleaner in his wiry build and short, spiky dreadlocks. An onlooker may have rightly wondered how he and his slender team would hold up against the bulkier French, featuring attackers like Nabil Hamami and Benjamin Leduff, two muscular, head-shaved waiters from the Fort Greene restaurant, A Table. (Hamami and Leduff played together as teenagers on a club team in Nice). But the Senegalese had a lifestyle advantage: while the French were notorious partyers, the Africans had many Muslims on their roster. In fact, moments before the match, Zucco, who at 48 might easily be mistaken for a member of Bruce Springsteen's band, with scraggly long dark hair trapped under a bandana, a grizzled goatee and teeth only a mother could understand, reached for yet another American Spirit. Observing this, Philippe Labeau, an A Table regular and a TV commercial cameraman noted the French strategy: "That is why we need a lot of guys on the team. Because they cannot run for more than 10 minutes." Zucco shrugged and smoked.

As the match progressed, it appeared Senegal's fresher lungs would prevail. Late in the first half, a long cross from the left side was volleyed home by Jerome Albertini, (ironically, one of the few French pickups for Senegal), and Thiam's team led 1-0. Chants of "Allez Les Bleus! Allez Les Bleus!" were drowned out by drumming that echoed from a bleacher full of Senegal's fans. At halftime, Thiam's team ate orange slices. A briny waft came off the river. Zucco smoked.

The second half was a different story. Nizar Chahbani, a 22-year-old accounting student, cleverly headed in one goal and, late in the game, converted a penalty kick, giving France a 2-1 victory. Chahbani, it should be noted, is originally from Tunisia. Regardless, "Allez Les Champions!" went the cry. "That may be the last time we can say that," Labeau said, ruefully alluding to this year's Cup. "I would happily take ten loses today for a victory tomorrow," Thiam said through a wide smile.

Later that night Zucco led his team to a celebratory dinner at Chez Oskar in Brooklyn, while many of the Senegalese gathered at an East Village bistro.   After eating, several French players were so excited for the Cup's opening match, they fueled themselves on Amstel Light through a sleepless, nightlong party. At seven the next morning, Zucco's son, Greg, who also works at Les Deux Gamins, wore dark circles under each eye while he nursed a beer among a small gathering at A Table.

By the 7:30 a.m. start of the Cup, the restaurant was filling up with an international yet neighborly crowd to watch on the 18" TV installed solely for the tournament. At eight, when Senegal's Pape Bouba Diop swiveled while seated on the turf to knock in a first-half goal, the crowd, now spilling out the door, gasped. Thiam and a friend leapt up from their chairs and into each other's arms, imitating the Charleston-like dance Senegal's team does after a score. Reminded that the mid-way score of the Cup match was the same as in the match a day earlier, Thiam predicted, "This time it will be different."

And, like magic, it was. Behind several magnificent saves by goaltender Tony Sylva, Senegal held on for an improbable upset of the defending champions in its first ever World Cup match. Thiam's cell phone lit up as the entire Senegalese population of Brooklyn called in giddy disbelief. Zucco popped champagne and said he was happy for his friend. Besides, he added in French, "I would rather have France lose than Le Pen win."

– CATHERINE CRAWFORD