In the absence of Mauritius or any other African countries in the World Cup, I am usually a Brazil fan. Yet, I found myself siding with the French team last Saturday because the earlier defeat of the brave Ghanaians against the Brazilians with a blunt score of 3-0 was hard to digest for me.

The French victory stood as revenge against the South Americans for they had wiped out all African hopes of moving further in the World cup.

For the rest of the competition, I am a French supporter. After all Mauritius shares undeniable ties with the hexagon since the day Dufresne D?Arsel claimed the island as a French dominion in 1715.

From then until 1810, was it not known as Isle de France? A name which might now have changed, but culturally Mauritius still remains Isle de France. It has a higher percentage of French speakers than France itself! And in spite of its size, it is the No 5 French-speaking country in the world.

What a fool I have been to have supported Brazil all this time, betraying the name I bear and a country with which I share many a tradition and culture.

Would the French have been more sympathetic towards Ghana? After all, they had shown no scruples against Togo, nailing their coffin with a sound 2-0?

After giving it a second thought, I am convinced that the French, unlike Brazil, at least showed some mercy towards Togo. They were not that greedy and only took from their adversary the minimum they needed for their qualification. One more reason to praise the French isn?t it?

I confess to having sometimes participated in criticism against French commentators for what some would call ?chauvinism?. Well , I have now replaced this pejorative term by ?patriotism?.

One thing is for sure, we can?t accuse the ?bleus? of racism. Most of the French players are sons of immigrants, who have been accepted and integrated as French subjects in their parents? host country. Outside some sickly-minded despicable punks, I have heard no one criticizing the French team as not being composed of only pure fair-skinned French descendants.

The French fight for a country not for a race, all of them are ?les enfants de la patrie? marching towards the glory of a 2006 world cup win! They are teaching the world a lesson of unity in diversity, a lesson which our own country, as an ex- colony, might reap by making a due copy from time to time.

Until then why should we not all rally around France for the rest of the competition? It would be a good way of thanking them for supporting our flag in international athletics venues where they were absent while we were represented by Buckland.

And there is a player of Mauritian origin ? Vikash Dhorasoo ? in their team?

Allez les Bleus! (The French of course, not the Italian ?azzura?.)

<B>Alain Jeannot </B>