SPOTLIGHT

Michel Platini is French and, naturally, he would like to see France win.

But the head of the organizing committee said he truly doesn’t care who scores today--just as long as someone does.

Which would make today’s game different from the 1994 final between Brazil and Italy, which was scoreless and had to be decided on penalty kicks.

“I hope there are goals, or at least one goal,” Platini said. “It’s important for the winner of the World Cup to have scored a goal. It’s much better than simply not missing a penalty.”

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Maybe Platini won’t have to worry, because French defender Marcel Desailly has vowed to score a goal.

The only one of France’s starting four defenders not to have scored, Desailly is eager to join his teammates on the score sheet.

“In the final I’m going to score on a header in the 90th minute,” he said. “That would be beautiful.”

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According to the French sports daily L’Equipe, no fewer than 19 French political ministers were in the stands for the France-Croatia semifinal.

Makes you wonder who was running the country.