France has a new ace in Ribery

Hamelin (Germany): In three brief international appearances, Franck Ribery has already lived up to his tag as the great hope of French football.

The World Cup now presents him with the perfect stage on which to show off his skills and you can bet he will make the most of it.

The energetic 23-year-old midfielder came on in each of France's three warm-up games, thrilling the crowd every time with his attacking runs.

"The joke we have between us is that you have to be careful when you take off his lead because he just darts off," fellow France midfielder Claude Makelele said of the exciting newcomer.

Before coach Raymond Domenech decided to let him loose against Mexico, Denmark and China, the fans had been chanting his name for several minutes.

"The way the public immediately adopted him and love him is amazing," said striker Thierry Henry.

Arguably the finest player in France's Ligue 1 last season, Olympique Marseille's Ribery had been overlooked by Domenech until the coach included him in his World Cup squad.

Now Domenech knows he has the perfect joker to pull out when fresh legs and ideas are needed to decide a game.

"Franck will come on every time now," predicted Henry.

"His game is very simple. He always moves the ball forward and is also clever enough to retain it for a bit when necessary. Having him on the team is a real bonus."

After being called "Scarface" by the Galatasaray fans when he played for the Turkish club, Ribery is now enjoying being hailed as the next Zidedine Zidane.

The nickname he earned in Turkey comes from a long scar running down his right cheek which he sustained in a car accident when he was two.

The prediction that he might replace Zidane as France's most inspirational player follows a string of fantastic performances since he joined Marseille from Galatasaray last year.

Ribery, who grew up in a rough suburb of the depressed fishing port of Boulogne, had a reputation as an enfant terrible but he now seems to have matured.

His resume includes being kicked out of a football school in Lille because he was too lazy, getting into a fight in a nightclub and having rows with club officials and even his own agent.

On the pitch, Ribery might be the wild puppy described by Makelele but off it, he is careful to show respect to everybody and perfectly realises he has everything to prove.

"Zidane has won so many things and has given so much to the fans," he said.

"I'm a long, long way from that but I have a long road ahead of me. Maybe one day I will be able to bring as much happiness to the people in France as he has."