The striker now looks to the example of his club colleague Zinedine Zidane for inspiration.
Beckham padded a lineup that already included such all-stars as Zinedine Zidane, Luis Figo and Ronaldo .
By the 1998 tournament, veteran stars had given way to a new generation, led by Zinedine Zidane, Thierry Henry and Patrick Vieira.
Beckham moved on to Real in 2003, where he played alongside the likes of Zinedine Zidane, Luis Figo, Raul and Roberto Carlos.
During his 2000-2006 tenure he bought in world class stars such as David Beckham (also poached from Manchester United) and France's Zinedine Zidane.
Only three non-French based players made the initial list: Zinedine Zidane of Juventus, Lilian Thuram of Parma and Vincent Candela of AS Roma.
Henry joins Lilian Thuram, Marcel Desailly, Zinedine Zidane, Patrick Vieira and Didier Deschamps as the French players to have played 100 internationals or more.
In what became known as the "Galacticos era", Perez signed a number of multi-million dollar superstars that included Luis Figo, David Beckham and Zinedine Zidane.
After signing superstars like David Beckham and Zinedine Zidane, Real Madrid saw their income from merchandise explode (despite limited success on the pitch), peaking at 45% of revenues in 2005.
Once regarded as his hero Thierry Henry's natural successor in the France team, Bellion followed Zinedine Zidane and Patrick Vieira out of Cannes' successful academy and seemed destined for the very top.
Nasri, born in France to Algerian parents, grew up admiring fellow Marseilles natives Eric Cantona and Zinedine Zidane but his all-time hero was Diego Maradona and he "loves" the Barcelona style of football.
BBC: Arsenal star Samir Nasri primed for Barcelona challenge
This was also the country's first win over France in a meaningful encounter and exacted some revenge for eliminations at Euro 2000 and the 2006 World Cup, when Zinedine Zidane twice inspired Les Bleus to victory.
Later reports suggested Ronaldo had suffered a pre-match fit, and the incident seemed to be playing on his teammates' minds as Zinedine Zidane struck twice for France in a 3-0 win, triggering wild celebrations on the Champs Elysees.
Pellegrini's arrival at the club coincided with the return of club president Florentino Perez, the man who put together the original 'galactico' team featuring Zinedine Zidane and David Beckham, and once again he began recruiting the cream of the world's footballing talent.
Even for footballing greats such as Pele, Diego Maradona and Zinedine Zidane, the tournament may arrive only once or twice at the peak of a player's talents, making legends of those whose careers have the good fortune to coincide with World Cup success.
The French squad is reportedly in disarray, with suggestions of a training ground bust-up between coach Raymond Domenech and midfielder Florent Malouda, who was not selected for their uninspired 0-0 draw with Uruguay, and they have been criticised by former midfielder Zinedine Zidane.
President Florentino Perez smashed previous highest marks to bring Luis Figo and Zinedine Zidane to the Bernabeu in his first stint in charge, then made AC Milan's Brazilian superstar Kaka his first 'Galactico' capture of his second reign at the start of this month.
Materazzi is still best known for his antics in the 2006 World Cup final, when his comments to Zinedine Zidane led to the France playmaker being sent off for a vicious headbutt in his farewell international which ended with the Italians being crowned world champions.
But Fifa president-elect Sepp Blatter's statements reinforcing this led to two days of tough justice and a rash of red cards - including one to French playmaker Zinedine Zidane, whose two-game ban after France's match against Saudi Arabia, put his World Cup future in doubt.
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