Regardless of how France got to the World Cup and whether they deserve to be there, the reality is that this summer, Les Bleus will be in South Africa with Raymond Domenech as their coach. I’m not really interested in revisiting Henry’s goal or the resulting fallout from that, as its been covered very well [...]

The France-Ireland match and the aftermath have been extremely emotional for all involved.
The Match
France humiliated themselves with a pathetic performance, arguably the worst of the Domenech era, which is saying something.
Ireland played very well, but blew multiple goal-scoring chances that would have booked their spot in the World Cup.
France’s captain Thierry Henry played [...]

A few years back, when my daughter was maybe three, she did one of those things which, before you have kids, you swear your little darling will never do. I can’t even remember what it was. Bit her brother, maybe? And so I chastised her, causing her to burst into tears. [...]

If you’re only going to have 5 players play well, make sure they include at least three defenders and the goalkeeper. I’m writing in a vacuum – I did have the Setanta commentator who rightly pointed out how poor France were, but I have to say that I thought France were shocking.
Good performances: [...]

First thing: If you’re catching the game on delay on Setanta, DON’T read the comments. I broke down and forked over my $19.99 to Setanta to watch the game live, so I will be leaving updates there.
And if you have a working illicit stream, please leave that in the comments [...]

Anybody else feeling edgy?
I’m getting a little tired of reading that this France side aren’t “a spot” on the 1998-2000 side. Time for the lads to debunk that nasty sentiment; and a masterclass today would be a good start.
Join Laurie on this site later today (she’s never missed a match before, and I wouldn’t [...]

France won the first leg of the World Cup playoff away to Ireland 1-0, but the tie is still up in the air.
France were the better team, but they weren’t firing on all cylinders, so they’ll now need to get a result in the second leg in Paris.
The formation didn’t always hold [...]

So President Nicolas Sarkozy went on Facebook to wish les Bleus good luck.
Pretty sure that will be all it takes to push them over the top.
GFC over at The Beantown Frog is cautiously optimistic about this leg of the match, predicting a 1-0 win. I’m hoping he’s right. But everybody also [...]

From the Guardian:
Ireland defender Richard Dunne said, “You can see the reaction of the people at the tennis (Paris Masters), when they put his (Domenech) face on the big screen. The whole place just booed him and his own players laughed at him.”
Extraordinary.
There’s Domenech trying to enjoy tennis when a stadium full of people start [...]

On paper, this shouldn’t even be much of a matchup. France has the players with the big names and the big money.
You know. The ones who get all the press.
Too bad you can’t play a match on paper.
Gardiens de but
Shay Given (Manchester City, Ang)
Keiren Westwood (Conventry City, Ang)
Joe Murphy [...]