Another Coupet Injury? Barthez, What Did You Do?

Yesterday I posted a picture of goalkeeper Fabien Barthez with a smug, knowing, happy smile on his face. Which I, of course, attributed to his return to the game at Nantes. I am now starting to think that there is a more sinister reason. I believe that somewhere, stashed away in the dark recesses of his house, Barthez has a Grégory Coupet voodoo doll.

Think about it. Even if we ignore the fact that Coupet got totally hosed at World Cup when Barthez was picked as starter. (Love Barthez, and he did a good job in the World Cup, but I have to be fair here.) So let’s just start by thinking about the post-World Cup era. Remember with me:

Coupet’s getting settled in as titulaire. He has a couple of good games. And then, bam. Left hand injury in October’s Scotland game. An injury that nobody seems to remember happening, and which made none of the news accounts of the game. Hmmm…

And then that hand gets better, and… Bam, again. Six or seven stitches in his right hand. From what I think I read was a vicious attack by an aluminum shelving unit. Suspicious yet?

Then Barthez makes a return to the game, and Domenech refuses to rule out his return to Les Bleus, and Barthez says that this return is totally his goal… And now here we are less than a month from the France-Argentina friendly, when Domenech’s got to be thinking about who’s going to play. And guess what?

Coupet is suddenly sidelined for two weeks with a “thigh injury.” Coincidence? I think not. If I were Coupet, I’d be going to a judge and requesting a search warrant for Fabien’s house.

Get well soon, Grégory. (And by the way, I believe they make little Barthez action figures too.)