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Domenech To Visit Lyon

April 5th, 2007 | By: Laurie | 4 Comments »

The French article’s title is, “The Pilgrim Domenech.” Which is kind of humorous when you think of all the criticism France coach Raymond Domenech’s taken recently for, among other things, not stepping out of his comfort zone to visit clubs. But he is apparently going to make an exception in the case of Olympique Lyonnais, the team from which he routinely pulls nine or more players.

Domenech’s big concern is that with the two huge Euro qualifiers against Georgia and Ukraine coming up in June, and with Lyon pretty much having the French title locked up, there will be some letdown before France’s big games. Since both games are vital if France wants to secure a place in Euro ‘08, Raymond wants to do everything possible to keep that letdown from happening.

“The advantage with Lyon is that we have a good relationship with the technical staff,” adds Domenech. “We can try to set up a program. ” A slightly astonishing declaration when one knows the relationship between Gerard Houllier and the selector. The Lyon manager last autumn denounced the lack of communication from Domenech. He [Houllier] should thus appreciate this change of strategy, even if it is the interest of the France team and not of the club.

The article also says that Domenech is considering organizing a friendly to keep everybody sharp, but he’s not providing details at the moment.

(And how sadly humorous is it that when I saw an article about “foot and mouth disease” in my Google-created list of “Domenech” articles, I just assumed they were talking about Raymond? It was actually about Joseph Domenech of the UN’s Food and Agriculture Organization. Oops. Although… Is it possible for National Team coaches to catch Foot-and-Mouth disease? Perhaps Raymond should be tested.)

And sorry for my silence these past few days. We took a spur-of-the-moment Spring Break trip to the coast. But now I’m back and refreshed and ready to write about French football. Also, our sister site The Offside now has an Olympique Lyonnais blog, so be sure to check it out, along with the France Offside.

Tags: Olympique Lyonnais, Rayamond Domenech

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Comments

By Inara | April 5th, 2007 at 10:17 pm

Thanks for the shout out, Laurie!

A mini-game between the French NT players would be a lot of fun (more fun than watching them hack away at teams like Lithuania, that’s for sure!).

Raymond is such a contradictory boy. I thought he’d be happy with all the extra rest his players will be getting. Last year, did you see his oh so supportive comments to the French players in the Champions League? I ended up bookmarking the article, I found it so funny.

http://www.sportinglife.com/football/overseas/france/news/story_get.cgi?STORY_NAME=international_feed/06/03/10/SOCCER_Fra-Domenech.html

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By Inara | April 5th, 2007 at 10:32 pm

And totally off topic, but I was reading something heart warming about Anelka, and knowing how much you love this bad boy in blue…

In 2004, when Marc Vivien Foe died, a children’s school in Lyon dedicated their stadium to him. And of all the stars that were expected to show up, who braved the crowds and traffic and actually showed? And signed autographs in the hot sun for 45 minutes?

Why did he do it? Maybe for Marco, who was his team mate at Manchester City, or maybe for the kids. But basically because he’s just that kind of guy.

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By rach | April 6th, 2007 at 2:01 am

Hey Laurie, welcome back, hope you had a nice break.

I can’t believe Raymond Domenech is actually co-operating with the clubs! *pigs are flying past my window right now* His comments about the Champions League are funny. Mind you every NT coach probably does secretly think that, he’s the only one blunt enough to actually say it out loud. I hope Arsene Wenger never read that comment in the papers!

Btw, I also found this article about the whole Trezguet/Serie B/not playing in the NT thing.
http://au.setanta.com/portal/article/football?open&articleid=2eb7d0b30bd31d03802572b4003a53d9

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By Laurie | April 6th, 2007 at 1:43 pm

Rach, thanks for the Trezeguet article — I’ve just included it in my most recent post.

Inara, the funny/sad thing about Domenech is that he was right. I don’t know that Henry would have physically imploded this year if he hadn’t made it to both the Champions League final and the World Cup final. The demands on his body were just beyond human.

And your other article provides yet more “I love Anelka” proof. I just think there is so much more to the guy than the press likes to report! (Too bad he’s a Paris guy and would never go to Lyon. That would be an interesting combo.)

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