France Fans, How Are You Mourning This Loss?

I’m aching the same way. I should try to think about something else but for some reason I can’t. I suppose tomorrow is a better day, and I know in four days I’ll be watching Holland-Romania with some of my hope back. But I fear to get hurt again if I start hoping too much.

We lost today because of 3 things 1. Luck- henry should have scored that 1on 1 he put over and the ref should have called that hand ball in the box.

2.Greg coupet- suuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuucked…..the first goal was malouda no doubt, the second one, was too close to him to go in plus he had a second chance to save it before the ball rolled pass the goal line, the third one……how did he get beat at the first bar he was standing????? need i say more

3.Ray dumbenech and i rest my case.

we r on the same page boy, I don’t want to even have any hope now,I hate the fact that we have to depend on some other team(s) at all, and we even cant be sure we can take out the Italians, they will also be in for a win,I don’t know about u, but despite being a French supporter, by the 4th goal to the dutch, I was clapping because, I can stop that fool (the coach) for getting everything wrong,he totally ,messed in every descission!!

kasule: on the fourth goal, I was just impressed. They scored on almost every occasion they got. I don’t know if it’s luck or talent, I guess a bit of both.
I wasn’t really pissed at Domenech, all coaches do mistake and it’s easy to say “he should have done this and that” after the game. You could say the same with about every game of every team. Doesn’t mean I like Domenech though.

Holland will hold their honour and beat Romania and we will crush Italy and make it to the quarter-finals where we will humiliate Spain and then retaliate against Holland, oh yes. I have no doubt. ALLEZ LES BLEUS!!!!

Hey Outa Control,

Get a grip !
1: henry’s goal was offside. Malouda should have got a red card for hitting vd Vaart in his face. That compensates the hands where indeen france should have got a penalty for.
2: the keeper is part of the team as well
3: the coach is part of the team as well.

Do’t call it bad luck. Just admit France is hammered before resting your case.

Hello my friends from france,
I have to comment on your postings.
As a proud civilion of the Netherlands (Holland) I have to congratualate the French team on good football. You will definitly beat the Italian team and I am sure we will do our best to beat Romania.
Marco van Basten has prepared the team for several years to play at the Euro 2008 championship. This he already mentiont at the World Champion 2006. You can see the team from Holland is very well prepared against forces like Italia and France. Where this will end, no one knows.
My predication is a finale between Holland and Portugal (which will be very hard to win).
My favorite will be Holland against Germany.

Anyway. I wish the french team the best of luck after last nights defeat.
I hope the won’t have to face Holland again, losing 2 times in a row….is humiliating

Hup Holland HUP!!!!!

worst day of my life

Well i’m not so depressed because i knew it could happened. Domenech lost my confidence with all the crappy matchs France did under his command. The last time France took 4 goals it was against Poland(Demoralized after the elimination against the mannschaft the famous sevillan match) 26 years ago. Hope is already here. Our team had among the best competitors in the world, even when they are bad they could go far away their proper strengh to search the victory. They did it in 2006, although they weren’t in my opinion the best team on the paper. As bad as we can consider them we can’t forget their heard and their courage. Courage was needed to Zidane, Vieira, Thuram, Sagnol, Makélélé, all the old men to go far away their capacity, and only with their proud they contained team so young so skilled. I don’t know if Holland will be fair play, i don’t know if Italy isn’t better than our team, but i know one thing =it will be the last combat of the gold generation and it will be a fool match where French players, may be for the last round, will give all they have in them.

Maarten, no need at all for you to come on here angry and gloating. Was a great match, and Holland did deserve to win. But I think that if Henry had put away that glorious chance then it would have been a different story. I can’t comprehend why Domenech put on Gomis and Anelka ahead of Benzema! Why?

I cant believe it i was heart broken seriously France did not deserve a 4-1 . And i think it would have been a different story if Henry scored and if the ref gave us the deserved penalty. And 1 more thing take of Malouda he is an idiot, stingy and always looses the ball just bring Nasri on for him and why we playing Gomis infront of Benzema i mean come on! And i can agree it was 1 of the worst days of my life it almost ranks up with the WC2006!

As a Dutch fan I would like to say thank you to France for putting up a great fight. Us Dutch know how it feels to lose in these tournaments. We have always been the guys that almost made it. I wish you luck in the tournament and hope that you beat Italy in the next match. I am sure the Dutch team will not throw the match against Romania. I personally believe we dont have it in us to do so. This for the sake of the game and good sportsmanship.

As a Dutch fan I hope you guys beat Italy, too. You’re obviously the better team this time around.

in my philosophy it was a bad game for the french. astrology can’t win a football match. the dutch had more possession of the ball, and they played good football. henry goal was offside. makelele, gomis, coupet and thuram were rubbish, and ribery was useless, he did nothing special not even a moment of magic like zizou. maybe in the philosophy of a loser this was a great game for france, which i respect.

Maybe the FFF will finally get rid of Domenech.

I’m still shell-shocked. If I had to pick out one scapegoat, it would be Coupet. It’s harsh, but keepers can’t really afford to have bad games in big tournaments. At the same time, the finishing from the Netherlands was very, very good, as was Henry’s goal.

As long as France is not mathematically out of it, I haven’t given up hope.

I’ve almost given up hope. The little hope I do have is hidden quietly in a corner, and other parts of my brain, still reeling from the humiliation of letting in 4 goals, are tempted to mock it.

But hope has math on its side. Holland could take 1 or 3 points from Romania, and the group could finish:

Holland – 7
France – 4
Romania – 3
Italy – 1

or

Holland – 9
France – 4
Romania – 2
Italy – 1

With the math in mind, I’m starting to look forward to the Italy game, which is not only a game that could send France through to the quarterfinals, but a rematch of the World Cup final against one of France’s biggest rivals.

i’m glad i didn’t get to watch the game live b/c i had to work.
but reading the liveblogging didn’t make it any better. i still wanted to cry. i have avoided watching all highlights of this match.
i have lost hope…
i mean, i hate depending on another team to lose, just for a shot! it’s pathetic. if we can’t get the job done ourselves, then we don’t deserve to be in the quarterfinals!
argghh!!
thank goodness i am also routing for portugal. if they had been losers too…gosh! i would need a xanax!

It’s not over yet.
- France is stronger then Italy.
- Netherlands will crush Romania.

Results:
- Netherlands & France will advance.
- Netherlands meets France again in the semi-finals

I’m really looking forward to see the match: France – Italy over Netherlands – Romania.

Because Italy and France will put in their best to outclass each other with the hope of getting advance.

And who knows what will happen in the semi-finals. The Netherlands could have lost yesterday.

I think Domenech came out with a reasonable line up initially but his substitutions were atrocious. L’Equipe says he didn’t want to play Benzema because he was afraid to “burn” him. But he could have removed one of the DM’s for Nasri and played Benzema on the left. When you are down 2-0 and then 3-1 with 15-20 minutes left, what have you got to lose? I mean, Anelka for Govou, really, is that the best you could come up with Raymond?

Also Coupet had a poor game. He looked completely lost on the first goal, and the fourth is the only one that really left him with no chance. He should probably still play against Italy though. But he had a deer in the headlights look about him that does not bode well for the rest of the competition.

If anything, this game will hopefully signal the end of the old guard in defence. Domenech says that experience is key in a competition such as the Euro. So why didn’t he give Mexes more of an opportunity to acquire some of that international experience during qualifiers? Does he have a back up plan for the Thuram – Gallas pairing? Does he really think Boumsong is the answer?

Congratulations to Holland. They looked much more solid as a team than in past competitions and Sneijder is a completely different player than at WC 2006. This tournament is his coming out party. We will have to see how they play against the really solid teams like Portugal to judge their real worth.

I’m gonna be totally honest. It hurts like hell that we lost but this is a good thing in disguise. First of all, Domenech will leave and we’ll get Didider Deschamps as a head coach and THEN we’ll have a coach who knows what it is to win. I’m thinking we can beat Italy and go through but if it’s going far playing like Greece, it doesn’t matter.

Actually, i’m more pissed than sad.
Oh and this is all Jean Michel Aulas’s fault
This is Lyon’s fault

i can’t even THINK, nevermind write…

luckily i had stephane with me when i watched it, so he definitely understood..

my wife was being sweet too. she babbled a load of nonsense about it only being the euros nad that we should give the romanians fondue which’ll upset their stomachs and make them play poorly…

in her own way she was being very sweet, ’cause normally she doesn’t say anything about football.

i can’t actually say anything about the game though. i don’t actually undetstand what happened. literally. my mind can’t comprehend it. it was like thinking you were going to sit down to a game of cricket and then seeing baseball.

it just didn’t make sense and subsequently i have completely lost my faculties of reason.

and yet, for me, there is nothing else but the game. my entire mind is taken up with a game i didn’t understand.

so i definitely understand. and i definitely empathise.

i feel terrible.

You’re not te only ones shocked by this result, but for us it’s in a positive way. Nobody here expected 7 goals made and 1 conceded in 2 matches against Italy and France.
We were the sharper, dominant side, nad had a lot of luck (let’s be honest). France impressed me more than the Italiens. My biggest disappointment with ‘les bleus’ is the deffensive style when you have all this offensive talent.

Thank god for this website, where all the fans around the world can come here to soothe their aching heart. France was humiliated no doubt. Never in my life had I dreamed of such a scoreline meted out to France.

But this is no time for self-pity. It’s no time to point fingers at Domemach or Coupet or hope that Mexes or Trezeguet are with us. It’s time for a last-ditch stand against the Italians. It’s time to see what our inner souls are made of. It’s time for WAR!

I definitely feel better after reading some of your comments. We do need a healthy forum and place to commiserate such losses from time to time. I tip my hat off to the Dutch. Not only in our game but their’s against Italy. They look very strong.

It was the best of times, watching Henry finally scoring a goal with me going Ballistic at the bar I was watching in downtown Toronto, and then it was the worst of times when Robben scored a goal that even a “Toronto F.C.” goal keeper wouldn’t allow in.

Heartbroken? depressed? more like a Boxer lying flat on the mat after getting struck by a Frazier left hook, counting the birds rotating my cranium, loss of appetite and my good sense of humor. I am sure I should call up the psychologist for Domenech and ask for advice.

seriously though I went to “the outdoor chess corner” to play chess as I didn’t want to go home yet in the early evening and thinking about this stinking match. The the lightning started and everyone went away.
Then I got into the car with a nice cup of starbucks and a good cigar
watching the thunder storms and the heavy rain but as they say
“qoui sert de pleurer?” as even the Gods of football were crying for our team. Anyhow the slavation came as on the “fan 590 radio”, they started talking about the match and the host happened to be a big fan of the Les Bleus and atleast in an entertaining way I could put this match behind and look to 2010 when this team will be starting a whole new chapter.
Laurie you’re correct as no one understands the agony of being a football fan.
If Van Persie could play with the same edge for the Gunners I’ld be static.
I think the days of Gallas at the Emirates are numbered.

Thanks Les Bleus

UEFA Gives Oranje-B Side The Green Light
“That they could field substitutes or reserve players makes sense,” said director of communications and public affairs William Gaillard. “Players might be on yellow cards or want to avoid injuries and it gives other players a chance to prove themselves. There is nothing against the rules in doing that.”
france and italy pack your bags.

I felt numb all over–it was that stage past disbelief and despair. Favorite team getting spanked 4-1 is not a good way to start a day (the match is in the morning here in Singapore). Now I know how the Russians felt when they lost to Spain.

One good thing that comes out of this is that I’m convinced Domenech would never be able to keep his job this way, even if somehow Les Bleus make it through the group of death–losing 4-1 tends to be a job hazard.

To everyone who’s saying that Netherlands can beat Romania, history in the qualifying games show that the best the Dutch can manage is a draw against the Romanians (they lost their other game to Romania), who really close up tight against any good groups they go up against. Let’s say the Romanians draw against the Dutch, and France beats Italy, then we’ll have:

Netherlands 7
France 4
Romania 3
Italy 1

Domenech can thank his lucky stars and whatever else he believes in if this happens.

If the Romanians win against the Dutch (which they may be capable of doing; do not write any side off yet, since strangers things have happened in football), then it’s bye bye to France and Italy, regardless of their game’s results. I’m crossing my fingers for the Netherlands-Romania game and hope Oranje’s good form can help them at least manage a draw against Romania, and that France picks themselves up just enough to beat Italy.

Of course, if Spain wins against Sweden tonight and sits at the top of Group D, right after the group of Death, France would have to deal with Spain. Talk about getting out of a hot pot and onto the stove.

As a les bleus fan stateside I have to say France deserved the scoreline no matter how Titi tries to deny. The dutch side we played is probably going to be the one that lifts the 2010 world cup in Afrique du Sud. Once Didier Deschamps takes over l’equipe, gigo coupet should make way for sebastien frey, Mexes and zebina should be brought back into the fray, trez should have been here in the first place I don’t understand what this pute domenech was thinking, and finally retire thuram, makelele, coupet (je deteste olympique lyonnais lol) and henry. France has what it takes and they should not even think of pulling another WC2006 because the Italiens will win the last game 2-1.

Here’s a funny little tidbit for you guys, on how to cope:

Today, my niece (who is French) is getting married to her longtime boyfriend (who is Dutch) and is a fantastic guy. It’s taking place in the South of France. So there you have it! Life goes on. And no doubt that the good wine will soothe things.

Seriously, there’ll be plenty of time to rehash that game (IMO the 1st goal sealed the game), but we HAVE to focus on Italy. Whatever happens in the other game (Rom-NL) is irrelevent, we have to just let it all out on the field, loosen up (finally!). Remember that Italian expression they have about us: “La Furia Francese”
No time to calculate, just play.

Doume, I guess that’s short for Dominique (sounds like you’re from Corsica…my favorite place in the world) I thank you for your post,as well as all of you Dutch fans who OUGH TO BE HAPPY and PROUD as for all the other whiners, please drop it- it ain’t over till it’s over. France can still qualify, sure it won’t be easy but they need supporting not bitching. Besides there’s nothing shameful about losing to a team like the Dutch, they’re good- but so ARE WE!

I AM ORANJE FOR LIFE….

but

Vive la France!!! Thanks for accept defeat graciously which I wish I could say about the Italians. You are true fans of the beautiful game even when you guys are not on the winning end.

Domenech might have his critics but he is at least a gentleman and will say what he feels without fear.

I hope you guys give Italy a footballing lesson and maybe we can meet again!

Well I have my graduation to look forward to and so that distraction is keeping me from going into depression. But I just hope that in some major tournament we meet the Netherlands and get revenge for this defeat. Until then the scar of this defeat will always be in my heart.

by the way the penalty save by Buffon was very crucial to the scenario unfolding on Tuesday. Had that penalty gone in our 30% chance of going
to the next round would been diminished to 5% as the Romanians only
needed a tie in their last game to go through. Funny that?
wish everyone a great Saturday night and on the bright side with the Les Bleus elimination I could get that “Adidas Originals France track top” at 1/2 price!

Julian,
You are correct on both counts – I’m actually very impressed! I have Corsican blood through my mother (from around Corte if you know the mountains) and that side of the family always called me Dume, which I spell the French way. So now the problem is, part of that family branched out in …Genoa, Italy!
So, not only do I have Italian cousins, I have a new Dutch nephew-in-law!

I absolutely hope that the team can get itself together during these few days. Bad as it was yesterday, I think we learned some excellent lessons in strategy and personel; we have to learn from each defeat, just like in chess. We have to put these lessons to use very soon. With a lot of spirit.

It was fitting that the African team of Europe was humiliated by Orange waves. Call me partial, but Italia played on an equal par with Dutch and if not for that joke of a Rudd goal( yess even Kuyt admits that itwas a offside), and if not for Van Der saar´s brilliance to prevent the score from being 2-2, the story might have been different..Not giving excuses, dutch played magnificently and all the things went their way, but their 2nd and 3rd goals were counter attacks, nothing specially created moves..Also, the referee and UEFA it seems is hell bent on sending Italia home early, even yesterday, the clown of a Norweigen referee denied a perfectly valid Luca Toni goal which was perfectly onside, then the referee gives a non existant penalty to Romania…the referee books De Rossi for a great and a legal tackle when Italia were poring forward at the death..well….the least we can expect from the dutch is to get a result against romania and we will kick out the Africans from Europe , we only need a bit of luck and the intervention of Footballing Gods who have been angry on us till now

Laurie,
Thanks for saving us for last!
Did I hear you were a Coupet! Wow, that is something, I wouldn’t want to play GK. I was something of an Evra myself!

Franco R,
I guess you’re so happy with your little line about the African team that you did a cut-and-paste job so it would come on both threads (”wrong side”1.19pm and “coping” 1.23pm); sorry to say, you’re not the first one to come up with that line. It’s lame.

Nonetheless, back to sport, the Luca Toni goal was absolutely good.
And the penalty was ridiculous. I think the Hand of God (plus His foot) acted through Buffon.

France can rebound and still make it. Even without stars this team still has makings of greatness and was all over the Dutch. The difference in this result was the absolutely poor goalkeeping from Coupet. Holland could have scored eight. Coupet seemed not to have the nerve for this big occasion. The first Dutch goal straight of Kuyt’s head was not difficult, Van Persie’s trickled into goal as Coupet watched after the ball hit his hand, Robben’s goal went in at the near post straight through Coupet’s hands, and the last strike caught him off his line and went over his head. Is he really the best France can come up with?

So you all forget that Romania came the first in qualification group , and Holland the second …
Romania v won the game against Holland , and that happened in 2007 .
KEEP ON DREAMING FRACE FOOTBALL FANS !

@ Franco Rossi, go get a life
F–k of, you went to the dutch blog and said the same thing about the dutch players.

Why was malouda substituted with that bob marley guy

Doume, Me, a goalkeeper? Maybe in my dreams! I don’t have the reflexes, alas. (I wonder if it was Inara. Inara? Did you play in goal?)

im glad we played better than vs romania, it actually made me feel better…
i am still devastated tho
its time for deschamps to take rayray’s place, and we need to get rid of (almost) everyone!

its time to stop bitching now tho…and focus on beating italy.
no matter who gets out of the group, ill be happy if we beat italy!
that last part is not true, i still believe in les bleus to win euro08 lol

Are they even going to qualify for the 2010 WC?

Italia will dominate you

gomis is a flop, should of pick cisse. viera is still injured, he sent flamini home, why?…goal.com gave thuram a 3 of 10, “Had a nightmare and looked every one of his 36 years”.

my squad(based on performance)if i was the coach
coupet
frey
lloris
-
clerc
mexes
gallas
clichy
abidal
givet
evra
zebina
-
ben arfa
flamini
bodmer
mavuba
nasri
toulalan
menez
ribery
-
benzema
henry
trezeguet
cisse

Doume – I had mentioned that I played goalkeeper in intramural soccer. I was always getting beaten at my near post.

People who think Netherlands will let Romania beat them, you are wrong. Even with a B-side, we are talking about Robben, Huntelaar and Van Persie…
I mean is it really a B-side???
I also think Van Basten wants to keep the euphoria of the winning streak.
France Italy is going to be hot hot. And honestly, Italians were worse than France so far and were saved just from a fabulous save from Gigi.

You guys shouldn’t worry too much about Hollands B-team. Robben and van Persie are part of the B-team You’ve met those haven’t you?

And the Italians have met Affelay (shot on the crossbar).

And don’t discount Huntelaar, he scores more easily than van Nistelrooy does (RvN playes more in service of the team, feeding the others).

Substitutions in defensive midfield and defenders won’t matter that much, cause they’ve all played before and are about equal in skill with slight variations in style (the one more offensive than the other).

The only real thing that will matter is whether van der Sar plays or not, cause I really don’t have a good feeling about the other 2 GK’s.

Amazing. We Italy fans know exactly what you’re feeling now.

The question is, would you rather lose 4-1 or 3-0?

Jeff, Laurie,
Sorry I got mixed up in who wrote what. Jeff, I still wouldn’t want to play keeper. Kudos!
Question: is there somewhere some clip of the “handball” ? I come across many goal clips, but not that. If somebody finds it, I’d appreciate. Thanks!

Doume, try this for thte handball video. I have a hard time getting their videos to run for me, but they seem to work for everybody else.

http://101greatgoals.magnify.net/item/L7RB5YHGTWWTQ0T5

Thanks Laurie,
I guess I’m in the same category; I get a spinning thing that says it’s loading (but after 20 minutes I think it’s lying to me). I’ll keep looking, it’s bound to be somewhere. I think the TV broadcast at the time showed more Titi’s indignation than the actual replay, plus the angle wasn’t the best. I remember it came at the end of a very interesting sequence of game with maybe 3 shots. It seems foggy now; I was between sitting on my couch and standing on top of my coffe table

@Franco Rossi

you italian supporters are a real sorry bunch when it comes to losing.
Every commentator, even some Italian, have stated that it was a penalty.
He had his left arm around the Romanian player neck and brought him down in the box. what else was there on the replay? move on guys and be glad
you’ve got the best goalie in the world!

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Italy played on equal par vs the Dutch? Wow, someone hasn’t been watching the game. But if that’s what you really think, I guess that makes our win that much more deserving, because you still haven’t realized you guys were outplayed for most of the game.

France was a far greater challenge for the Dutch. But once we had both Robben and Van Persie on the field, I knew we’d win the game.

PS. First goal against Italy was 100% legit.

Hi Dutch, your personal opinions dont count for me..i dont blame u, u r entitled and priveleged for ur opinions..iam just stating that even Kuyt himself told that the first goal was not LEGIT, also Ruud was hesitating before celebrating and it says all..Italia missed many chances in the first half..at 2-0, italia missed sitters..i dont know which game u r talking about or which game u watched, but facts r facts..Holland has ZERO world cups and it has just won 2 fluke wins in euro 2008 which has been hyped up a lot..credit must be given where it is due, u deserved those two fluke wins..lol..but dont expect it to happen next 99 times

Dominic Menotti

You seem to be very confused. Because the players thought it was offside, it was offside? It doesn’t work like that. A lot of people thought it was offside, doesn’t mean it was. Lots of people thought the world was flat, doesn’t mean that was true. The goal, as has been mentioned many times before by officials, is 100% legit. The rules are very simple, as long as a referee hasn’t tagged an active player as inactive, that player is still active. If you can find something in the rules that says otherwise, then come back. Otherwise, you don’t have a leg to stand on

Of course Italy missed many chances, just like the Dutch missed many more chances. We created more chances than you’ve had, and we managed to score with some of them. That’s the difference, and that’s what we say when we outplayed you in everything that game. Those are the facts. And it’s certainly good to keep on reminiscing about those cup titles. If that makes you happy, then go for it. Beating an Italy with that history is all the sweeter I’d say.

Dominic Menotti = Natzi
Rant all you want little buddy, Italy will go Bye Bye no mattr what you say :. And to stay on the subject. France played much better than Holland or Italy, but you have the worst goal keeper in this tourny.

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Absoultely ridiculous Xenophobic comments by our Italian friends, calling our team the “United Africa” as if there is anything wrong with that?
I am sure you’re in favor of the demonstartions that are going in Italy against the immigrants. I thought musolini is no longer ruling Italy, but I guess “you can take Mussolini out of Italy but not take Italy out of Mussolini?” my apologies to my French supposters here to turn this into a political issue, but what is wrong with being called African French or French African? Look at the Germans with Polish, Mexican, and other players with mixed nationalities. Are you cheering for the “Fear and Flag”
kind of democracy? or are we cheering for beautiful football?
I am not of French descent and been following this team since the early eighties, because of the beautiful football that they’ve demostrated, and not worried a single bit as they will bounce back even stronger than before for the years to come.

A L L E Z L E S “A F R I Q U E/B L E U S”

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Foreverzidane: calling our team “United Africa” is wrong, simply because it’s untrue Certainly, many of them have African ancestry, but then the American team should be called “United Europe”, shouldn’t it? Most (all?) of our players are true French people in their heart and soul because they’ve grown up in France since early age, if not birth.

I’m sure you feel that way dominic. YOu can take your little shoe shaped island and shove it up yours hommie. This is just another caste of a sad little piggy trying to save some of his pride. BTW : you should get some therapy you have serious mental issues.

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@ Dominic Menotti
the english team doesn’t have any african players. all of them have british and west indian ancestry you arsehole.
i can’t wait for mario balotelli and santacroce to play for italy so you can shut up.

Dominic: You’re talking about people here. Imagine you were born in Italy with parents born in Africa. You would consider it fair not to be able to represent the country where you’ve grown up and that you love, just because your parents weren’t born here? Nobody denies the roots of Thuram, Desailly, etc, it’s not the point. The point is it’s legitimate for them to play for their country, the one they love and that they’ve grown up in.
It’s football, it’s just a freaking game. It’s not about trying to find whose nation’s genes are better or something. That would make no sense on so many levels.

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Some people should get banned. I used to like this thread.

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Yeah you’re not racist and yet you say Italy should “get rid of the gypsies”

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@ Dominic
stop polluting this web site with fascist, ethnic hatred, and other discriminatory comments.

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Dominic: “U r almost projecting me as a racist”

No one needs to project you as a racist Dominic. You ARE a racist. The fact that you try to deny it just means, that you know that it’s bad to be racist and that’s the small glimmer of hope left for you. This football related discussion won’t change your world view but I hope something does.

Dominic, take it easy.

Good luck to both sides.

good evening guys, as iam watching the Turkey vs Czech match, iam left wondering at the gulf of class between the teams in our group of death and the other teams..Imagine seeding Austria, Swiss, Greece( all three are out) and making Italia and France non seeds..it sux..

with a small correction ofcourse, the Romanian team must be counted out of discussion, they just play anti football wait for the opponents to make mistakes or give them gifts

To those who blamed Coupet for some of Holland’s goals, have you seen the second Turkish goal against Petr Cech, who’s considered to be the best goalkeeper in the world? It happens. Especially to a team that is held back by a coach when most of its force and talent is in attack. A lackluster and apathetic game like during the first half against Holland will lead to a disaster against Italy.

one thing that bothers me a lot is that when people (TV commentator, so called experts and other fans) talk about peter cech they say he is the best goalie and even after so much brilliant performance after performance buffon has never been given that previledge except for italian or serie fans. It really hurts me and wonder is it because cech plays for EPL supposedly best league in the world which for me is serie a. CAN ANYBODY SAY THAT CECH IS BETTER THAN BUFFON OR HAS DONE THINGS BETTER THAN BUFFON? a question to everyone of you

“The made in AFRICA team France can take an early vacation to the deepest depths of ilimanjaro jungle”

I REPEAT: I THOUGHT THIS WEBSITE HAD RULES AGAINST RACISM. I DON’T UNDERSTAND WHY PEOPLE WHO CONTINUALLY POST DISGUSTING, XENOPHOBIC, DEEPLY IGNORANT CRAP LIKE THIS CAN POST THEIR FILTH FREELY ON THIS SITE!

As a staunch “Les Afrique/Bleus” Fan (to make Dominic happy)I would like to say that by far Gigi Buffon could single handedly change the game.
I will never ever forget the bullet head shot he saved by Zidane.
My only gripe against him is the sending-off of one of the greatest that ever played the game during the 2006 WC.
Cech is not in the same class as Buffon,the other is the obvious Casillas,
and our very own Sebastien Frey who for the life of me I don’t understand
why Domenech won’t play him. Ricardo for portugal is a weak link.
Could we please forget the politics and get back to Football?

Cool that there are real French fans here
I support France when I saw them play, and it is such a difference compared to the other national teams who play football. They play really beautiful football. Since than I really cared about the French national team, (to be honest I’m from the Netherlands, but I hate the Dutch team, they play úgly soccer, a kind like Italy sometimes does xD)I was very down when this nice team had so much bad luck this european championship 2008, and that they are already out. I went mad that evening when they lost from Italy and that evening they lost from the Netherlands and I cut all the dutch orange flags in my neighbourhood (pathetic isn’t it)