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France Foto: Arriving on a Jet Plane

June 4th, 2008 | By: Laurie | 9 Comments »

I’m feeling lazy today (and my fingers still haven’t recovered from yesterday’s liveblog,) so let’s just enjoy another photo, shall we?

Here we have Grégory Coupet, Jérémy Toulalan and François Clerc, deplaning in Geneva.

And is anybody else amused by the fact that there are official, identical France suits and ties for this occasion? (Because maybe Toulalan can’t be trusted to pick out his own clothes?)

I’m finding myself imagining where else they might wear them when the tournament’s over. Picturing Toulalan perhaps going to meet future in-laws or something. Or Coupet wearing it to a post-retirement job interview.

This comes from a great slideshow over on the Sports.fr site.

Tags: Euro 2008

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Comments

By Jan | June 4th, 2008 at 9:08 pm

Hello my French friends, Jan from the Dutch blog here :-).

In Holland, the media reported that Domenech left Trezeguet out of the squad because Trez is a Libra and thus likely to create disbalance in the group??? Is that actually true?

Posted from Australia

By Laurie | June 4th, 2008 at 9:54 pm

Jan, Domenech has been rumored to leave players out due to astrology. This was big in the media before World Cup 2006 when Robert Pires didn’t make the squad, reportedly because he was a Scorpio. (Other rumors have Pires ostracized after purportedly hitting on Domenech’s young and gorgeous baby-mama. Feel free to make up your own mind.)

The astrology talk has died down since 2006, though, and I haven’t heard anything recent. And nothing at all about Trezeguet. I think it’s a lot more likely that he wasn’t included because the team has more versatile strikers, and the current system is not set up to utilize a straight goal-poacher. In the several games he’s played since World Cup (maybe 4 or 5?), his only goals were two against Faroe Islands.

Domenech is definitely quirky, but I don’t think this particular rumor has legs. If anybody knows differently, feel free to chime in.

Posted from United States

By Inara | June 4th, 2008 at 10:41 pm

Gray hair at the temples, dimples, a horrible sense of style, and four lungs. Toulalan is equal parts adorable and awesome. Call me a fangirl.

That is all.

By Inara | June 4th, 2008 at 10:47 pm

Also, those suits are hideous. Maybe Toulalan did pick them out.

The only nice thing I can say about Italy is that their “team outfits” are always classy.

By Aditya | June 5th, 2008 at 8:14 am

Well the Italians do know how to keep their nerve as well. They can play shit football but still win.

Btw a video about Gomis call up and final selection
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=en2AfMjeNdE
He might be a good substitute to use for sure.

Posted from United States

By sandrahn | June 5th, 2008 at 8:38 am

“Gray hair at the temples, dimples, a horrible sense of style, and four lungs. Toulalan is equal parts adorable and awesome. Call me a fangirl.
That is all.”

What she said.

Toulie and Ribery are my new French gods.

I don’t think the suits are hideous, tho they’re not great either. Coupet just looks wrong in it, Toulalan looks just ok. I liked the suits the team wore when they arrived home after the wc in 2006 and went to the presidential palace.

Jan, the astrology stories about Domenech don’t apply to Trezeguet. The two just don’t get along, Trezeguet has constantly criticized Domenech (like a few other players). And as Laurie said, Domenech’s style of football doesn’t provide a place for Trezeguet’s type of striker. Which is a pity, I’d love to see France play with a real goal poacher.

Posted from United States

By sandrahn | June 5th, 2008 at 8:47 am

BTW, Laurie, I hope you won’t mind my boldness in putting out this suggestion but you or Jeff might want to consider writing up a blog about the national origins of the French squad as we head into the Euros. No other squad in int’l football is on the receiving end of continual charges of national inauthenticity.

We are about to start a major month-long int’l tournament in which France will be one of the big players. We will be inundated by the same old bullshit about France being full of non-French players. It’s impossible to prevent any of that crap, it will always exist, but it would be nice to at least provide some kind of informative blog to counteract some of the ignorance–listing the birthplace of each player (not necessarily all 23), whether or not they’re immigrants and if they are, at what age they emigrated to France. Also whether or not they ever played at any club before coming to France.

I’d do it but I’d need help in tracking down some of the info.

Posted from United States

By lefutur | June 5th, 2008 at 9:51 am

Those suits make them look like bellhops.

By Pride of Lyon | June 5th, 2008 at 10:09 pm

As for the astrology, Domenech has never taken a scorpio to an official competition (Giuly, Pires).
A bit odd isn’t it out of 23 players…
He said in 2006 that scorpios were odd, but never actually said he wouldn’t take a scorpio in the group.
As for Trezeguet, I don’t think it is because of the libra sign, more because of Trezeguet’s play style. Domenech gave him a chance, and Trezeguet just doesn’t fit in the actual game style.

Posted from Japan