Comments on: More Thoughts on France-Scotland

By: paul howitt

paul howitt — Sat, 17 Nov 2007 23:50:12 +0000

Congratulations to France on Qualifying for European championships. As a Scot i am disapointed that we did not make it but maybe next time. Once again well done.

By: glatisant

glatisant — Fri, 28 Sep 2007 04:58:04 +0000

The national anthem is a symbol of a country like the flag & players should be proud of representing something they love & is deep in their hearts. These values are not taught, they come from the heart, they are part of what we are.
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Not to be rude, but I think those who have represented their country for over 100 games, who have played through injury despite their clubs’ open displeasure (see Vieira, up-post), who have come out of retirement to help their country qualify for international play, who have endured taunts from their own countrymen for their origins, as this generation of the French side has done, on numerous occasions, don’t really need a lecture on what it means to represent the flag, the anthem, what have you.

And please tell me that you didn’t go back and count the number of players who did or didn’t sing aloud during WC matches last year. Please tell me you didn’t.

By: Patrick

Patrick — Sat, 22 Sep 2007 00:48:29 +0000

Hmm, well the formatting got messed up. The four offensive players should be more to the right.

By: Patrick

Patrick — Sat, 22 Sep 2007 00:47:14 +0000

Sandrahn, I would tend to agree with you about the success of conservative formations in recent years. However, France has so many good forwards, I hate to see any of them on the bench. This was the formation I was thinking of:

——————–Coupet————–
Sagnol—-Thuram—-Gallas—-Abidal
—————Vieira—-Makelele——–
–—–—–——Ribery————–
—Anelka————–Henry—
————Trezeguet———

Here, Malouda is sacrificed, but I think Henry and Anelka on the wings will do better crosses than Ribery and Malouda. And Ribery in the middle is where he should be.

By: sandrahn

sandrahn — Fri, 21 Sep 2007 18:18:03 +0000

Patrick, for international football, unfortunately, I think it’s clear in recent years that only the conservative formation of 4-5-1 or some variation thereof works. A lone striker seems to be what all successful teams use.

By: Laurie

Laurie — Fri, 21 Sep 2007 16:06:32 +0000

Patrick, who are you seeing in the midfield here?

Correct me if I’m wrong, but last time Domenech went 4-3-3 (one of the Spring games? Lithuania, maybe?), if I’m remembering correctly pretty much the entire midfield was defensively oriented. This seemed to defeat the purpose of going 4-3-3 in a team that has problems scoring.

Doumé and Sandra, thanks for responding on the National Anthem question. I vaguely remember the Le Pen brouhaha but couldn’t remember the details enough to relate them. I was hoping somebody else would chime in.

Btw, in case anyone is interested, here is a link to the English translation of the Marseillaise (French National Anthem.) http://www.marseillaise.org/english/english.html

By: Patrick

Patrick — Fri, 21 Sep 2007 02:06:01 +0000

Does anyone think it would be possible for France to play with three forwards, as in Henry-Trezeguet-Anelka? Anelka and Henry, in my opinion, would be great on the wings, delivering precise crosses to Trezeguet. Malouda and Ribery are not great at that.

By: sandrahn

sandrahn — Thu, 20 Sep 2007 16:49:46 +0000

Re the national anthem:

Very few of The US players sing the national anthem either. There was a website during the wc last year that calculated how many fouls, dives, etc. each team committed, and also whether or not players sand their national anthem. The US and France had the worst ratings.

For France, I think a lot of it has to do with some of the players not liking the words to La Marseillaise. It’s a war song. I and many others (incl. many British pundits who dislike France) think it’s the world’s most stirring national anthem but the words are divisive.

The US national anthem is also a war song.

And Laurie, I’ve had my doubts about Henry for the NT for awhile. I really thing Domenech should stop relying on these older players, much as I love them.

By: Doumé

Doumé — Thu, 20 Sep 2007 15:00:47 +0000

Frank,
(re: singing the National Anthem)
This has been a furious debate in the past when a politician, Le Pen, felt outraged at the players with their mouths closed during La Marseillaise. His view, very controversial, was that perhaps they didn’t quite feel French and probably didn’t even know the words to it. He would have liked a “more French” team, meaning … more white. Names like Zidane, Makelele didn’t sound French enough for him. Well, let’s leave it at that. France has a long history.

What I can say, having lived in both countries for a length of time, is that it is a cultural difference, more than a difference in love for the country. In France, we play the Anthem much less often than here. We don’t have a pledge of allegence (sp?). I personally never heard a French person say “we have the best country in the World” kind of thing. But that doesn’t mean we don’t love France. Singing before games is I think, up to the players, they each have their own private rule. Some feel an overwhelming urge (you can always count on Thuram to sing the loudest and proudest – not even close to the key) and some live the emotion inwards; remember the 10-mile stare of Ribéry or ZZ right befor the WC Final, I found it so intense and meaningful too. About 2 years ago, the players, to show they cared, tried to put their hand on the heart during the Marseillaise for a couple of games, and quickly reverted to holding each other (which I think is nice too), because the hand on the heart is not really part of our gestual vocabulary and doesn’t come naturally.
So, to answer your question, it has nothing to do with ego or money, it’s just a cultural difference between France (/Europe) and the US.

Laurie, once the page is loaded, click on the text underneath the little icons that look like soccer fields (located below the picture of Raymond), it should work. I like Angel Marcos’ analysis.

By: Frank Claus

Frank Claus — Thu, 20 Sep 2007 11:35:49 +0000

We go to Europe every year for 4 weeks & we especially love France.
Please give us some feedback regarding the following subject:
Most of the French players in the national soccer team do not sing the national anthem that is played before a match. The national anthem is a symbol of a country like the flag & players should be proud of representing something they love & is deep in their hearts. These values are not taught, they come from the heart, they are part of what we are.
Some matches from World Cup 2006 & countries performances:
Spain – Ukraine: no player from Spain sang the anthem
Germany – Poland: 8-9 player from Germany sang
France – Brazil: 9 Brazilian players sang, only 5-6 French players sang
France – Italy: 10 Italian players sang, only 5-6 French players sang

Are players in the national team playing just because the world exposure & the potential of more money ? World class, high paid players, would they play their best for their country or the club/country they draw a pay check all year around ?
Is it a difficult task between the love for your colors, shirt, anthem, country and pretend ? for Love is an intangible value.