Who Decides Who Retires? Raymond Domenech, That’s Who

August 28th, 2008 | by: Laurie |

If you’ve been following the conversations in the comments on this blog, you know that last week Sébastien Frey followed in David Trezeguet’s footsteps and announced his international retirement.

You also know that Frey is 28. Which is… Well, it may not be infancy for a goalkeeper, but it’s not exactly retirement age either. He’s in a bit of a snit because Hugo Lloris got called up for the Sweden friendly and he didn’t.

I can kind of understand this. I consider life too short to watch Serie A, but from what everybody is saying he’s in the form of his life at Fiorentina.

Frey’s own words?

“Unfortunately, it is with deep regret that I have decided to dedicate my time to Fiorentina only after my latest exclusion from the squad.

“I have never been shown any trust or given any chance to show my ability for the France team.”

Probably true. And we all know how reluctant Raymond is to call up Serie A players whose names aren’t Vieira. And so we bid a fond adieu to Sébastien, whom we never really…um…

Wait a second. Not so fast. Raymond is refusing to accept the retirement.

“The decision of Frey? I have made a note,” Domenech sniped to L’Equipe.

“It is not up to the player to decide when he ends his international career. A player, whether he is 35 or 18, will be selected. It is not up to him to decide [it is my decision].

“There is no law that allows him to decide to stop. There can be a consultation, a meeting, a discussion, an agreement, but in no case can there be a decree by one of the parties.”

In other words, bite me, Sébastien.

(Okay, so that’s a paraphrase.)

In other interesting you are so not retired news, Raymond has also apparently put in a call to our former master of the midfield, Claude Makélélé. You probably remember that Claude at least theoretically retired after Euros. (Unless you’re like me and spent the weeks immediately following the tournament with the covers pulled over your head.)

Again, though, Domenech is saying “Nuh-uh.” (Although in Claude’s case he’s being a little nicer about it.)

“Makelele has received a pre-call, just like about 50 other players,” Domenech told AFP. “If he is good, there is no reason for me to put him on the side. He doesn’t make the decision. “Competition and his age can make you believe there are other attractive solutions in the future. But now, if we need an experienced player to help balance the team, I remain the man who makes the decision.

“With Keke we have had talks for four years. Every month he told me, ‘Coach, I want to stop’. I replied, ‘Yes, we will talk later, come next week and we will talk again’. He said, ‘At my age, I will not be able to’. But he is always happy to get called again.”

I find this decision interesting. Maybe a little odd. I thought Toulalan was one of the biggest bright spots of the recent friendly, and we do have some depth at this position — players I’d like to see on the field sometime before they die. (Flamini anyone?) But I’m guessing that in the Sweden game Raymond had the same kind of heart failure with our defense that the rest of us did, and is now thinking, “If I just had Makelele hanging out in front of the back line…”

Thing is, if we’d had Makelele, would we have scored three goals?

Just say no, Raymond. The future begins now.

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metamoralia

Hi Laurie,

It could be Dom is just flexing muscle here in his alpha-male way … but then we all know he’s mad enough to do it. You know, I think I’d actually bet on a Makelele selection (who I think has played every minute of PSG’s three games).

For what it’s worth …

Here’s where France is ranked–in the context of its qualifying group–in the most recent FIFA world ranking:

11. Romania
12. France
34. Serbia
59. Lithuania
103. Austria — that’s a little low, isn’t it.
196. Faroe Islands

In their Euro 2008 qualifying groups, Serbia came in 4th (with 5 wins, 2 loses, 6 draws) behind Poland, Portugal & Finland; Romania won its group ahead of the Netherlands by three pts. (with 9 wins, 1 loss, 2 draws)

Oh, yes …

“I consider life too short to watch Serie A …”

LOL …
metamoralia

It’s up, the list for the games against Austria & Serbia:

http://www.fff.fr/servfff/historique/selection/der_selec.shtml
John

He calls Abidal back at the CB position after what he did agaist Italy: getting red-carded and conceding the penalty to Pirlo!!!!! Domenech really is out-of-his-mind. And going with two young, inexperienced keepers instead of Frey is also beyond comprehension. I wonder if he’s not giving Frey a good “wack with a newspaper” like when a puppy does something wrong, after Frey made those comments in the Italian media that his club was more important than the national team. I think that was part of Mexes’ nonselction before the Euros. Aside from Mexes’ injury, I thought maybe Domench was punishing him with the non-selection, for saying that Italy was going to win the Euros in the Italian newspapers. Just a theory.
metamoralia

Yeah, that’s right–I forgot that about Mexes. That was pretty nervy of him! As for Frey, I think Domenech has lost him for good and now he’s just trying to save face.

Abidal was only an emergency replacement at CB against Italy, wasn’t he? My guess is that he’s now the number 2 left back behind Evra, and also there as cover for Gallas, Mexes, Squillaci …

Apparently Gallas had a good game against Arsenal’s Dutch ‘Champions League’ opponent yesterday, and Nasri scored a goal …

Has anyone thought of playing Evra on the wing in place of Malouda, with Clichy at left back? Hasn’t Evra done that with ManU? Or is the suggestion completely crazy?
John

Metamoralia: I think Abidal was put in when Gallas went down, and we still had Squillaci and Boumsong on the bench. Now, we have Clichy and Evra at LB, and Gallas, Mexes, and Squillaci at CB, so I’m assuming that Abidal will be the 4th CB. I was hoping he wouldn’t be called up again and one of the youngsters, Belaid/Sakho, would get a chance.
And I don’t think that Clichy-Evra pairing will be seen, unless Malouda/BenArfa/Nasri are injured. I would only like to see it late in game that is already won; even though I use this pairing all the time when I’m playing xbox, but I usually put Clichy at left midfielder.
metamoralia

Hi John, one thing’s for sure: Abidal’s going to miss the first game (against Austria)–he’s still suspended. That means with Evra presumably starting that game, Clichy is I think the only cover for him.

I just checked the FFF site:

At Euro ‘08 Abidal played LB against Romania. He was replaced by Evra in the Dutch game. Gallas/Thuram were the two CBs in both games. In the final game, against Italy, Abidal replaced Thuram … and was himself replaced by Boumsong after getting red carded. Gallas played the whole game.
http://france.worldcupblog.org Laurie

It could be Dom is just flexing muscle here in his alpha-male way

If they were dogs, they’d be running around peeing on trees.

I guess I’m glad they’re footy players duking this out in the press.
John

Metamoralia: You’re correct. I have a horrible memory. So we had 3 healthy CBs- Thuram, Squillaci, and Boumsong on the bench and Domench decides to start Abidal out of position, with disasterous results. We would’ve lost 1-0 anyway, but I saw that one coming when the lineup was announced.