Team News Roundup

November 29th, 2009 | by: Sarah |

Not to dwell on the play-off saga any longer, but I missed this story about Domenech fighting with Bixente Lizarazu(former Bordeaux, Bayern, Marseille and France defender) on the French National Radio minutes after beating Ireland. If you can’t understand the video, this article should help you understand what is going on. Interesting tidbits about Lizarazu: in 2001, he became the first player ever to hold both European and World titles simultaneously for both club and country (France and Bayern) and his lucky number is 69.

Please note: this may be updated throughout the week as short stories pop up…

Thanks to Doumé, Jeff and Jean-François for the heads up on the Aime Jacquet story. I’m in the process of working on a longer post about it which will hopefully be done soon, but feel free to discuss in the mean time.

France fails to have a single player make the Ballon D’or Shortlist (10 players). Four French players appeared in the original list of 28 players released on October: Gourcuff (Bordeaux), Henry (Barcelona), Benzema (Lyon and Real Madrid) and Ribery (Bayern Munich). France Football (the publication that runs the Ballon D’Or) explains itself here.
A Frenchmen has only won the award 6 times historically, but since Plantini won it 3 times only 4 French players total have won the award (Kopa, Plantini, Papin and Zidane). Anybody have any qualms?
French players were involved (on both sides) in a couple of high profile games this weekend. Henry and Abidal helped Barcelona beat Real Madrid’s Benzema and Lassana Diarra 1-0 in the Camp Nou Classico, moving Barcelona 2 points clear of Madrid at the top of the table. At the end of the second half, Diarra learned that you can’t just hack players down when you are frustrated– good lesson to learn before South Africa! At least Benzema was able to pull 3 virtual goals back to salvage some of Madrid’s honor.
Anelka and Malouda showed no mercy to their French teammates Gallas, Sagna, Traore (France espoirs) and Nasri in Chelsea’s 3-0 defeat at Emirates Stadium, moving Chelsea five points clear at the top of the table. Unfortunately, most of the French players received poor ratings by the Guardian, with Anelka being the obvious exception. Even the Belgian who scored the own-goal received a higher rating that the French players, though, I was glad to see Armand Traore get some first team action.

David Ngog’s (France espoirs) contributions helped Liverpool trounce former France player Louis Saha and uncapped Sylvain Distin’s Everton 2-0 in the Merseyside Derby, bringing Liverpool to within 2 points of Arsenal in 5th place.

If your club team lost, don’t kill the messenger– besides two of these situations were a win-win for the national team. Check The Offside team blogs for reviews and to direct your non-France related ranting and gloating
France’s Ligue 1 didn’t have any derbies this weekend, and the results for France’s domestic players were a mixed bag- a few good, some bad and a lot of blah. Mandanda saved a penalty against Lens, but it wasn’t enough to preserve a draw for OM when Lens scored a late goal. Moussa Sissoko and Gignac were only able to help Toulouse beat Boulogne (Ligue 1 whipping boy) 1-0 despite playing for 90 minutes– though Gignac delivered an awesome bicycle kick. Alou Diarra helped get Bordeaux back to their winning ways in a 3-0 crushing of Nancy. Yoann Gourcuff is still out with a groin injury. Lyon’s Cissokho, Lloris, Boumsong, Govou and Gomis had to settle with a 1-1 draw against Rennes. In PSG’s 1-0 defeat of Ligue 1 leaders Auxerre, former starting goalkeeper Gregory Coupet may have seriously injured his knee. Check out The Offside’s Ligue 1 blogs for more information on France’s domestic talent.
Given that France’s squad members play against each other so frequently, do you think they ever consider the national team when going in for a tackle? An interesting interview between Thierry Henry with Frank Leboeuf (former Chelsea, OM and France defender) from last summer sheds some light on the subject (skip to the 4:24 mark)…
Even though Domenech will only talk to the press about anything other than football, including his fondness for his “nomal life”, according to Benzema that is the only thing he will talk about with the team. Hmm, if Benzema wasn’t so historically honest, I might think he is trying to talk his way back into Domenech’s good graces (I kid, okay, I’m only kidding a little).
Sagna and Diaby are using the French team as a recruiting ground for Arsenal.
Blatter absolves Henry of any responsibility in the handball sage. Now that the all-mighty FIFA has spoken can we now move on? Or does this only further fuel the FIFA-France alliance conspiracy theories?
Arsenal’s Armand Traore (France Espoirs) has revealed he is set to undergo surgery. Don’t worry, he is waiting until the end of the season and its an elective surgery to remove a tattoo for religious reasons. Hmm, I wonder how he feels when he reflects on his time with Danielle Lloyd.
David Ngog receives support from a surprising source– Ireland’s Kevin Doyle. But, then again, he seems to be fairly level headed about these types of things.
Patrice Evra joins his Manchester United teammates in supporting UNICEF with his wife.
Just when I though FIFA had given us the green light to move on from this Henry handball saga, now they have announced they may sanction him and Blatter has now stated that touching the ball with your hands in football is the “highest crime”. Ugh, lack of consistency is my biggest sticking point with FIFA! But knowing FIFA, it will take so long for them to come to a decision that Henry will probably already be retired at that point. Apparently they are also considering allowing Ireland and Costa Rica in as teams 33 and 34 to the World Cup, having extra officials in the matches and changing the entire play-off set-up because of the drama not only with France/Ireland but also Algeria/ Egypt and Uruguay/Costa Rica. Any thoughts? Mine have too many four letter words to express right now.
Real Madrid starlet Karim Benzema was involved in a car accident at 2AM Monday morning after his team lost to Barcelona. Apparently, his car is badly damaged, but he was able to walk away from the accident. I feel a little guilty now for making fun of him earlier in this post.
Former France coach Henri Michel was fired today from his job in the Egyptian League. This is the second time he was fired this year (the first being from a South African league team). Michel is credited with guiding the French team to third place at the 1986 World cup. From third place at the WC with France to being fired from both an Egyptian AND South African league team. Oh how the mighty have fallen.

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Doumé

Wow, Sarah, very complete look around! Nice job! I’ve even heard about Louis Saha whom I used to like. So thanks!
At this point I wouldn’t worry about getting a Ballon d’Or, honestly. I think TiFranck Ribéry would have been a legit contender if his season hadn’t been truncated. Other nations have higher performing stars who deserve it, and that doesn’t mean they’ll win the Cup because of that.
It’s teams that win (ugly grammar), and I want to make sure we get a working team.
Foreverzidane

Wonderful Thierry interview! great example would be the Sagna wrap around of Anelka this past weekend, as he gently brought him down, so it seemed!
Sarah

@Doume: Thanks, glad you enjoyed it. Though, I will have be better about including information about Serie A in the future– I completely forgot (the only thing I know about the Italian teams has to do with their participation in the Champion’s League– I dont pay attention to their domestic matches). But, with some of the team’s fringe players, old favorites and/or potential players (Mexes, Menez, Viera, Flamini, Trezeguet) there I will try to remember to include information about that next time. I think the big Milan derby is soon?

Re: Ballon D’Or – My frustration with the Ballon D’Or is that it ignores Ligue 1– if they hadn’t included Gourcuff I wouldn’t have even known that they considered any domestic French players. The French league is improving– two of the three French teams are qualified for the knock-out stages in Europe (Bordeaux and Lyon). Bordeaux has won the top spot– despite having both Bayern and Juventus in their group– without losing a single game (and only 1 draw). Lyon beat Liverpool at Anfield and forced them into a draw at home. I don’t think the French press ever recognizes the progress the league has made. But, I digress…

I have a few qualms with the nominees, but it would be hard to make a case for a French player to be in the top 10. The Offside Front page has posted the issue as well though, and there appears to be at least 1 Thierry Henry advocate there for his inclusion. If the award was for club level alone, I think we would have a case, but France’s international performance has not been something to brag about. Though unrelated to France, I think it is ridiculous that Gerrard was nominated but not Torres, but I guess there were too many other Spaniards on the list. I’ve taken up the issue on the Offside front page and the Offside-Liverpool blog though.

@Foreverzidane: I always like interviews where the interviewer has a more personal relationship with the player– it feels so much more relaxing, less guarded and warm. I watched part of the Chelsea-Arsenal match but I think I may have missed the tackle you are referring to–if you can find a video then post the link here. I do think that it happens more when you are foreign player in another league though– it builds more camaraderie to be two foreigner in a different country. When Benzema played in Ligue 1 and now with Gignac– I dont think any French player thought/thinks twice about chopping them down.
Sarah

hah– finally someone is willing to force Ireland to face reality. http://unprofessionalfoul.com/2009/11/30/ireland-want-reparations-for-everything/
http://thebeantownfrog.blogspot.com/ GFC

I am not sure it is too shocking that no frenchman made the final 10. Who deserved it last season? Benzema, down season. Gourcuff? I think we think about his potential, while he had a solid season I cannot see him replace anyone on the list. Ribery? Missed too much time. Henry? A nice bounce back season with Barca but not enough. Henry should have won the award back during his Arsenal days, alas he never go the award. It is also surprising that Cantona did not win the award…probably due to his attitude.
Sarah

@GFC: Well, apparently the criteria for the Golden Ball is
a) All individual and team performance (ranking) during the year;
b) class of player (talent + fair play)
c) Overall career
d) Personality

Cantona does not exactly get maximum credit for fair play or personality. I think you are right– he pissed way too many people off. Agreed on Henry being unfairly snubbed for the trophy early in his career.

I don’t really think the French press actually like it when French players succeed.
Jeff

Wow – lots of detail.

We are in a bad patch of form if we don’t have any players competing for top individual honors. Ugh.

At least we’re qualified for the World Cup.
sandrahn

Don’t know if this has already been posted but I just discovered this terrific interview with Zidane on CNN Asia from last week:

http://www.cnn.com/2009/WORLD/europe/11/24/zindine.zidane.interview/index.html?section=cnn_latest

I love how he says the best player he’s ever played with or against is Ronaldo (with whom he has a great friendship and organizes those annual charity matches).

It was ridiculous how Henry was snubbed for the Ballon d’Or. If he’d been playing in Spain or Italy at the time, he would’ve won it.

Sarah, I totally agree re your comments on Ligue 1. I’ve been watching it regularly ever since games have been available in the US and it’s remarkable how underrated it is. There is far more technical quality, physicality and toughness than it’s given credit for. And don’t forget Marseille’s performance in the CL. They’re all but knocked out but they were by far the better team against Milan and their other performances were great. Deschamps has really done some fine work with them. I look forward to watching them in the Europa League, hope they go on to win it.
Benjamin

How does seeding work for this Friday?
Sneakers O’Toole

How does Domenech have a job? He’s got one of the most talented rosters I’ve seen in a while, and he can’t do anything with it. Massive injuries tear down star players…no worries, there is a 20 million euro player sitting behind them on the depth chart. I follow gli Azzurri, but if Ray Ray ruins another chance for me to watch a stacked Les Bleus squad mow people down in the group stage, I’ll be pissed.

No one doubts the talent of Ligue 1, but most people assume that anyone good will soon leave for presumably greener pastures. As the sugar daddies start to fade, this will change though, for the better. I think Gourcuff’s move/ stay was a huge turning point symbolic of a resurgence in the league.
Sarah

@Benjamin: Great Question! According to Daryl’s post we find out tomorrow who is in what pot– http://www.worldcupblog.org/world-cup-2010/soundoff-how-would-you-seed-for-the-world-cup-2010-draw.html

But, I’ve heard that France will be in the first pot which contains the 8 seeded teams since we are currently ranked #7 in the World (according to FIFA), (http://www.adifferentleague.co.uk/default.aspx?Tab=13&Page=6&Article=805)

but it is all still up in the air– http://goal.blogs.nytimes.com/2009/12/01/fifa-committee-to-decide-world-cup-seeding-this-week/
http://thebeantownfrog.blogspot.com/ GFC

Les Bleus were dropped out of Pot 1….and really deserved since they had a putrid Euro 2008 and a terrible qualifying campaign…the road gets more difficult

http://thebeantownfrog.blogspot.com/2009/12/world-cup-potsfrance-get-what-they.html