There is Something Below Rock Bottom

It's easy: implement a home-based players only policy going forward, and keep them as they go abroad. That means only keep Lloris, Toulalan, Gourcuff, and Gignac, and whatever others opposed the rebellion such as Sagna. Our qualifying group for Euro 2012 is soft enough that the home players should be able to pull it off and if they're not then so be it, tje price of keeping Ribery and friends is too high.

In sports you have winners and losers. But in the World Cup 2010 the French team and more so the French Coach shows that they are not only losers but have no class. This is applicable to the French (no class team and coach) – bon débarras! The world doesn't need teams, coaches and entourages such as the French. I've always respected the French but this was the last place I thought I'd see how low French can go. No class, highly disappointed…

I think that a real, strong coach who knows what he's doing will fix a lot. Players are like children and dogs, in that they rebel when the “authority” is soft. And yet, as has been noted above, for the players to behave as they did is inexcusable. Full-on inexcusable, and detestable. I don't think that Blanc has to do a full-scale housecleaning, but he does have to understand who he has, and how to use them.

Dumbenech not shaking the hand of the S.A. coach was the pinnacle, the rotten cherry on the top of this whole nonsense. As if that coach had anything to do with anything, except taking advantage (as it should have) of a psychologically damaged side.

Most of what Les Bleus need are players who are ready to bleed for the colors, not a passel of pampered superstars. In '06, many of the same players were killing themselves for the colors. Ribery was better, Toulalan was better, they were all better. But it could also be argued that Domenech wasn't the coach. Zidane was.

Phil, good post. Apart from the ones you mention, I would keep the other Arsenal players – Clichy and Diaby, and Valbuena. Clichy apparently was distraught at the strike and didn't want it. None of the Arsenal players apart from Gallas did. Wish they would've been strong enuf to stand up to the Abidal/Evra/Gallas/Ribery gang. It kills me to say oust Ribery but for the good of the team, he must go.

Kxevin, I don't excuse Domenech but Parreira publicly insulted the France team in a press conference (without even being asked his opinion on the Henry incident). He showed no class either. No national team manager should be publicly trashing another team like that.

Good blog, Inara. Painful, but good.

“I’m also really disappointed in Franck Ribery. He was more humble guy during the last WC, but in the following years, his ego has inflated to massive proportions, and he’s become a jerk. His collusion with Anelka and William Gallas over Gourcuff’s ostracism, his role in planning the training boycott, and his selfish behavior on the pitch – yesterday he made Cristiano Ronaldo look like one of the Sisters of Mercy – makes me wish he could be axed from the squad as well. “

This paragraph alone destroys me. Not that I don't agree with it, that's the problem. I do. You can't find a bigger fan of Ribery than me but his behavior has been inexcusable. Everyone trashed Zidane for his headbutt but he just never did stuff like this selfish egotistical crap. I never thought I'd say this but for the sake of the France team, Ribery should be ousted.

“all this is downright hilarious when you consider that Karim Benzema and Samir Nasri were dropped because they cause drama.” — OMIGOD, the irony of this!! Ben Arfa, Nasri and Benzy look like paragons of virtue compared to these clowns.

Good post, the players must shoulder some of the blame no doubt, but @Kxevin is spot on. This stems from issues from the top down, starting with Escalettes and going to Domenech. What national team is not comprised of massive egos? Does Anelka deserve some blame, no doubt, did Ribery apparently act childish, yes. But why can a player like Anelka function in a team full of egos and primadonas such as Chelsea? Dealing with ACole, Terry, Drogba to name a few? It is the management of the club. From the top down.

The acts were inexcusable, but completely understandable – if you had to deal with Inspector Clouseau for the past 6 years you might reach a breaking point – http://bit.ly/bXZ8G2

Great headline.

Inara, i read and i am a fan of yours Lyon posts since your beginning. But i must say you that i think with this stuff people are just completly mad. Why people have absolutely no confidence into the players ? Henry was one of if not the leader of the mutineers, best friend of Anelka, are people think he suddendly become a guy who disrespect the shirt, really ? Why should they be guilty of anything except not be good ? Why no one want to heard what they have to say ? Why all people seem not disturbed by the fact they have no right to say anything ? Fans who think these guys have no right are wrong. Juridically, they are salaried not soldiers so they have the right to go on strike. Moreover this stuff smells from France very political. Actually the Sarkozy gvt shows us one corruption scandal each three days, Beyond the rumors it seem like Sarkozy required public apologies from Anelka before he required his sacking. I have no idea if it is true or not but the fact that Sarkozy will received Henry, that he made declaration saying the gvt should take the control of the FFF(actually FFF is an independant amateurist federation), the intervention and debriefing of Roselyne Bachelot Sport minister, show a very uncommon political smell. It looks like a big smoke. In fact here another little subject hidden by this press furia, the retirement reform.

Is anybody else watching the America games? They create clear chances. Not half chances. And they've had two legitimate goals disallowed, and they still won their group. They don't have many players, maybe only Howard, who would make the France squad, but they play pretty well.

I would do anything to find out what Henry talked about with Sarkozy.

The difference between the US and France is this: France has more talented individuals, but the US players would eat worms to defend their teammates and the shirt.

This team showed why it didn't deserve to be there in the first place and had no business showing up with world class teams. They have all disgraced their country and made them the laughing stock of the world. The coach should not even be coaching youth football. It's clear from his parting shot of failure to shake hands that he and the team are loosers in every sense of the word. Come back when you have a coach that's a leader and your players grow up. What a nasty stain they've been to the World Cup 2010.

i agree with most of wut u said except for the blaming anelka, first of all he and malouda i think were playing the best on the team, ribery was playing like shit, so u cant say anelka isnt that good of a palyer.
also im not sure but if anelka said what ever it is he said just to the coach or whatever and then someone spilled it to the media then that person is the one who is to blame for the rise in drama

I was gutted although perhaps I was a bit foolish to expect that we would advance from the group stages at the start of the tournament.

This couldn't have ended any worse than it has… and I'm glad this fiasco is over. I agree with Inara that no matter how much you disagree with Domenech, you don't speak to a coach like that. Zidane didn't have to use that type of language to get his point across.

P.S Excellent posts in here Inara! I always enjoy reading them.

Inara…. Thank you. That's exactly what I should have written in place of my long-winded repetitive tirade against the mutinous players' inexcusable behavior…

Clear, well-organized, and well-written… kudos…

Blanc doesn't have to salvage any of these guys if he doesn't want to. There's plenty of talent out there to choose from.

Who knows who will be healthy and in-form in one year and two years time? Le President can afford to wait and see what happens. The important thing is that he builds a real team, not just assemble a group of overpaid, egotistical EPL/La Liga stars who take World Cup opportunities for granted.

———- on the off-chance the players read this:

Au Revoir Franck Ribery. That was your opportunity. Maybe your last. The judges postponed your statutory rape/human trafficking trial so you could play at the World Cup. What a courtesy to a guy who doesn't deserve it.

Maybe the French judges will postpone the trial a little more so that you're guaranteed to be sitting on another kind of bench while Les Bleus get to train for Ukraine/Poland… Or maybe you'll already be making friends with your roommate in the Grey-Bar Hotel by then…

And Patrice, no one cares what you have to say, now, ex-Captain. You looked desperate to try to get at least some hugs on the field after the SA match. If you think people were tentative standing next to you then, wait till you come back to France. And if you want to offer excuses instead of feeling shame and taking responsibility, you are truly lost.

Take some responsibility for:

1) dividing your team with a stupid, counter-productive mole hunt. You sounded more like a paranoid lunatic than a captain of a team at the World Cup.
2) the statement reading, “the players, without exception” <— thanks for dragging others down with you
3) not having the balls the read the statement yourself, arrogantly chewing gum and laughing your way back onto the bus while the training field remained devoid of players actually preparing themselves for the next match, and the frustrated trainer who you humiliated. Are you still so proud of yourself?
4) your lousy play on the field for Les Bleus, including being responsible for both Spanish goals in the friendly against Spain at the Stade de France in Saint-Denis. I was calling Cissokho's name that whole time. Dom was soft, let you play, let you be captain, and this is what you do with it??
5) setting a bad example for all the kids who look up to you
6) setting a bad precedent for future generations of footballers playing for national teams.

Somehow I doubt you'll cover these bases. I expect you to shift the blame and make excuses, and possibly lie to cover your own ass. And if you do apologize, it'll be too late. World Cup done. Damage done.

Don't let the door hit you on the way out. You still probably have some support at Manchester United, even if you've lost all respect from those of us in France.

Good-riddance!

Seriously, some people here seem to be diving off the deep end.

I don't think it's a big point what Anelka said in the dressing room to Domenech. Seriously. How many times have players gotten into fights with their managers? Even Marco Simone commented when on CFC that he had seen a “Ballon d'Or winner” and a “great coach” almost hit eachother during a very heated discussion at half-time of a match, but that it never came out, and didn't stop the team, the player in question and the manager in question from enjoying great successes after the event. So no, I think that a heated discussion about tactics, how to play and what the manager wants his team to do at half-time of perhaps one of the most important matches of a players' career isn't a big talking point.

I do think however that after the event he should have said excuses, because his language was inappropriate, even though it might have been legitimate.

The whole Gourcuff affair? Well, I feel that whilst perhaps some players are at fault, in the face of a manager who has about as many ideas as a lamp-post, it's not surprising that players would eventually break out and make demands. It happens in club football all the time. Yes, sometimes people just don't get along well, don't manage to play together or want to play together anymore for non-sporting reasons, and the manager has to step up to the plate and do his job. Either force them to play together (I'm sure Ferguson or Mourinho wouldn't have had too much on their plate to have that discussion settled in less than five minutes), or drop one or the other from the team, making whatever changes are required. Is it something that either of these players should feel proud about? Probably not. But they're not at fault since the team wasn't working (had France been crushing teams on the way there, they might have needed to take a stronger look in the mirror). A defeat to China's B team? Sorry, but if I was in that team, I wouldn't feel any remorse from going to the coach and saying that I feel I'm unable of playing properly with X in the team because our styles of play/pace of play/other are too different, or that I just hate his guts since he banged my ex-wife (see. Bridge, W) or other non-football related issues. If the coach chooses to drop X or me, well, shucks, but that's his job. If he manages to convince me why I -need- to play with X, well, that's better. But only if he can.

Zidane ran the team in 2006 with Vieira and Thuram (apparently), hence the leaving out of Dhorasoo, for instance, although Domenech clearly rated him as a quality player (he was one of the few that Domenech brought into the team in 2004). It's not that Zidane, Vieira and Thuram thought Dhorasoo was a bad player. He just wasn't a player that fit into the tactical scheme they wanted to set up. Domenech was in the same position in 2010. He had to choose, and he fluffed it by delaying it it and letting it rot until everybody knew about it and he was forced to make a bad one. I don't hear anybody complaining about Zidane “taking power” in 2006, so why should Ribéry/Henry/Gallas/Anelka (or whoever it was) be reviled as some kind of state enemy for doing the same thing? If the boss isn't capable of being proactive and making the choices that are needed to keep the team running smoothly, then someone else has to step up to the plate. If they're not great at it, is it their fault or the fault of the manager for not doing it in the first place? As for “Zidane has more prestige/???” it's fine for him but not for other players… Henry is one of the few players that seems to truly wear his heart on his sleeve for France. After 1998, he was a world champion, but he still went down to the junior sides when asked to. 2000, 2002, 2003, 2004, 2006, 2008… He was there at all of them, and not just to watch and do an Anelka or a Guivarc'h. With his club career that spans redefining Arsenal and being part (ok, not the central part, but one nonetheless) of the sextuple-winning Barça, I don't think anybody can say he wouldn't be respected by other players or staff.

The “mole” incident, on the contrary, seems quite normal to me. If every bust-up or disagreement came out, football clubs wouldn't be able to work, let alone high-pressure groups like world cup teams. I can't imagine players like Ruud Gullit, Roy Keane or Marco Materazzi went for too many matches without insulting people in the dressing room, or that managers like Ferguson, Sacchi or Del Bosque wouldn't be ripping each and every player a new one at half time of such an inept display. So yes, there was a heated discussion. One like the ones that happen in pretty much every club, often with alarming frequency when the team isn't doing well. Why should the press know? They can know after the tournament, when Domenech writes his book, or never, like most discussions of this type. For someone to leak information like that means that someone wanted the team to fail, or was otherwise so detached from the group that they didn't understand the implications of what they were doing. And yes, in a situation like that I find that the players going on strike for a player that was unfairly sent home isn't crazy. If I am working on a R&D project at work (or any other kind of relatively secretive group work where the competition would have a great advantage to know what is going on), and not only do we find out that there's a leak, but that this leak forces one of our group to be kicked out for something that we don't find warrants such a reaction… Well I'm going on strike too. Finding the leak should be the #1 priority in such a situation. What other information has come out? Do other teams know what the training sessions have been like? Do they know what else was said at half-time? Why did they choose to release -that- bit of information, knowing full well that it wouldn't help in any conceivable way?

Some “commentators” are talking about how it's some kind of selfish, “banlieue”-based culture of money that's the root of the EdF's current problems, but that seems pretty strange when on the contrary they seem to be not doing the selfish thing (since when has striking been selfish? strike-breakers are the ones generally seen as selfish). People who are inconvenienced by the strike point to it as “ces chieurs” or some other slur, pointing out that they should be (delete as appropriate) “happy they've got a job”/”proud to represent France” and just shut up and deal with whatever is happening. Other people look at the situation and see that no, what is happening isn’t normal, and the players shouldn’t have to stand for management that’s trying to deflect criticism away from their ineptitude and onto the players. Domenech failed in 2008 saying it was to prepare 2010. He hasn’t prepared anything. How convenient that just as the tournament starts (with its predictable poor results) there is suddenly an issue about players not wanting to play with each other, select information is leaked to paint certain players in bad light, and how the players should be “playing better”… And suddenly all the heat’s off those people that kept Domenech in place, because now they can spin around and say “but we made the right choice! Look at those two decent matches in two years! If we failed at the world cup, it’s because of the players! “

I’m not happy with everything the players did, and there are points where they over-reacted and IMO didn’t act as professionals. But they didn’t make any bigger mess than the EdF has been since 2006 and Zidane left, except this time someone decided to make them the fall guys, since the “Fusible Domench” was already burnt after 2008.

no player should ever speak to his coach like that? spoken like someone who has never played sport.

Hey Shazback, interesting take on it.

You wrote:
“Seriously, some people here seem to be diving off the deep end.

I don't think it's a big point what Anelka said in the dressing room to Domenech. Seriously. How many times have players gotten into fights with their managers?”

As we all know, it happens all the time. The coach usually deals with it, or the player quits, or someone intervenes to keep it from escalating.

Let me give you one example: At Marseille earlier this year Didier Deschamps handled the Ben Arfa meltdowns pretty well. He sat him on the bench the first couple times, and offered to sell him in the transfer window. Hatem started to behave for a bit, finally, before kicking Benfica and Lorient players. Of course he reverted to his usual infantile self later in the season, but for a while he was okay due to the disciplinary actions of the coach. In club football, the team might have a cushion to recover from adversity, and a skilled and respected manager can smooth out problems before they get out of hand.

In the World Cup it's different. Only three matches in the group stage to try to advance. If John Terry decided to start a “French-style” mutiny like he suggested, instead of deciding against it and apologizing to Capello, it could have easily gone bad for England.

Les Bleus needed that last match. It was winnable. It wasn't impossible. France could still be playing in the World Cup now if they pulled it together. Instead all they did was send the message that everyone already knew: “Domenech isn't a great coach, and the FFF is ridiculous”. Well guess what? We already knew that. Domenech was already kind of fired before the tournament even started.

Now that it's reported that Lloris, Gourcuff, and Sagna approached the coach telling him that it wasn't “all the players, without exception”… that a lot of players WANTED to train, that WANTED to practice, and believed in the team winning against South Africa.

Malouda has finally come full circle and apologized on behalf of the players, trying to accept full responsibility for divisive strike that backfired on the ringleaders, killed the teams chances for some unity for the South Africa match, and the final implosion. I'll give him credit for that…

Maradona and Riquelme agreed BEFORE the tournament that they couldn't work together, and Riquelme at least had the decency to say, “well, if Maradona's there, I'll be cheering on Argentina from home, watching them on TV”…

There are ways to handling things.

These guys are not poor oppressed workers fighting for human wages or fair treatment in the office.

These guys play football for a living. It's a sport, and a business in the club level. They're expected to perform and act like professionals. Some of them don't, as we, all know. Dom was weak and couldn't manage the team. The FFF is certainly to blame for keeping him around, but I will not excuse the players for their actions on and off the field.

But a lot the players are hanging their heads in shame for a reason… Be prepared to see more apologies in the coming days as they realize what they've done. I don't expect much from Evra, as he's going to issue a standard “I'm sorry, BUT…” and point the finger at everyone else but himself.

Captains have to accept responsibility for the good and the bad and lead the team to unity. It's quite clear that he wasn't up to it, and is still defiantly defending his position.

Blanc at least as the opportunity to start with a clean slate, and no meaningful competitive games for two years. I wouldn't even blame him if he skips the Euro as long as the squad has some sense hammered into them.

There will be low expectations, what the country will want is a steady ship for a while. So he could well drop all the divas from the squad, and start with home-grown, sensible players, and add the 'talent' later on.

We won the world cup with a great team spirit, committed players, and good tactics (and no striker worth a damn!). Desailly, Blanc, Petit, Deschamp, Thuram, Lizarazu, Viera, Zidane. The kind of players any squad and manager can rely on.

Not sure which games you've been watching but Anelka has been playing crap for France for a long time. He hasn't had one shot on goal in almost 400 minutes. Malouda, yes, was playing well.

Justin, re Evra – I'm a gooner so my opinion on him has always been biased. Never liked him because of his arrogant insults toward our players, even tho I often felt he was right. But I think it's classless to publicly insult one's opponents and Evra has done it repeatedly against the gunners. Another thing is his history with Sagna, who has good reason to despise Evra but has never raised any complaints and tried to get along with him. When Sagna was at Auxerre and Evra at Monaco, Evra almost destroyed Sagna's career with a very deliberate, horrible tackle. Sagna was out for almost a year. To this day Sagna's father refuses to even speak Evra's name – he won't speak to him at all. Evra never apologized.

“In the World Cup it's different. Only three matches in the group stage to try to advance.”

You seem to be mis-understanding personality compatibility problems on a deep level (which should have been resolved during the qualifiers, barring a last-minute inclusion of a player in a starting role who doesn't get on well with anybody) and a flare-up at half-time of an important match. I'm pretty sure Gattuso (or any other player) has had verbal flame-ups at half-time of important matches when he disagrees with what the manager is saying. That shouldn't stop that player from after the match cooling down, and the manager should still be able to count on him to perform. I wouldn't be surprised if it was often the best manager-player duos that had the most flare-ups, because they know they can speak what's on their heart without fear. (Incidentally, So Foot a few months ago had a great one about Romario who was talking about managers and he said the manager he had the most respect for was the one who hit him for not playing well… And that ever since then he always gave 100% for him.)

Anelka's flare-up should not have left the dressing room. If Domenech can't take the heat, he shouldn't be managing a team in the WC finals. The “media” had no reason to know of what was said beyond the usual sensationalist bull. It's not the same thing as what happened between Riquelme and Maradona (where they had a real breakdown), here it's just a press-built bit of hype. If this story hadn't come out, Anelka would have been benched for the second half… And that's it. No strike, no asking players what they think about what Anelka said, nothing. Domenech could have fielded the team he felt was best suited to beating South Africa in the last match, in the best condition possible. Anelka might not have been in the quad. So what? Dhorasoo wasn't in the squad for the last group match in 2006, and didn't play any part in the knockouts. Nobody came out with great headlines about how Zidane and Co. had “taken over the team” until a good few weeks after the final. Anelka would have just been dropped and L'Equipe and FF would have guessed it's because of his performances. End of story.

Next people are going to say that Domenech dropping the “ringleaders” is like Jacquet dropping Papin, Ginola and Cantona. Except in one case Jacquet built his squad and decided that he'd prefer less skilled but calmer players, and felt that the team wouldn't be able to find balance with both Zidane and these players, whilst in the other case Domenech didn't make a choice (he didn't choose to leave Anelka, Evra and Ribéry at home, and the squad he built visibly didn't have any kind of unity).

In my eyes, the root of the problems that happened here are Domenech and the media/leak. Domenech should have done his job as a manager and spent the previous 4 years (since 2008 was to “prepare 2010″) actually shaping a team, not just bringing together some people he read of in the newspaper a few weeks before. The media/leak had no reason to disclose what Anelka said, and even less reason to throw rumors around like crazy and not judge them with the distance that should be expected of “specialists” (Evra doesn't talk much to Gourcuff? CRAZY! Next thing you know, you'll get Guivarc'h admitting that Zidane preferred to talk to some people more than him, so they didn't speak much! Incredible! Or is it just somewhat normal that in a group of 23 people+staff, people don't speak equally to everybody? When I was in school, I didn't have any difficulty working or playing with people that I barely spoke to, so I doubt Evra not speaking much to Gourcuff reveals some kind of deep open sore in the EdF…).

“Instead all they did was send the message that everyone already knew: “Domenech isn't a great coach, and the FFF is ridiculous”. “

They also sent a message saying that expulsing a player because he won't make public excuses regarding something he is alleged to (and claims to not) have said is ridiculous. Which it is. That Domenech is ridiculous was also well known.

You seem to be missing the larger picture though. Le Graet and Escallettes have said they won't step down though, because it's not their fault that France was pitiful for a second competition in a row, but the players'. Cue them replacing Domenech with another spineless lackey and having the problem start all over again. They should be taking as much (if not more) flak than the players for the catastrophic tournament. They were the ones that kept Domenech in the hot seat after 2008, and they were the ones that lent credence to l'Equipe/FF's rag/leak and ejected Anelka. If Marca broke a story tomorrow about a player or staff of the Spanish NT making a similar remark, would the Spanish FA go about getting rid of that player in such a manner? I think not. If the English FA did that, there wouldn't be any players left, since the Sun seems to be able to pull out a list of silly things every player who has ever looked at a football has said.

The players could have been more subtle, more clear about their complaints and I would have encouraged them to still train. But some people are acting like Evra, Ribery and Anelka just woke up one day and decided they wanted to be the bosses, insulted Domenech, and when one of them got their “come-uppance”, the other two just sulked and pouted. Which isn't the case. This situation has been looming for God knows how many months if not years. Bad luck it broke during the World Cup. I guess Anelka was more fired-up over losing in the WC than he was during qualifiers, and that Ribéry-Evra-Gallas-Abidal-Henry-Malouda-(add others) decided that whilst during the qualifiers they could let Domenech “work” on his system to make it click, half-way through the WC group stages, you need to actually get it working straight away, even if it means slashing some important players to favor others.

“[...]trying to accept full responsibility for divisive strike that backfired on the ringleaders[...]“

Yes, they were so close to qualifying. Then out of the blue, the “ringleaders” decided that they didn't want to get to the next stage of the competition and they wanted to go on holiday. If there was a way to roll my eyes any more without them leaving my sockets, I'd be doing it. How did we do in 2008 already? Damn those ringleaders!

The “divisive strike” happened when France had drawn the 1st match in pathetic style, been outplayed and outclassed in the 2nd match, and would have needed a hefty win and a bit of luck from the Uruguay-Mexico match to get through. Barring a Uruguay-Mexico win, France would have needed to score as many goals as the loser of that match, and four others, on top of however many goals South Africa scored. With the Uruguay 1-0 Mexico win, that would have meant 4-0 or 5-1, etc. See, it was -that- close! I mean, France scored 5 against the Faroe Islands in the qualifiers, no?

“Now that it's reported that Lloris, Gourcuff, and Sagna approached the coach telling him that it wasn't “all the players, without exception”… that a lot of players WANTED to train, that WANTED to practice, and believed in the team winning against South Africa.”

Colour me surprised. But they had their legs broken or something by Evra and Ribéry, right? Perhaps they can press RICO charges!

Let's see what other people had to say about the “bus incident” : “[L'Equipe] -Tous les joueurs étaient-ils vraiment d'accord avec cette décision de boycotter l'entraînement ? [Abidal] -Dans le bus, le capitaine a dit que s'il y en avait qui voulaient descendre, il n'était pas trop tard. Tout le monde pouvait le faire, mais personne n'est descendu. Je considère donc que tout le monde y était favorable. C'est juste malheureux que ça soit arrivé deux jours avant un match important.”

We'll wait for the rest, but unless Abidal is some kind of blatant liar, they weren't holding them hostage in the bus. The Nouvel Obs says they almost had a fight in the bus, the Parisien says they just taunted each other verbally, the Charante Libre says they just talked… What's the common point between those three? They weren't there and they don't know. So until Sagna/Gourcuff/Lloris/Toulalan/Cie. come out and say they were held hostage or intimidated not to leave the bus, I'll just trust what is said by those that -were- there over those that weren't.

All in all, there certainly are things that the players should be criticized for. Going on strike was probably not the right thing to do, just reading the letter would have been enough. Perhaps some players were too confrontational with the staff and Domenech, and ultimately didn't help build team spirit like Zidane had managed in 2006. Certainly there was a certain lack of professionalism and players who couldn't “hold it in” long enough to get through the competition. But these things are IMO often effects, symptoms or were amplified because of how the FFF have acted since 2006 and the media did in the lead-up and group stage of the competition. Domenech didn't build a team and completely failed at his job as manager. By the time the “strike” started, France were pretty much already eliminated and the lack of ideas and complementarities within the team had been simmering for so long that under the intense pressure of the World Cup, the seclusion and everything else that it brings, things broke. After regularly overhyping and then crucifying France since 2008, (”Gourcuff is the new Zidane!” “Terrible team draws with Serbia and Romania!” “Brilliant team destroys Faroe Islands and Austria to almost qualify first!” “Discrace of the World against Ireland!” “The 4-3-3 is brilliant!” “The 4-3-3 is useless!”…), they continued to try to find “groups” in the team and overplay their importance, before the “leak” which was pretty useless except to help bring the team down. Add to that the FFF's over-reaction to the alleged things Anelka said and the politial importance of the whole thing (Rama Yade and Bachelot have been following this with waay to much interest and scope that is appropriate for what is ultimately just a game)… It's the whole thing that's sick and rotten, and some people are trying to use the fact that the players are “media personalities” to use them as the fall guys.

And yes, this post is way too long.

France were lucky to get into the World Cup Tournament. A blatant handball by Thierry Henry aided him to score against Ierland and secure them a spot in the World Cup.

Justice was finally served when they came unstuck against Bafana.

What a pathetic bunch of players who think they are bigger than the game. They should all be flushed down the toilet including the coach. Even “Headbutt” Zidane found the players behaviour appauling.

Those players were very fortunate that weren't born in China as they would be doing hard labour in some remote prison camp. Anelka and Evra would be facing a Firing Squad.

I feel sorry for the French football fans who spent thousands of Euros to support their team in a foreign country. I hope they got pelted with rotten eggs and tomatoes when they landed in Paris. Football made them otherwise the vast majority of them would have been street bums.

Jean Pierre Reeves

More like “spoken like someone who has never played football”. As far as I can ascertain, the majority of footballers have all the emotional maturity of a tick-borne disease.

shame to France full team and coach. France was good team ,,,but now become bad team??? yes they are.

shame

No matter what the player's problem is, vulgarity does not help and is absolutely unnecessary. With all these pretty words about football being the beautiful game, do we forget that players are employees and coaches are bosses? In any workplace, anywhere in the world, vulgarity gets employees fired.

Also, I don't believe we can know until Evra releases his statement, but it doesn't sound like the Gourcuff situation was simply a clashing of personalities. It sounds more like malicious intent to alienate one person from the rest of the group.

Finally, just because players making demands happens all the time doesn't mean that it's right. Especially when it oversteps the boundaries such as actually telling the coach which players to start. The players have their job description (which include passing the ball to the player who can further play) and the coach has his job description.

And, as they tell every employee who ever works anywhere: leave personal problems and feelings at the door. There is no space for it on the job. So, not passing the ball simply because you don't like someone is unprofessional and inexcusable.

Sorry if someone already said all these. I only read the main article and a few of the comments. PS- LaurieInSeattle, I love, love, love what you said about the USA team!

It is simply because Domenech is a petty, stupid, lousy manager that caused the whole team to implode…the rejection of SA's Manager's handshakes was clearly the lowest form of insult & pettiness that cements the fact of how fukup Domenech is…he should just drop dead and die…fricking piece of shit!!!

Both Henry and Abidal will talk tonight on French Tv in separate interviews about the Anelka affair. Toulalan said he'll talk too, but after his vacations.

Henry and Abidal will speak tonight on French TV (but in separate interveiws). They finally overtake evra, who promised the truth too.

Toulalan said he'll give his own version but later, after his vacations.

It's call Karma!! Good Riddance to the shame of the country, I never wanted us to go to the WC with the “handball” hanging over us like a nasty rotting cow shit cloud of stink that won't go away after a heavy rainy season.

Shame begets more shame.

yay thierry henry commented on france worldcupblog

The French coach behavior was extremely unprofessional and caught on camera for millions of people around the world to watch. This was unexcusable and a bad “good” example of lack of sportsmanship. I regret that my children had to see this. Perhaps his arrogance brought Les Blues down.