EURO 2012 Qualification: France, hoping for a bright future ahead
One of the most maligned and criticized international football team in the past six months i.e. the French national team won their Tuesday’s European Championship qualification match against Bosnia Herzegovina. Bosnia were totally outplayed by the French, who were looking for to bounce back from their horror show against Belarus in the qualification opener in France.
French team has been through a torrid time recently. At the FIFA 2010 World Cup, French completely self-destructed and ended-up getting knocked out at the group stage after losing two of their three group stage matches at the competition in South Africa.
France were in a group which included the likes of Mexico, Uruguay and the hosts South Africa. Against Uruguay in their first match of the tournament, France failed to capitalize on the large amount of possession they had, thus only managed to draw the game. Their second match of the World Cup resulted in a loss for them, as they were outplayed by a rampant Mexican side. French team said farewell to the FIFA 2010 World Cup after losing their third and final match of the tournament to hosts South Africa.
Finalists in the FIFA 2006 World Cup which was held in Germany, France have disintegrated since Zinedine Zidane’s retirement from the French national team. Under Zidane, France made it to the finals of the 1998 World Cup, and then the 2006 World Cup. In 1998, France won the final match against Brazil and lifted the World Cup trophy as the hosts of the tournament. In 2006, Zidane was shown a red card in the final match of the FIFA World Cup, and France went onto lose the match on penalties to the Italian national team.
After such a wonderful performance in the 2006 FIFA World Cup, everyone expected the Les Blues to light the 2010 FIFA World Cup alight with their skilful displays but the egoistic members of the French squad for the World Cup completely destroyed the team morale, which resulted in weak performances by the French national team. Players such as Evra and Anelka were banned by the French football association after the World Cup ended, and are still serving their respective bans as the French attempt to re-gather their lost honour and dignity on the international football stage.
The new French manager, Laurent Blanc, who was appointed in-charge after the World Cup in place of the much condemned Raymond Domenech, spoke to the press after his team’s two-nil win over Bosnia Herzegovina. Blanc was under pressure after France had lost their first qualification match against Belarus by a goal to nil. The ex-Bordeaux manager told the press that this win against Bosnia will hopefully be a turning point for French football.
He went onto say that before the match, France were considering to settle for a draw but his player’s spirit and performance during the match got them the win against Bosnia. Blanc emphasized that the French team focused on limiting the connection between the Bosnian midfielder and attack. However, he was quick to say that his team used the ball very well and attacked at a high tempo. He praised Benzema by terming the Real Madrid striker as an important player for the French national team.
Benzema scored France’s first goal of the match and Blanc said that after his goal, the team became more confident and directed their efforts towards keeping a clean sheet. Scorer of France’s second goal, Florent Malouda told L’Equipe that France must build on their latest win and be ambitious so that they can achieve the top-spot in their qualification group.
French team’s right back Bacary Sagna, who plays for Arsenal in the English Premier League, also added to the good feel after the match by saying that he hopes that the win against Bosnia will be the first chapter of a good story for French football. He added that every person in the team did their defensive duty against Bosnia, which is why the France posed problems to the Bosnian national team. France plays its next qualification match on 9th October, 2010 against Romania at Stade de France in Saint-Denis.
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