FIFA 2010 World Cup Report: French team’s dilemma, Laurent Blanc as new coach!
The position as the coach of France might make the occupant of that post the most beloved man in France but it can also make him the most despised as the former coach Raymond Domenech certainly proved that theory.
It had been long since decided that this would be the end of Domenech as coach but never could one imagine that Domenech’s swansong could be this ugly. The team came up as one of the favourites in the tournament but their performance made fans rethink hard of what they were expecting from the team.
The French team entered the tournament already being marred by media over the poor choice of squad by Domenech and the s*x scandals and injuries the Les Bleus players were facing. Karim Benzema, Samir Nasri and Patrick Vieira; all were excluded from the squad along with some other important players.
While there were injuries of some kind with a large part of the players, they did not help themselves by keeping alive the traditions of the s*x scandals. Benzema and Frank Ribery both were accused of having s*x with an underage call girl.
The qualifying stages for the World Cup were not glorifying either. The last crucial win for France and the Republic of Ireland was met by a hand ball from Thierry Henry when he assisted in scoring a goal. The goal was given which ruled Ireland out of the World Cup. The goal became known as the “Hand of Frog” even though Henry later apologized a lot for the incident.
The journey in the final stages of the World Cup was extremely tarnished too. They drew their first match against Uruguay at 0-0 and in the second match were humiliated by Mexico with a 2-0 defeat. In the last match against South Africa in which they were supposed to win by a large margin was met by a shocker when they were out classed by the Bafana Bafana nation 2-1.
Sadly that was not the worst part of their journey in South Africa as profanity used from Nicolas Anelka towards Domenech in the match against Mexico led to his exile from the team and Domenech sent the player back home. If that was not enough the issue created a rift within the team and while the team fought between themselves, team captain, Patrice Evra got himself into a fight with the coach and was about to physically assault the fitness coach. The whole team ruled out the training that day in opposition to Domenech and later returned back home humiliated. The incident was so embarrassing internationally that the French President Nicolas Sarkozy had to involve himself in the dilemma but was stopped because of FIFA’s intervention.
Now the new coach Laurent Blanc will have a massive job at his hands to recover and reinstate France at its previous glory if not better. The French team were the finalists of the World Cup of 2006 in Germany and a lot was expected from them in this World Cup.
Blanc was part of the French squad that won the World Cup in 1998 and then the Euro Championship. The departing President of French Football Federation (FFF) Jean-Pierre Escalettes told that he had officially instated Blanc as the new coach and hoped that he will lead the team to a turn around and help them with their current condition.
The 44 year old Blanc has had to quit his job at Bordeaux to replace Domenech and has admitted that the turnaround everyone is expecting will not happen overnight. Domenech certainly proved that he had no control over his players and that will be one of the first things that Blanc will target.
While talking to media the 75 year old Escalettes told, “It is the good news of the morning. The France team will continue under the leadership of Laurent Blanc, who will have extreme pugnacious sporting project with the will to ‘win’ and in order to put the French team back on the rails in both a sporting and a moral point of view. It is imperative to take account of the mistakes of the past and ensure these do not repeat themselves”.
Blanc will also have a sidekick at his job, his right hand man at Bordeaux Jean-Louis Gasset. Blanc has played for a many great clubs and might be just the perfect man for the job. He has played for Manchester United, Marsellie and Inter Milan. Now that Escalettes has forwarded his resignation Blanc will have a lot of responsibility on his shoulders.
Blanc has 97 appearances for France and his contract for the coaching position was ready two years back from now. Blanc has also helped Bordeaux win the League Cup of 2009 and helped the club to two Champions Leagues.
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