FIFA World Cup 2010: Gallas comments about “Fiascos”
The FIFA World Cup 2010 which is taking place in South Africa has after all this drama, reached its final stages. And with only two matches left it is important to note that not even one of the finalists of the 2006 FIFA World Cup are featuring in the final match of this tournament.
William Gallas who was a part of the French squad which was knocked out of this World Cup in South Africa at the group stages after failing to win any of their matches, has laid the blame of the failure on the former French national team manager, Raymond Domenech. The French camp suffered with internal problems throughout their World Cup campaign, this destroyed their team chemistry and spirit which had a negative effect on their performances.
Gallas who played for France as a center back during their World Cup matches is one of the most senior players in the squad. He was also part of the 2006 French World Cup squad, which almost won the World Cup final against Italy, only to lose on penalty shoot-outs.
There was also a fight during the tournament between star striker Nicolas Anelka and the French manager Domenech. As a result of this confrontation Anelka was suspended from the squad and sent back to France. The French players went on a strike because of this action, which was taken by the French Football Federation and as a result they refused to show up for training before their second last match against Mexico.
The 1998 World Cup winners had a star studded squad but were unable to perform to the best of their abilities; William Gallas told L'Equipe (a magazine) that reasons for fiascos taking place should be looked into as they are all probably a result of the mistakes of Domenech, the French national team manager.
He also said that one can have all the best players on a single team, but the team in question will not perform until there is a good manager guiding them. France who won their first World Cup final in 1998 after defeating Brazil in the final by three goals to nil, all of the three goals were scoring by their legendary midfielder Zinedine Zidane.
France have exited two of the three World Cups in this decade at the group stages. In 2002, France suffered a humiliating defeat to Senegal in their first match and went out of the tournament without participating in the knockout stages. In 2006 they made it till the finals of the tournament but in 2010 they have again failed to make it past the group stages.
Gallas also stated that the real problem in the French camp was their coach. He went onto elaborate that the players were not good either but the biggest problem in the French camp was their manager. Many of the French players have come out and said that the manager was completely weird in his training techniques and first team selections. They have also expressed their disappointment with his man-management style or the apparent lack of it altogether.
William Gallas also remarked that there was a communication problem between the players and the manager. This was because Domenech was not open towards the French players; the 32 year old defender said that this is why he also couldn't communicate effectively with the manager.
Gallas also said that Domenech told the French players again and again to put their egos aside, but he mentioned that the manager forgot to do the same himself. This created a chaotic situation time and again inside the French training camp.
Gallas also expressed his displeasure regarding the way Domenech handled the decision to make Patrice Evra the French team captain. Gallas was expecting to be captain after Thierry Henry, the former French team captain, who was sadly limited to a substitute role.
He said that Domenech told him that he would not have been a good captain anyway and failed to give any reasons to support this statement.
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