Football Update: Euro 2012 News- France versus Romania – Preview (Part 1)
Well it was a long and treacherous way to the start of a revival for the French football but it has to be admitted that the men in Blue are on their way. The French national team has returned to play in Paris with their 2-0 victory against Bosnia which will
prove to be the perfect morale boost for them.
After a terrible FIFA 2010 World Cup campaign in South Africa, fans hoped that the Euro 2012 will bear some sweet fruit for the nation but they were certainly disappointed in its build up.
In the tournament at South Africa, France fell into one of the worst kinds of jeopardy. It all started from the qualification matches when France barely made it to the World Cup and when it did, it did so controversially because of Thierry Henry’s hand ball
assist against Ireland resulting in their knock and Les Bleus’ qualification in the tournament.
France performed poorly in the Group stages and had to head back home without a single victory. Their first match was against Uruguay which ended in a goal less draw. Their 2nd encounter was against under dogs of the group Mexico and the Mexicans
certainly proved why they were given that title.
Mexico thwarted France 2-0 and but that was not the worst part of the match as it also featured a verbal brawl between French striker Nikols Anelka and the French coach Raymond Domenech.
The last match of France was against the dark horses, South Africa and Bafana Bafana totally stunned the men in Blue as they defeated them 2-1. With this, it certainly seemed that the swan song of France was not being sung by the majestic creature but by
the ugly duckling.
The situation worsened even more because before the last match (against South Africa) the French team boycotted a practice session set by their coach Domenech. The French captain Patrice Evra, got into a fight with the fitness trainer as he condemned the
coach for sending French striker Nikolas Anelka back home after Anelka insulted him during the Mexico match.
What proceeded from here was unchangeable even though all of the king’s horses and all of the king’s men tried to put back the shattered pieces of French dignity but what had been done was irreversible. Even the French President Nicolas Sarkozy tried to
intervene but the FIFA warned him to back off and let the French Football Federation (FFF) deal with the matter.
Therefore, the beloved men of France became the hated. It was hoped that the new manager Laurent Blanc will bring about the change as Domenech got sacked. Still the damage done to the team was deep and while players got sacked and detained from duty the
following matches weren’t met by victories either.
Right now Laurent Blanc is concentrating on a “quick results to improve and develop a good atmosphere around Les Bleus” as Malouda describes it. France has a new captain now and it is one that has been known to give quite open and blunt statements, Florent
Malouda.
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