France and Argentina out of form before Football World Cup 2010
Team France, who reached 2006 World Cup final, appears to have lost support and faith from its supporters for the upcoming tournament in Africa. The Les Bleus from France appear to be out of form and out of touch to provide any potent challenge against the better ranked teams; they are not even tipped by critics to qualify from the group stage.
France, who shocked the world when their ‘old’ team trounced Brazil, Spain and Portugal to qualify for the 2006 World Cup final in Germany, appears to have a bad case of pessimism ahead of their opening game.
And to make matters worse, France would be up against a confident Uruguay in their opening encounter. A recent poll in the French newspaper ‘Le Parisien’ shows that half of the French population believes that Les Bleus will not go beyond the quarter-final stage. It also shows that France won’t be surging on national enthusiasm in this year’s World Cup. Additionally, their poor form in the warm up matches has even shredded the support of its ardent supporters. Out of three matches played, France lost to China 1-0, drew with Tunisia 1-1 and won against Costa Rica by 2-1. The performances have received scathing criticism from a wide array of dismayed French football supporters. Even Marcel Desailly, the defensive stalwart of the 1998 World Cup winning team and captain of the 2002 World Cup team, has lost all faith in his team. In his article published in South Africa’s Sunday Times, he wrote, “While I hope for South Africa and France to get into second round, I think South Africa and Uruguay will make it”.
France is also haunted by the way it qualified for the World Cup. France barely qualified for South Africa on the basis of having more away goals against Ireland. The team reach Africa courtesy of a Thierry Henry controversial goal. Henry scored the goal with his hand which knocked Ireland out of contention. As the referee failed to spot the anomaly, he awarded the goal to the French team. Henry later admitted that he scored the goal with his hand but also alleged that he didn’t do it deliberately.
Currently, the only voice of optimism comes from Coach Raymond Domenech. Domenech who will be leaving Les Bleus after the World Cup said, “We just lacked the finishing touch”. Domenech is famous for his eccentric style and this statement is a typical illustration of that. But no one can deny the tactical knowledge of Domenech as he led France to the finals in Germany 2006 despite being pinned by critics earlier in the tournament. France does have relevant firepower in the form of Bayern Munich winger Frank Ribery and Chelsea striker Nicolas Anelka. But both players lack the central midfield creativity which they had in 2006 with Zidane and Mikelele supporting them.
On the other hand, Diego Maradona will be hoping to repeat his magic when he will lead Argentina in South Africa as a coach. Maradona’s Argentina will be facing a formidable challenge in the form of Nigeria, the 2002 semi-finalist South Korea and the 2004 European Champions Greece. Quite similarly to France, Argentina also struggled to qualify for the 2010 World Cup in South Africa. And if Argentina fails to hit a purple patch, then this group can be wide open. Maradona may be the greatest player to play football, but his credentials as a coach are under the scanner, especially after some dismal performances by Argentina in the World Cup qualifiers.
Maradona will get an early chance to prove himself at the World Cup when his team faces Nigeria on the second day of the competition. The game will be played at Ellis Park in Johannesburg. Maradona is also famous for his unconventional behaviour and somehow, the legend makes his way into the media spotlight. He showed his eccentric behaviour when he took the Argentinean team to Bolivia to play a qualifying game by flying too the country just two hours before the kick-off. Argentina lost that match 6-1 in a humiliating drubbing. Despite boasting of having the best players of the world in their squad such as Messi, Tevez and Higuain, it will be very difficult to predict Argentina’s performances in the upcoming World Cup. And that gives Nigeria, South Korea and Greece plenty of hope and enough space to finish in the top two and advance to the next round.
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