France’s Laurent Blanc to Replace Entire Roster
Not only is there a new boss in France, but there will be a completely new football team. France's new coach Laurent Blanc has decided to drop all 23 players from the roster for the team’s next match as a collective punishment for the embarrassment the team brought to the nation in South Africa.
The French Football Federation (FFF) said that it had given Blanc the authority to do so.
France’s forgettable fiasco at the World Cup saw Les Bleus eliminated in the first round. The lowest point the team reached was when they refused to train in a protest against then-coach Raymond Domenech for sending off Chelsea striker Nicolas Anelka following an explosive tirade between the two.
France plays its next game in a friendly against Norway in Oslo on August 11th. Blanc is expected to announce his roster on August 5th.
The team had been heading for disaster ever since they finished runners-up in the 2006 World Cup. They failed to win a game at the 2008 Euro Cup and then barely qualified for South Africa this year, and that was in part due to Thierry Henry’s handball against Ireland, which led to the clinching goal that sent France to the World Cup.
The team officially hit rock-bottom at the finals, once again failing to win a game.
It was a chaotic World Cup as Anelka went on a tirade against Domenech following a 2-0 loss to Mexico, which led to the striker’s dismissal.
That led to the infamous protest the next day, as captain Patrice Evra had a lively altercation with the team's fitness coach that was captured on TV.
These events caused an outcry in France as everyone from citizens, to the government, to President Nicolas Sarkozy, criticized the team’s behavior and the leadership of coach Domenech.
France goalkeeper Hugo Lloris claimed that the squad’s actions were "totally stupid" for going on strike in the midst of the World Cup and is desperate to "restore the image" that was tainted so badly in this year’s tournament.
"Going on strike was the decision of a group that felt isolated, that felt no one had protected it, and that wanted to get a message across," Lloris said on Friday in an interview with sports daily L'Equipe. "We went way too far. It was a clumsy decision, a big mistake. It was totally stupid."
Former France defender Lilian Thuram, now a French Football Federation council member, has called for some players, including Captain Patrice Evra, to never play for the national team again following their actions.
"We acted more like a team in the bus than on the pitch," the 23 year-old Lloris said.
"We all want to restore the image of Les Bleus. I'm not asking for us to win everything, just that we all make an effort, that we give everything," he added. "We need to get back to basics, respect for the jersey, for ourselves, our teammates and the institution that is the France team."
Lloris did not blame the coach entirely for the team’s struggles in recent memory, but did admit that the team performed poorly under Domenech in the past couple of years.
Lloris, who has 14 international appearances and is expected to stay the No. 1 goalkeeper, says that the entire team has the obligation "to make sure what happened in South Africa never happens again, that we don't self-destruct in that way ever again."
France’s rebuilding back to the top and restoring the team’s image starts right now. You have to think that the team has nowhere to go but up from here on in. The team now has a chance at a fresh start. Can they do it? Let's just wait and see what unfolds under the new leadership of Blanc.
Tags: