Laurent Blanc still looking for a win, Benzema might play for France - Part 2
All this has forced the new coach of France, Laurent Blanc to recall Karim Benzema who was omitted by former coach Raymond Domenech. Critics have stated that the omission of Benzema from the squad was more on a personal basis rather than professional.
Benzema has featured France in 28 matches and scored 8 times for them. For Real Madrid he has capped 28 times and scored 9 goals. The player is considered to be the next Zinedine Zidane but after a promising start he has disappointed many of his fans.
Prior to the World Cup in South Africa he was omitted from the squad; many believe it was because of his scandal with a call girl.
Still his inclusion in the team probably would not have mattered much, as matter of fact Benzema would later have even found himself praying after the trouble and jeopardy Les Bleus went into and following the World Cup.
France drew their first match with Uruguay and then got humiliated by Mexico in a 2-0 thrashing. In their last encounter with South Africa they were supposed to win by a margin of 4 but fate had other plans as South Africa came out victorious 2-1.
Ashamed, the finalists of the 2006 World Cup went back home after being knocked out from the group stages but that was not their sad little swan song. In fact their swan song could have been sung by the ugly duckling because it really was that ugly.
In the match against Mexico, forward Nicolas Anelka and Coach Domenech got into a heated argument that led to use of profanity. This forced Domenech to send Anelka back home.
Next day before the match of South Africa, French team’s captain Patrice Evra started a row with the coach and was even about enter into a physical confrontation with the physical trainee.
The French team rallied behind a few prominent players and boycotted the practice session thus presenting their own version of the “French Mutiny”.
Their actions were later questioned by the government but they withdrew because of FIFA’s warning to let the French Football Federation take control of the matter.
After the French team caused this dilemma, their return back home was welcomed by the French President Nicolas Sarkozy, who happened to be waiting for them with an open file about inquiries into the team’s poor performance.
He prioritized meetings with all major players in the squad and on top of the list was French legend, Thierry Henry. However his plans were soon rebuked as FIFA told him to back off and let the professionals deal with the job. FIFA states that no government body can interact with the football governing body of a nation if that country is part of FIFA.
The inquiry is still going but the fans were hoping a change as the infamous Domenech was replaced by Laurent Blanc. It was being hoped that he would bring a change in French footballing but his first competitive game resulted in ghastly slump.
Now Blanc has told that Benzema is fit to play and therefore he might just add him into the next match against Bosnia. Blanc will have to increase the morale of the team though as they all face demoralization even after the World Cup where they were humiliated by mediocre teams.
Blanc does seem on the right track but he still needs to find his footing for his base where he can root France’s rejuvenation.
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