The Group A games are over and the first team dumped out of the tournament Tuesday is none other than 1998 champion and 2006 finalist France.
It’s been a tragicomedy of arguments, tantrums and woeful performances from Les Bleus, as they managed only one goal and one point in the group stages, a slight improvement on 2002 when they didn’t even score.
Personal clashes have been at the heart of France’s feeble performances – 0-0 against Uruguay, 0-2 against Mexico and 1-2 against hosts South Africa.
A central figure in the controversies has been coach Raymond Domenech. He somehow kept his job after a dismal performance saw France finish last in their group at Euro 2008. Before that, there were stories that when the team made it to the final last time, it was only after the more experienced players, led by legendary Zinedine Zidane, took matters into their own hands after struggling in the group phase.
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There were already whisperings of discontent in the blue camp when star attacking midfielder Florent Malouda was left on the bench for the first game after reportedly not taking well to being asked to play a more defensive role.
But that argument – and even the very public spat between England coach Fabio Capello and former captain John Terry – was a storm in a teacup compared with the monsoon that followed for the French.
Striker Nicholas Anelka apparently swore at Domenech at half-time during the limp defeat to Mexico, leading the French Football Federation (FFF) to exclude him from the squad and put him on the next plane back to Paris. The next day, captain Patrice Evra had a contretemps – refereed by Domenech – with fitness coach Robert Duverne, who stormed off before tossing down his accreditation badge.
Worse was to come as the French team refused to train, returning to the team bus before releasing a statement read, amazingly, by Domenech. They were upset that Anelka had been sent home, apparently after the FFF president got wind of the clash with Domenech via a French newspaper report.
As a result, the team’s managing director Jean-Louis Valentin quit, saying he was “sickened and disgusted.” Even the French Sports Minister Roselyne Bachelot called it a “catastrophe” and slated the players for “tarnishing the image of France.”
Evra was then dropped from the side that lost its final match Tuesday to South Africa, going 2-0 down and having a player sent off before final scoring a goal.
It’s a sad end to the tournament for a team with real star quality, which didn’t even flicker, never mind shine.
But the catalog of calamities must have elicited more than a little Schadenfreude among the players of the Republic of Ireland team, which missed out after the “Hand of Henry” denied them qualification.
