France fly home

It’s fair to say, that not many in France will be sad to see Raymond Domenech be replaced by Laurent Blanc, when the French return home from South Africa.

The French FA decided to announce Blanc as the next French head coach before the World Cup and many World Cup 2010 betting pundits thought that he should have been put in charge straight away.

The decision to leave Domenech at the helm for the World Cup will now be filed away under the ‘Not such a great idea’ section in French football history.

The French were pants on the pitch, in their three group games, two defeats and a draw means they finished bottom of Group A. All of this after being well up there with the Italy world cup betting odds before the tournament.

Off the pitch the French were even more embarrassing. Nicolas Anelka was sent home, after a half-time bust up with Domenech during the 2-0 defeat to Mexico.

This prompted the French squad refusing to train, in support of Anelka. This was after captain Patrice Evra and fitness coach Robert Duverne were seen squaring up to each other after a disagreement, Domenech was forced to separate the two

Domenech described the decision not to train as an aberration, labelling his players as imbeciles. Not a great morale boosting speech, days before France’s must win game against hosts South Africa. Evra, Eric Abidal, Flourent Malouda and Sidney Govou were left on the bench for the South Africa game. This strange tactical move didn’t pay off for Domenech and his team were played off the park by their African hosts, losing 2-1.

The French squad will now be preparing for an ten hour flight home, that promises to be a trifle tense. Upon their return they will say au revoir to Domenech as he leaves after six years in charge.

In those six years he has had mixed reviews from the French public. He will be heavily blamed for France’s early exit this year, the players must take their fair share of blame as well though. The rest of us can sit back and have a little chuckle.