A French Defeat
A French Defeat
By Matthieu Labaudiniere
Today on the island of Réunion, a former French colony, the home team of France played China in an international friendly. Embarrassingly, les bleus lost 1-0 to the FIFA ranked 84th team in the world. Just like with Tunisia, the French dominated possession, had more shots, but lacked finishing skills. They were beaten on a free kick in the second half that skewed way of normal course. Either way, this game was set in place to be a morale boost for the French side, but fell far short. With their first game against Uruguay in a week, will this team be able to compete in the finals? We will have to wait and see.
Here is what I see. A lot of people have been blaming Domenech, the head coach, since around 2006, even when France got to the final. This is because the average French citizen sees the success in Germany to be due to the amazing leadership of their hero Zizou, and not the coach who almost eliminated them in the group stages that year. A Euro 2008 that netted 0 goals called more criticism to the coach, and there was no Zidane to save them now. And now, barely qualifying for the finals, the French seem once again, like in 2006, grossly unprepared for the competition.
