France soccer dreams dashed in Euro 2008 tournament
June 18, 2008
It’s all over for Les Bleus of France, and if many French have it their way, for coach Raymond Domenech, too.
France entered the Euro 2008 Championship with coach Raymond Domenech predicting his team would beat Germany in the final. Instead, in an embarrassing showing, Les Bleus never even got past the first round. Italy qualified for the Euro 2008 quarterfinals with a 2-0 win over ten-man France, courtesy of an Andrea Pirlo penalty and a deflected Daniele De Rossi free-kick. The loss knocked France out of the tournament. With just one point gained from three games, France finished in the basement of Euro 2008’s so-called Group of Death, a point behind Romania, three behind Italy and eight behind the powerhouse Netherlands team in Zurich.
France needed a win against Italy to stay alive in the knockout round, but in the end, Italy repeated the trouncing of France it meted out in the 2006 World Cup final. While italy played well, luck was certainly not with France in the match, as close calls by referees went against France and then the team lost star player Franck Ribery to an Achilles injury only 10 minutes into the game.
But the lion’s share of blame for the poor showing of Les Bleus in Euro 2008 is being placed by most soccer fans in France and elsewhere squarely on the shoulders of the France team’s coach, Raymond Domenech. Many were outraged at Domenech’s poor squad selection, as the France coach left stars like David Trezeguet, Philippe Mexes, Gael Clichy, Bacary Sagna, Mathieu Flamini and Robert Pires, among others, sitting on the bench. Soccer experts even deny him any share of glory for France’s runner-up status in the 2006 World Cup, awarding credit for that to the leadership of players like Lilian Thuram, Patrick Vieira and the legendary Zinedine Zidane, who sat out this year’s Euro championship in international retirement.
The French soccer federation has apparently had enough, and will issue a formal decision on July 3 on whether Domenech will continue with the France team. If fans have it their way, he will be replaced, and Didier Deschamps is already poised to take his place.
Right after France’s loss knocked his team out of the running, Domenech continued to press his luck, proposing to his girlfriend, French TV announcer Estelle Denis. It is still not clear what her answer was.
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