It won´t be easy, warns Domenech

December 5, 2009


France coach Raymond Domenech scoffed at suggestions that his side had drawn an easy group in the World Cup here on Friday.

The French will go up against hosts South Africa, Mexico and Uruguay next June and will be favourites to top the group.

But Domenech said there were pitfalls for his side.

“We have landed the hosts and that is never easy. We will be playing away from home,” he said.

“It will be the third match up in the group stages for us and there will be all to play for. It will not be easy

“It just isn’t as simple as that. Everyone will have us down as favourites, but I don’t know what they base that on. We will see how that stands when it is all over.

“The groups are well balanced and there is no real Group of Death this time. You can never be sure. We have seen so many surprises in the past.”

The French were fortunate to make it through to the World Cup finals, with Thierry Henry’s now notorious handball helping to haul his side past the qualification line in the playoff against Ireland in Paris last month.

Domenech as well has been the subject of constant criticism on the domestic front for his tactics and choice of players and there were further calls for him to be sacked after the Ireland game.

That will not be the case and Domenech, who took the French all the way to the World Cup final against Italy in Berlin four years ago, said he was eager to get going in South Africa.

“All the players are up for it,” he said. “It will be the first World Cup in Africa. The emotion, the atmosphere and all that represents and to play the hosts, that is something else. That gives me great satisfaction.”

Turning to the two Latin American sides, Domenech said that France had played both recently.

“That won’t be easy either. You think you are doing well against them, but they have this capacity to put you to sleep and they have players with technical skills well above the average.”

CAPE TOWN (AFP)

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Fiorentina win sends Liverpool crashing out

November 25, 2009


Fiorentina beat Lyon 1-0 to book their place in the Champions League knock-out stages with a game to spare and send 2005 winners Liverpool crashing out on Wednesday.

Peru winger Juan Vargas scored the only goal of the game from the penalty spot as the Italians moved to the head of the table.

They now lead Group E with 12 points from Lyon on 10 and Liverpool on seven, but the English team cannot overtake their French rivals due to an inferior head-to-head record.

For Fiorentina’s French goalkeeper Sebastien Frey, whose two fine saves at the death helped the Italians hold onto victory, this was a handy reminder to those back in his homeland of what he is capable of.

“I am French but I’m just so happy about this qualification, we were so motivated today, this is a huge emotion,” he said.

“We’ve grown, we’ve matured, we’ve changed a few players, however at home we’ve always managed to impose our game.

“Away from home all the other teams are very good but at home we’ve played exceptionally.

“It’s true that when I play French teams I do want to prove a point but I don’t think of it as an injustice (that France coach Raymond Domenech continues to overlook him), although it does hurt.”

With Adrian Mutu and Stevan Jovetic both unfit, Fiorentina coach Cesare Prandelli played Mario Santana behind his lone striker, a move that paid dividends early on.

Lyon’s goal miraculously stayed intact despite a stunning triple chance for Fiorentina in the 11th minute that saw them twice hit the post.

Vargas sent a cross over from the left that Santana took on his chest on the edge of the box with the French team’s centre-backs ball-watching.

He spun and hit a volley that came back off the post with Hugo Lloris well beaten but the France goalkeeper then reacted admirably to make a sprawling save to his right from Alberto Gilardino’s follow-up.

Vargas then took the resulting corner and Gilardino rose above former Juventus defender Jean-Alain Boumsong but his header hit the far post with Lloris again spectating.

It was a rare moment of action in the first period with the next significant passage of play resulting in the goal.

Marco Marchionni skipped behind full-back Aly Cissokho with the former Porto player clumsily bringing him down from behind in the box.

Vargas smashed the penalty high into the net with Lloris diving the wrong way.

Lyon came out with more purpose after the break and Miralem Pjanic had two chances, shooting wide from Bafetimbi Gomis’s lay-off and then firing over from a free-kick.

Around the hour mark, Fiorentina had two good chances of their own as Gilardino shot wide on the turn after he was played into the box and then Santana played Marchionni in only for Cissokho to come to the rescue with a perfectly-timed last ditch challenge.

And on 68 minutes Gilardino had a chance to wrap up victory as Lorenzo De Silvestri’s right-wing cross found him in the middle but his first time shot on the half-volley was off target.

Teenager Pjanic was proving Lyon’s best attacking option and a swerving, dipping free-kick almost flummoxed La Viola goalkeeper Sebastien Frey, who somehow scooped the ball away volleyball style.

By now it was clear that the hosts simply wanted to hold on to what they had and they almost paid for it three minutes from time as Frey had to get down low to beat out Jean II Makoun’s low shot.

Lyon kept pushing and Frey again saved from a fierce Lisandro Lopez strike from 12 yards in stoppage time – the Argentine failing to repeat his last gasp antics against Liverpool three weeks ago.

FLORENCE, Italy (AFP)

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Domenech ridicules bonus claims

November 24, 2009


France coach Raymond Domenech on Monday dismissed claims that he had received a bonus of 862,000 euros for successfully guiding the side to next year’s World Cup finals.

The combative 57-year-old – whose team reached the finals in controversial circumstances last Wednesday as Thierry Henry’s double handball set up the decisive goal in the 2-1 aggregate victory over the Republic of Ireland – told France Bleu that France Football’s claims over his bonus were way over the mark.

“The figure they cite is totally astounding,” said Domenech, who has never won over the French fans despite taking the team to the 2006 World Cup final.

“If it really was that, I would be as happy as anything.

“But it is way over the mark. I won’t even try and contradict the information because it is their usual editorial line. It is a lie. Money is not my motivation.

“If I was coach of a club, I would be earning 10-times the amount I am at the moment.

“It is not a question of money. It was Roger Lemerre (France coach from 1998-2002) who said that ‘We have one function, one real role, to be coach of France, that is enough’. I would do it for free, it is an honour to have such a post.”

Domenech said that football treated its best paid people with less respect than other sports.

“In tennis, one hears of this and that tournament with astonishing prizemoney. In motorsport the wages are astronomical. In golf, the more money one wins the more one is respected. In football it is the reverse.

“One is given the impression that those who make money in football are cheating.

“It is astonishing.”

PARIS (AFP)

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Eight out of 10 French give thumbs down to France team

November 23, 2009


France’s controversial qualification for the 2010 World Cup has hit a sour note with the French public, with over eight out of 10 people disapproving according to a poll televised on France 2.

France beat the Republic of Ireland 2-1 on aggregate over two legs of a qualifying playoff last Wednesday however a blatant double handball by French captain Thierry Henry proved decisive in the team going to the World Cup.

In an online poll in which 1003 people representative of the country’s demographics were asked on November 20 and 21 several questions about the qualification, eight out of 10 said the team’s qualification was “undeserved”.

Even worse, 88 percent of those polled said that Henry “was wrong” to have controlled the ball with his hand, which led to France scoring the goal that tied the game in extra time and gave them an aggregate victory.

France coach Raymond Domenech, whose job has been in the balance several times in the past two years, was also given short shrift. Seventy-one percent of people “interested in football” said Domenech should be relieved of his duties.

After his double handball Henry passed to William Gallas, who levelled the scores at 1-1 at the Stade de France on Wednesday, thus sending the Republic crashing out.

Henry admitted the blatant error, but stopped short of calling it cheating. He, and the rest of the French delegation, blamed the referee, Sweden’s Martin Hansson, for not spotting the infraction.

PARIS (AFP)

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Henry handball ends Irish World Cup hopes

November 19, 2009


A “saddened” Giovanni Trapattoni hit out at match officials but refused to blame Thierry Henry for the handball which helped France controversially dump the Republic of Ireland out of World Cup qualifying here on Wednesday.

Trapattoni’s Irish squad had forced the second leg of their playoff to extra time at the Stade de France after Robbie Keane’s 32nd minute opener levelled the tie after France’s 1-0 win in Dublin last Saturday.

But despite an overall dominant display by the visitors their hopes were crushed when defender William Gallas scored from close range in the eighth minute of the first extra-time period to level the scores and send France on their way to South Africa.

The decisive pass had come from Henry, who had blatantly handled the ball a fraction of a second earlier to the right of Shay Given’s goal as the Irish fought to clear the ball.

Immediate Irish protests were waved away by Swedish referee Martin Hansson, and after the match a relieved France coach Raymond Domenech would not get drawn on the issue.

Domenech’s “congratulations” to the spirited Irish team rung hollow as he said: “I haven’t had the benefit of seeing the replay, all I know is the referee gave the goal and we have qualified.”

Trapattoni directed his ire not at Henry but at the officials who he believes had the power to decide whether the goal was valid or not.

“I’m not only disappointed, I’m also saddened,” said Trapattoni, who after the second period of extra time went on to the park to talk to the referee.

“I told him that I’d known many Swedish players and I know the Swedish people, but that it’s possible you’ve made a great mistake.

“I think he should have at least consulted with the linesman.

“I don’t want to say it’s Henry’s fault. It’s all about the notion of fair play.

“But I’m sure if the referee had asked, Henry would have admitted it was a handball.”

Later, Henry did admit the handball mistake.

“Yes, I handled the ball but I’m not the referee,” said Henry.

It was a sad end to a promising night for the Irish, who to ran the 1998 World Cup winners over the park and had at least two good chances after Keane’s opener to score the second goal that would have virtually secured their qualification.

In the end, the first period of extra time — and an opportunity to turn their own fortunes around — ended Irish hopes of making it back to football’s biggest stage since their second round showing at the 2002 World Cup.

Domenech paid tribute to the visitors from the Emerald Isle but was unrepentant for Henry’s blatant handball or the referee’s mistake.

“I want to pay tribute to the Irish team and their fans, what they did over two matches – they gave us a lot of problems and I want to congratulate them,” added the Frenchman.

“I’m disappointed for them and their public. But bravo to them.

“Ireland really stepped up and forced us into a situation, and that meant we had to play them at their own game.

“I knew what Ireland were capable of. I knew that trailing by a goal they would come at us with everything they had. And that’s just what they did.”

When pressed, Domenech swerved deflty around the handball issue.

“Sometimes things that go around come around in football. Against Serbia (earlier in qualifying) we had our goalkeeper red carded for nothing and we were unlucky but didn’t go making a big meal of it.

“Football’s like that.

“We’ve qualified because we’ve achieved our objective. I’m happy to have qualified, the past two months we’ve been hanging on, been criticised and gone through a lot of tough times. Now, we’ve made it.

“My job is to qualify the France team, they’ve done the job on the pitch, they worked hard, they suffered and I just want to savour that if I can.”

PARIS (AFP)

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France, Portugal face WC play-off test of nerve

November 14, 2009


The prospect of a World Cup without Cristiano Ronaldo and Thierry Henry will move a step closer if Portugal and France come unstuck in the first leg of their World Cup play-offs on Saturday.

Having failed to secure automatic qualification for the South Africa showpiece, Portugal must overcome Bosnia-Herzegovina while France face a stern test against Giovanni Trapattoni’s rejuvenated Republic of Ireland.

Both France and Portugal, who lost to the French in the 2006 semi-finals, have been hampered by injury, with Les Bleus deprived of the services of Franck Ribery and Portugal missing talismanic captain Ronaldo.

France coach Raymond Domenech, apparently immune to the welter of public criticism which has rained down on him for much of his tenure, insists the French will go through.

“I know my men are ready,” said Domenech, whose side face Ireland in Dublin on Saturday prior to the return leg in Paris next Wednesday.

“Any pressure is internal. If the players don’t feel it inside then there’s something wrong and they have no place here.”

Yet even as Domenech seeks to throw a protective arm around his squad he himself has been squarely in the firing line, coming in for criticism from the Irish and his own countrymen alike.

Ireland defender Richard Dunne, whose side went unbeaten in qualifying only to be pipped to automatic qualification from Group Eight by reigning champions Italy, insists that with the likes of Henry and Nicolas Anelka on board, France should already be through.

“Every time a tournament comes round, France have all these world-class players and then a man who seems intent on messing them up,” Dunne told The Guardian newspaper.

“And we know that if we can get in front, they probably have not got the man at the top to pull them back around.”

Domenech took time out to attend the Paris Masters tennis tournament this week and was promptly booed by fans when cameras picked him out in the crowd.

And L’Equipe sports daily picked up on criticism by depicting the Irish team lined up behind Domenech beneath the headline, ‘Their luck is him!’

Former Irish star Liam Brady, now an assistant to Trapattoni, says the men in green fear nobody.

“The pressure is on them more so than us, but we are both playing for a place in the World Cup finals, so it’s enormous,” he said.

“But if we were to carry a lead to Paris, the pressure would pile on them.”

French forward Sidney Govou shrugged off the mind games regarding Domenech.

“They (the critics) just want to put the pressure on – but it’s not him who’ll be out there on the pitch.”

For Portugal’s Deco, meanwhile, the loss of Ronaldo must not be allowed to weigh too heavily on Carlos Queiroz’s side.

“We have enough quality to plug the gap – we can’t use his absence as an excuse. We know it won’t be easy but we are confident,” the Chelsea midfielder insisted.

As France and Portugal seek redemption in the form of tickets to South Africa, 2004 European champions Greece also face a fight as they go up against Ukraine, who edged Croatia out of the runners-up spot in England’s group.

The inconsistent Greeks lost out in their group to Switzerland and have the perceived disadvantage of playing the second leg away.

Guus Hiddink’s Russia, who were unable to overhaul Germany in their group, host Slovenia.

“We should never underestimate Slovenia on any account,” Hiddink warned his Euro 2008 semi-finalists.

Outside Europe, New Zealand, who appeared in the 1982 finals, take on would-be debutants Bahrain in Wellington following a goalless draw in Manama in the opening leg, while Costa Rica meet Uruguay in San Jose on Sunday.

PARIS (AFP)

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I´d have killed myself if I listened to critics: Domenech

November 14, 2009


Under-pressure France coach Raymond Domenech insisted Friday that if he took his growing army of critics seriously, he would have killed himself by now.

The controversial coach could find himself out of work by Wednesday night if France, the 1998 world champions, fail to beat Ireland in a two-legged play-off and miss out on the 2010 World Cup finals.

Runners-up just three years ago, France missed out on automatic qualification to Serbia, a failure which only added fuel to the fire.

“People can say what they want, when they want. I stopped listening to them a long time ago, otherwise I would have committed suicide,” said Domenech on Friday, the eve of their first leg tie with the Irish at Croke Park.

The French coach was in tetchy mood as he faced the media after arriving in heavy rain in Dublin.

As well as questions over his relationship with his players, he has heard pleas from Lyon coach Claude Puel for star midfielder Jeremy Toulalan to be rested.

“I have other worries. We have 24 players who must prepare the best. The French team is more important than the preoccupations of other people,” said the coach who wouldn’t discuss the importance of grabbing an away goal.

“The important thing is to qualify.”

DUBLIN (AFP)

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Dunne: Domenech ‘messes up’ the French team

November 11, 2009


Republic of Ireland defender Richard Dunne launched an attack on France coach Raymond Domenech. The Aston Villa defender doesn’t understand why Domenech ’s still at the helm of the French national team. Next Saturday, both countries will start their battle for a World Cup 2010 ticket. Dunne decided to start the mind games ahead of the first of two make-or-break games.

“Every time a tournament comes round, they have all these world-class players and then a man who seems intent on messing them up,” Dunne told The Guardian. “Over the last World Cups and European Championships, things have not run smoothly for France. Domenech’s management could be a weakness or it could be a big smokescreen.”

Domenech’s often odd behaviour – not least when he famously proposed to his girlfriend on national television after a France defeat – and his poor record mean he is far from popular at home.

That was borne out this week when he took his players to the Paris Masters tennis tournament, and was booed by the crowd once recognised.

“You can see the reaction of the people at the tennis, when they put his face on the big screen,” Dunne added. “The whole place just booed him and his own players laughed at him.”

Ireland and France lock horns in Dublin before the teams meet in Paris on Wednesday.

“We know that if we can get in front, they probably have not got the man at the top to pull them back around,” Dunne explained.

“Over the last World Cups and European Championships, they were always lucky and got through. Maybe it’s time that we put a stop to that.”

Paul Haring

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Domenech hints at Trezeguet olive branch

October 13, 2009


France coach Raymond Domenech on Tuesday welcomed Juventus striker David Trezeguet’s comments about wanting to return to the national set-up.

Trezeguet, 31, announced his retirement from international football after being left out of Domenech’s squad for the 2008 European Championship, but recently said he would like to be involved in November’s World Cup play-off matches.

“I like it when players say that they want to play, to hear that players need the French team and want to play for it,” Domenech said.

“It’s healthy, it’s good.”

France face Austria here on Wednesday in their final group seven qualifying match, having already secured a place in the play-offs behind group leaders and automatic qualifiers Serbia.

The 1998 World Cup winners have flattered to deceive during their qualifying campaign, with goals in particularly short supply, and captain Thierry Henry also declared himself pleased at the prospect of Trezeguet’s return.

“It’s good,” said Henry, a former team-mate of Trezeguet’s at Monaco.

“David was injured last year. David is David. You could put him in any team at the age of 60 and if there were any chances they would fall to him.

“He’s extraordinary, but at the end of the day it’s down to the coach. It’s great to hear that though.”

In an interview with French sport daily L’Equipe published on Tuesday, Trezeguet said that he was still available for selection.

“I’ve not turned my back on the French team,” he said.

“I’m always available during this difficult time.”

Speaking after France’s group-stage exit at Euro 2008 last year, Trezeguet laid the blame for his retirement firmly at Domenech’s door, saying: “The disappointing Euro and the backing shown to the coach have forced me to take this irreversible decision.”

PARIS (AFP)

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France to honour slain fan at Faroes match

October 10, 2009


Raymond Domenech revealed on Friday that there will be a minute’s silence in memory of Toulouse fan Brice Taton ahead of France’s World Cup qualifying match with the Faroe Islands.

Taton died at the end of September after being attacked by thugs prior to Toulouse’s Europa League match at Serbian side Partizan Belgrade.

“We’ll do a minute’s silence in his memory and in the memory of everyone who’s been the victim of this kind of thing,” said France coach Domenech, whose team face the Faroe Islands in Guingamp on Saturday.

“We find it unbelievably stupid that someone should die like that for a football match.”

World football governing body FIFA have threatened to dock World Cup qualifying points from Serbia if their supporters are found to have engaged in further hooligan activity.

“Sometimes warnings are useless,” Domenech said.

PERROS-GUIREC, France (AFP)

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