Cantona slams Domenech and Henry

November 21, 2009

Former French international Eric Cantona launched a stinging attack on national coach Raymond Domenech on Friday following France’s controversial qualification for the 2010 World Cup.

“I think that Raymond Domenech is the worst coach in French football since Louis XVI,” Cantona told reporters at a press conference ahead of a beach soccer tournament due to take place here from November 27-28.

French king Louis XVI was executed by French revolutionaries in 1793 and is commonly depicted as an indecisive, dithering monarch.

“If it was up to me, I’d put (Bordeaux coach) Laurent Blanc in charge of the France team,” the former Manchester United hero continued.

“He continues the season with Bordeaux, he wins the league with Bordeaux and he wins the World Cup! I’m not the only one who thinks that…”

Cantona, who today is an actor and coach of France’s beach soccer team, also criticised the attitude of Thierry Henry, whose handball set up France’s winning goal in their 2-1 aggregate play-off victory over the Republic of Ireland.

“What shocked me most wasn’t the handball, honestly,” said Cantona.

“What shocked me most was that at the end of the match, in front of the television cameras, this player (Henry) went and sat down next to an Irish player to console him, even though he’d screwed them three minutes earlier.

“If I’d been Irish, he wouldn’t have lasted three seconds.”

MARSEILLE, France (AFP)

Tags: beach soccer, eric cantona, french football, french international, french king, french revolutionaries, international eric, irish player, king louis xvi, laurent blanc, manchester united, national coach, raymond domenech, republic of ireland, soccer team, soccer tournament, stinging attack, television cameras, thierry henry

Allardyce trashes Trapattoni over Reid claims

October 23, 2009

Blackburn manager Sam Allardyce has launched a stinging attack on Republic of Ireland coach Giovanni Trapattoni after the Italian claimed Rovers midfielder Steven Reid would never fully recover from a knee injury.

Ireland international Reid, 28, has made just two appearances in nearly a year due to a serious knee problem and his comeback has also been hit by an Achilles tendon injury.

Trapattoni recently insisted Reid would find it “very, very difficult” to reach peak form again after such a long time on the sidelines.

But Allardyce is furious with those claims and has demanded an apology from both Football Association of Ireland and Trapattoni himself.

“It’s disgraceful, completely out of order,” Allardyce said on Friday. “He’s not talking correctly in terms of Steven’s injury. What he is saying is completely untrue and something he should apologise for.

“He has undermined us as a football club, undermined Steven as a player and he has really been very, very naughty in what he has said.

“He should make a public apology and hopefully that will be the end of it.

“Steven has had a long haul and he’s trying to resurrect his career and secure a new contract. He also wants to go and play for his country as he has done many, many times and given his all on every occasion.

“There’s no player more honest than Steven and to be dealt that sort of a blow at this stage, when he’s not feeling the best, trying to come back from a big injury and picking up another little niggle, is very, very disrespectful to say the least. It’s disgusting.

“I think his association should bring him to task. I think we as a football club should bring him to task and make him justify what he has said, but the thing is he can’t.

“I’ve never spoken to him and after what he’s said I don’t want to. Steven’s had a very difficult time and the last thing he needed was to sit down and read his international manager trying to write him off.”

BLACKBURN, England (AFP)