Things are going from bad to worse for the French. Nicolas Anelka has been sent home by the French FA after getting into it with Raymond Domenech. France has looked poor during the World Cup, playing to a listless draw with Uruguay and losing 2-0 to Mexico. Their chances of advancing from the group stage are virtually nil. All Uruguay and Mexico need to do to advance is play to a draw. I would be surprised if the result is anything different. Even if El Tri or Uruguay win the game, France would need to win by a healthy margin (they are -2 in goal difference) over South Africa to secure passage to the round of 16.
You have to wonder if Raymond Domenech is wishing his star charts had told him to bring Karim Benzema along to South Africa. Now that Anelka is gone, who is going to provide the scoring? Domenech seems unwilling to play Henry, where was he in the loss to Mexico, and the rest of the forwards don't inspire much confidence. Benzema would have been the answer here if he were included in the squad. You just can't tell me he isn't one of the 23 best French players.
I wonder if the French are wishing they could get Laurent Blanc to take over starting with the game versus Bafana Bafana.
I would suggest reading this excellent post by Ben Lyttleton on how Domenech has ineptly led France to what appears to be abject failure.
No comments:
Post a Comment