Raymond Domenech was on Thursday retained as France coach despite French football supremo Jean-Pierre Escalettes admitting Les Bleus’ Euro 2008 campaign had been ‘a resounding failure’.
Domenech was summoned to appear before the French Football Federation’s (FFF) Federal Council in Paris on Thursday to explain the team’s group stage exit from the tournament in Austria and Switzerland.
And he clearly did a good job in convincing the panel as 18 of the 19 men who voted backed the 56-year-old to lead the team in the 2010 World Cup qualifiers which get under way in September.
On Euro 2008, FFF president Escalettes said: ‘It was a resounding failure, not very glorious.
‘It was bad on the sporting side and, maybe worse, it portrayed a terrible image of the French national team.’
He revealed Domenech had admitted to making ‘a series of errors’ while Escalettes spoke of ‘too much personal communication at disastrous moments’ and ‘a lack of transparency’ which was like ‘rubbing salt into the wound.’
He rationalised his decision to keep Domenech on, however, by insisting: ‘Domenech’s record is not that bad as coach. It is not catastrophic.
‘He qualified us for successive major competitions (the 2006 World Cup and the 2008 European Championships). I did not want emotion and passion to get the better of reason.
‘Raymond has asked for the support of the Federation and that the president is more involved.
‘There is only one mission; on the pitch and nothing but the pitch. He is going to talk about the French team and not the condition of his soul.’
No shit, Sherlock.
When Italy have since sacked their manager despite qualifying to the knockout stages…
When there’s available managers such as Deschamps who is ready to take over the reign..
When you decide to retain a manager whom decides the best way to cheer up a nation when their national team got knocked out of the Euro is to PROPOSE TO HIS GIRLFRIEND ON NATIONAL TELEVISION DURING THE POST-MATCH INTERVIEWS….
Yes, I’m still sore about being the only one being idiotic enough to bet on France winning Euro among my friend, and being the 1st to lose my bet.
As a kid, I’ve caught the afternoon reruns of Get Smart, starring Don Adams as Maxwell Smart. So obviously, there was some apprehension when the trailers came out, and I wondered “Gee, it looks good, but will it turn out like the original classic?”
Let’s just say it’s an ordinary movie that has a great cast. There’s no better actor currently to play Agent 86 than Steve Carrell himself.
Congrats to Spain for finally winning the big one in Euro 2008! Highest scoring team with 12 goals & top scorer David Villa with 4 goals, their 69-yr-old coach Luis Aragones can retire by bringing home the top prize in Europe football.
Now before you guys blasted the phone for being laggy, please try it with the latest ROM (1.37) instead. From what I’ve read, there’s even a newer ROM being shipped out in Europe right now, so hopefully in 2-3 weeks time, it’ll arrive in Asia & my phone can get another upgrade.
So far, my only complaint is the battery life (can only last at most 1 1/2 days), but as a newbie PDA user, it’s been a seamless transition for me, all thanks to kitten’s patient help.
2) Well, this isn’t exactly new, but I blame Westin for making me an addict.
I blame it on my lack of sleep with Topamax’s side effect that caused me to swallow 2 pieces of moldy cakes (with mushrooms as toppings) just before lunch.
As the doctor advised me to increase my level of acidity, a 1.5l bottle of coke is sitting beside my desk, which shall be part of my diet for the day.
My stomach is hurting a little, though the doc mentioned it could be due to the anxiety that was caused by my stupidity.
I guess this could ranked quite high in the “Stupidest Things Which KM Has Done”, though none could topple the Burning Pillow incident.
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