They thought it was all over. Maybe it soon will be, but it ain't yet. Earlier in the week, three wise old men of French football (including the coach of the glorious team of 98) wrote an open letter to the French football federation suggesting that the match bans placed on the Knysna rebels be replaced with some sort of football community service - helping youth clubs, amateur teams, etc. An idea not without merit but rejected out of hand by the FFF, mindful of public opinion no doubt. Meanwhile Coach Laurent Blanc is quietly going about turning over a new leaf for the national team. Yesterday he selected a squad for the upcoming European championship qualifier that included only nine of the WC squad.
Elsewhere, others are less inclined to let sleeping dogs lie. The team doctor during the Domenech era has just published a book in which he describes the complete lack of authority the coach had over the team, dating from before the 2008 European championships. However, that's old news and what has made the headlines here are the comments he made about 'abnormal blood tests' amongst the 1998 heroes, particularly those who played their club football in Italy at the time. Tweak the tail of a sleeping tiger. A flurry of protest and denials followed. Just a means of selling his book of course. Which may be true. He's not exactly speaking from a position of authority - he only became team doctor in 2006.
Locally, things are looking up football-wise. Aulas finally got his man earlier this week, with the 22m Euro capture of the golden boy of French football, Yoann Gourcuff. The signing has been greeted with great enthusiasm by a Lyon public starved of consistent entertainment in recent years. 15000 fans turned up at the stadium to welcome the new arrival. The rest of the team were introduced as well, but that was almost by the by…
Meanwhile, it's the rentrée. Politically speaking. Schools don't go back for another week, but Sarko and co returned from their holidays earlier in the week to face the storm of criticism and condemnation of the government's 'security' policy. More particularly the xenophobic nature of said policy. The government spin doctors are working overtime while the expulsion of the Roma continues unabated. They've got a lot of work to do. A recent opinion poll suggested 55% of the French population want a left wing president next time round...
