Early exit blessing in disguise for France

France were considered as one of the favourites prior to the start of the tournament. After all they had players like Henry, Vieira and Ribery. France just a couple of years back had reached the world cup final where they lost to Italy on penalties. Lot of new youngsters have also emerged like Benzema ,Nasri and Ben Arfa. But what they also had was a coach named Raymond Domenech. Many would say that the reason for France’s poor performance is the absence of Zidane. It is true upto an extent but I strongly believe that they had enough players to cope up with that. Domenech with his team selection and tactics completely ruined their chances of winning this championship.
I have no idea on what basis he has selected his 23 member squad. Players like Robert Pires, Bacary Sagna, Hatem Ben Arfa, Clichy Flamini and Trezeguet were omitted and players like Sidney Govou, Clerc, Anelka and Malouda were selected. All those players who were omitted had a terrific season that just ended. Yet they were not selected.The most shocking omission had got to be of Philippe Mexes.The fact that boumsong was selected ahead of Mexes shows that he clearly doesn’t select his team on the basis of performance,talent or form. Mexes , pires and Trezeguet have had problems off the pitch with Domenech but that clearly shouldn’t be affecting his team selection. Hats off to Van Basten who sorted out his differences with Van Nistelrooy for the sake of the team.
Even his tactis during matches were really poor. I have no idea what 2 defensive midfielders are doing on the pitch when the team is 2 goals down. It is absolutely shocking. Playing Abidal who is a left back at center back was also another masterclass from domenech which eventually helped Italy knock out France. In a way it is good for French football that they have haven’t qualified for the quarter finals. If they had actually reached the quarters some how, he might have continued. I cannot believe that they haven’t sacked him yet but I am sure he will be out soon. Didier Deschamps has been touted as a possible replacement. This could be a new beginning for French national team. Hopefully he will be able to get the best out of those talented players and also hopefully Raymond Domench will never manage another team again.