| 18.06.2008 |
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| After France's disastrous Euro 2008 campaign was finally put out of its misery by the (albeit quite lucky) Italians, former Les Bleus defender Marcel Desailly called for a new generation of stars. Had the ex-AC Milan and Chelsea hard man – a player with both European Championship and World Cup medals at home – been watching the same match as everyone else? Had he in fact stumbled into a room where a video of France's tired attempts to retain the world crown in Japan/Korea in 2002 was being replayed? Maybe he wasn't clutching at straws…maybe Desailly really does believe a bunch of toddlers could have done better than the mostly prodigious team Raymond Domenech sent out to face Italy. Okay, so it wasn't a team of teenage tyros but to claim that France needs a new generation to spice things up is overlooking the fact that five of the players used on Tuesday night were 25 or under, with Karim Benzema leading the line at the tender age of 21 and the baby-faced 22-year old Sami Nasri entering the fray as a replacement for the almost geriatric Franck Ribery (25). Coach Raymond Domenech seemed to be hoping that the formula which worked in the World Cup qualifiers and the competition proper in 2006 – mixing previously retired superstars with a hopeful new crop – would pay similar dividends. It didn't. And while the quarter-finals may have had a different complexion had Zinedine Zidane's legs been as enduring as his legend, even the great Zizou would not have been enough to save this French team from elimination. Domenech was right to a certain extent when he lamented after Tuesday's match that his team lacked luck. Losing Ribery after just ten minutes and then having Eric Abidal sent off nine minutes later for a challenge that gave the Italians their opening goal through the resultant penalty was hardly what you could call fortunate. But bad luck had nothing to do with the fact that France entered their last match with their destiny in their hands with a single point and a single goal to show for their troubles. Maybe Marcel Desailly meant that a new generation should have been given its chance at Euro 2008, rather than suggesting the current squad be chopped for a completely new one. If he meant that players like Lilian Thuram, William Gallas, Claude Makelele and Thierry Henry should have been sacrificed for players with less experience but more hunger, then I whole-heartedly agree. Raymond Domenech had the chance to launch a new era of French soccer on the world but just didn't quite have the gumption to go all the way. (And, according to Paul Doyle in The Guardian's blog, he didn't have the tactical nouse either).  Okay, so the senior players mentioned above are far from candidates for the glue factory but would a team full of young colts have done worse than the carthorses we saw over the last week-and-a-half? Maybe a squad with an average age of 25 would have failed to qualify too but at least the youngsters would have gotten a taste for the big stage and would have taken a first step to something potentially great in the future. Would going out due to youthful inexperience be any worse than limping out on old legs? France could be accused of many things which contributed to their failure but, in my opinion, the worst is lack of vision. And for a country which has led the world in youth development and has rebuilt itself time and again with the products of its famous youth system, that is the biggest disappointment. |
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