Allez Les Bleus! France 2010 World Cup Thread, sponsored by The Handball

[neutral]

Re: The French mess at the WC.

I’ve no idea how accurate this theory is but some of the things mentioned seem perfectly possible to me so I figured I’d relay what I heard.

- Apparently Gourcuff was the victim of anti-gay abuse, I’ve heard both that he is actually gay or just an icon for the French gay community but straight himself so am not sure which is true. Few players took his defense but Sagna, Toulalan and Lloris were amongst them.

- Other than that there was the obvious disagreement with Domenech’s tactics which lead to Anelka’s insults which lead to the strike apparently lead by Evra, Ribery, Gallas and Abidal. They also threatened the players who didn’t want to strike to “break their legs at practice the following day”.

- Finally the race card’s also been brought up. Not only were there allegedly issues between white and black players but it seems that the exclusion of Nasri, Benzema and Ben Arfa were at least partially due to them being Arabic.

Fwiw I got this from a friend’s friend who’s dad is a long time friend with a member of the French FA’s board.

Times New Feking Roman?

If some tabloid journalist like Harry Harris got this, he/she will say 'from his best friends', 'his dog' etc....

[Meitheisman]

Thuram said he doesn't want Evra to play for France ever again btw.

[NICK_GIFF]

At the moment I can see Evra and Ribery (and perhaps Abidal if he's as involved as people are suggesting) being banned and the likes of Henry and Gallas being pushed into retirement.

Certainly the fact that Laurent Blanc knows Gourcuff rather well (and thus is probably fully aware of what's been going on in the national team) could bode very ill for the likes of Ribery.

[Lisandro Lopez]

Abidal is thirty so it's not real loss if he doesn't play again. Same applies to Gallas now.

[georginho_juventusygr]

Anelka won't be called again? True?

[Jamos5000]

Thuram said he doesn't want Evra to play for France ever again btw.

No more Captain Pat

[sean_oc16]

Gallas speaks out

[dragosani]

It still make them sound petulantt though. i know their manager was a bit of a fruit cake but they were playing for their country at the world cup!!I get the feeling that many of these players just dont understand what an honour that is ! They probably think that they can walk straight back into the next squad! if they had a problem with the coach they should of addressed it with the FFF, not waited until they were in south africa and spit there dummies out there! Why didnt they do their protest at home by saying "i will not go while that numpty is in charge"?

Also i notice that another player again failed to confirm/condemn the alleged Ribery/gourcuff sitiuation!!