Live The Pitch

The French Football Federation has handed down a stiff punishment to the leaders of the French National team who were  blamed for the inappropriate behavior at the World Cup.  The FFF suspended striker Nicolas Anelka for 18 matches, former captain Patrice Evra for five matches, Franck Ribery for three matches and Jeremy Toulalan for one match.

Sources say Anelka and former coach Raymond Domenech were involved in a heated exchange in the locker room at halftime of the 2-0 loss to Mexico.  Domenech and the FFF decided to send Anelka home while the majority of the players disagreed with the move.  The French players chose to skip the following day of training in protest and were sent home after the knockout stages from the Cup.

New French manager Laurent Blanc, dropped all 23 players from the World Cup roster in a friendly against Norway, which they lost 2-1.  Blanc has extremely talented players at his disposal in France but needs to get his players on the same page. Only time will tell if this overhaul of the national team will do any good.

Give us your comments and tell us what you think.

New French national team coach Laurent Blanc has suspended the entire 23 man World Cup roster for an upcoming friendly match against Norway next month.  Under former skipper Raymond Demenech the French were lucky just to qualify for the World Cup and were embarrassed in South Africa after going win less amidst in house controversy.

The drama started to unfold when striker Nicolas Anelka and Demenech were involved in a heated exchange in the locker room at halftime of the Mexico match.  Anelka was then sent home by the French Football Federation for his actions which did not suit well with the rest of the team.

The team decided to protest the decision to send Anelka home by not training which led to more team controversy.  There have been a few French players who have publicly stated that this was a stupid decision.

Goalkeeper Hugo Lloris was quoted in L’Equipe: ”We acted as a team,  To strike was the decision of a squad who felt lonely, who believed that no one had stood up for them and who had a message to convey. We went too far. It was a very awkward decision, a big mistake. It was completely stupid. But there were so many problems.”

It is understandable to want to send a message to these players, but to suspend the entire team does not make much sense.  With a great nucleus of young players to choose from France will still be a top team when they face off with Norway.  Blanc will choose his young squad wisely to see who can come in and change the mentality of this broken team.

With fair play always at the forefront of any FIFA competition, today’s Group A games were played simultaneously. We had Mexico and Uruguay on one channel and France and South Africa on another.For those of us who want to take in every minute of World Cup action as possible it’s a hectic time. Just as the teams on the field I am constantly trying to get updates from each game to see how group play will end up.

A goal from Luis Suarez allowed Uruguay to win Group A and they will play the runner-up of Group B when the knockout stage games begin June 26. In the other game South Africa Beat a disgruntled French squad 2-1. Both South Africa and Mexico were tied with four points, but Mexico advanced on goal differential to play the winner of Group B.

For the French they stayed true to form by getting a red card in the 25th minute and playing the rest of the game down a man. Then when the match was over French coach Raymond Domenech continued to give South African coach Carlos Parreira a tongue lashing, further embarrassing his country. Just get on the first flight back France and shut the hell up! I for one have heard enough out of this joke of a national soccer team.

The French national team took the pitch today for training one day after the players refused to train after the French Football Federation sent home star striker Nicolas Anelka. During halftime of France’s last match Anelka and coach Raymond Demenech were involved in a heated exchange with Anelka apparently going too far.

Apparently Anelka told Demenech to go “Fuck Himself” in the locker room at the half. Players were clearly not on the same page throughout the Mexico match at times being drastically outplayed.

“I tried to convince the players for 45 minutes that what they were trying to do was stupid, that it was an imbecility,” Demenech said. I’m not too sure calling your players imbeciles with a chance to advance to the next round on the line is a good idea. On paper this team is still loaded with talent but seem to not mesh well together.

With captain Patrice Evra in the middle of all the drama it is still unsure who will start in their last match. Evra was not in attendance at the French press conference today which FIFA will now investigate.

When asked about Evra remaining captain Demenech said: “There will be a discussion tonight, we’ll see. Again, this is not a problem of trust, but rather a question of psychological and physical condition to play the game.”

In the first match of the day, Diego Maradona’s Argentina squad defeated South Korea 4-1 behind a beautiful hat trick from Gonzalo Higuain.  South Korea scored an own goal in the 16th minute to start the scoring for Argentina before Higuain would take over.  The Real Madrid striker would score in the 33rd , 76th, and 80th minute to lead his country to victory.  Higuain is the first player to net a hat trick since 2002.

South Korea scored their only goal in the 45th minute when Lee Chung-yong punished Martin Demechelis for his huge mistake in front of his own goal.  Argentina dominated the match in all aspects and only allowed South Korea 2 shots on goal.  Argentina look like a major contender to win the tournament.

In the second match of the day, Greece defeated Nigeria 2-1.  Nigeria took the lead in the 16th minute when Kalu Uche struck a great free kick from about 40 yards out that confused the Greek goalkeeper and went into the net untouched.  With Nigeria controlling the match throughout the first half  things turned to the worse when Sani Kaita idiotically kicked a Greek player to recieve a straight red card in the 33rd minute.  It was the right decision by the referee to issue the red after seeing that Kaita deliberately kicked him.

Greece would then take over the match with their man advantage and score their first ever World Cup goal in the 44th minute when Dimitrios Salpingidis found the back of the net after his shot deflected off a Nigerian defender.

Vasilis Torosidis pounced on a terrible mistake by Nigerian goalkeeper Vincent Enyeama to get the match winner in the 71st minute.  Enyeama had a great performance in the match but couldn’t handle the weak shot from distance that he fumbled to Torosidis.

Nigeria have been eliminated from the tournament with two losses now.  Greece will need some help to advance, but are surely still in the mix for a spot in the knockout stage.

In the final match, underdogs Mexico defeated France 2-0.  Mexico dominated a lifeless French team in all facets of the game.  France failed to combine together and looked like they did not want to be there.  Mexico got both goals in the second half by two substitutes.

The first goal was scored by Javier Hernandez in the 64th minute when he found himself in behind the French defense as he beat the offside trap.  Hernandez would take a few touches around French goalkeeper Hugo Lloris to pass it into a wide open net.

The game was put out of reach by Mexico in the 79th minute when they were awarded a penalty kick that Cuauhtemoc Blanco slotted in.  It was a good call by the referee as Eric Albidal clearly took out Pablo Berrera inside the box.

This is a monumental victory for Mexico on this great stage.  Mexico now have the inside track to get to the next round and if they continue to perform this way they can go a long way.  France on the other hand will need a lot of help to make the knockout stage.