2010 World Cup stories: France

If England fans are feeling sorry for themselves--forever suffering under the weight of great expectation and the consequentially inevitable disappointment--then a quick glance across the Channel should ease their misery. Nobody knows the details of the French team's self-destruction but most of the football world agrees it is something truly spectacular. This summary is my understanding of the story, based on the widely reported chain of events. It includes milestones over the last 12 years in French football, which I've added to give context within the decade as well as to simplify and emphasise the highs and lows of this story:

• France wins the 1998 World Cup.
• France wins Euro 2000.
• France crashes out of the 2002 World, finishing goalless at the bottom of their group.
• France makes the final of the 2006 World Cup.
• Coach Raymond Domenech's popularity continues to fall since his 2004 appointment, despite taking Les Bleus to the final.
• France exits Euro 2008 early, winless at the bottom of their group.
• France struggles to qualify for the 2010 World Cup.
• In their opening match in South Africa, France draws nil-all with ten-man Uruguay.
• France loses 2-0 to Mexico.
• After days of rumours of unrest within the French squad, it is revealed striker Nicolas Anelka confronted Domenech at half-time versus Mexico, telling him to "go screw yourself, dirty son of a whore."
• Anelka is sent home by FFF after refusing to apologise.
• Siding with Anelka, the French players take strike in protest, walking off the training field after an argument involving Domenech, captain Patrice Evra and a fitness coach. (Details, and the remarkable video, here).
  
• Two members of French coaching staff quit.
  
• French President Nicolas Sarkozy steps in, ordering his sports minister to prolong her stay in South Africa to handle the crisis.
• Zidane is forced to deny rumours he is behind the players' rebellion. He criticises their strike, as does Domenech.
• Evra is absent at a captain-coach press conference, inciting suggestions he, and other players, will boycott the next match. Some reports even claim that four french players are threatening never to play for France again, including Evra and Thierry Henry.
  
• Evra is dropped for the match (pictured below, on the bench). He is criticised for poorly managing his team during the crisis, perhaps even leading the rebellion.
• France has a player sent off and are easily beaten by South Africa.
• France crashes out of the World Cup, again bottom of their group.
• Les Bleus return home a national disgrace and a laughing stock in the football world.

It is a simply remarkabe chain of events. French football is left at sixes and sevens. The fallout and investigation will continue to make headlines for months. The story of the French World Cup disaster will live on in history for much, much longer. Laurent Blanc will not believe his misfortune in falling heir to such a corrupt team--he is about to undertake one of the biggest challenges faced by any manager in the world. By contrast, his appointment could not come at a better time for the country. It marks an unparalleled chance to begin a new chapter in French football.

As for Domenech, his already dreadful esteem has managed to spiral even further down. His only saving grace is that he was already planning to part company with FFF, his contract ending after the 2010 World Cup. He could not have left on a worse note, hated by his players, hated by French fans and hated by French media. After the loss to South Africa--his final match after six years at the post--he was sincere, but it's too little too late. Nothing can save his reputation.

As my brother asserted on the whole fiasco, "they pretty much punched each other in the stomach, and it hurts."