Sad end to Domenech's era
Source: Agencies |
June 24, 2010, Thursday
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RAYMOND Domenech's refusal to shake the hand of South Africa coach Carlos Alberto Parreira after his team's 1-2 World Cup loss brought the unpopular coach's six-year reign to a suitably contentious end.
Domenech, never popular with players or fans since taking over in 2004, coached his final France game on Tuesday and left the job with his reputation at a new low.
France went out of the World Cup without winning a game, just like at the European Championship two years ago.
The acrimony in the French camp mattered little to Parreira, who approached Domenech after the final whistle and extended his hand for the traditional post-game shake. The France coach turned his back, wagging his finger angrily. The two exchanged words for some time as Parreira grabbed the top of Domenech's jacket and tried to reason with him.
Parreira said a French assistant coach later told him that Domenech was angry because the Brazilian had said France didn't deserve to be at the World Cup.
Press reports from December quote Parreira as saying France wouldn't have qualified if not for Thierry Henry's "shameful" handball that helped France beat Ireland in a playoff in November. A stunned Parreira was adamant this was not true.
"He is no longer going to be the French coach, and as a matter of practice I wanted to greet him," Parreira said. "He said that I had offended the French team, and I for the life of me can't believe what it is that I have said."
Meanwhile, French president Nicolas Sarkozy will chair a government meeting to look into the failure of Les Bleus and will meet Thierry Henry, who "called the president from South Africa and told him he wanted to see him as soon as possible..."
France captain Patrice Evra also slammed the coach for dropping him for Tuesday's match for "no valid reason." He was one of six players dropped by Domenech days after a protest by the squad shamed the nation.
"Tonight it's time for the big apology toward the ... French people, because I share the pain of all these French people," Evra said. "What hurts even more is that this apology should have been made yesterday, but my coach stopped me doing it as a captain."
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