Alhaji Righteous De Ambitious: Jul 24, 2010

Saturday, July 24, 2010

World Cup 2010 Blog: France Suspends Entire World Cup Squad

Posted: 23 Jul 2010 08:23 AM PDT

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This may just be the best thing France has done since ‘98 (or ‘00 if you prefer). In the wake of that massive mental and behavioral meltdown that was their World Cup 2010 campaign, a show of bad football and even worse insubordination, the French Football Federation has suspended the entire World Cup squad for their next game at the request of new head honcho Laurent Blanc.

Blanc said: “I obviously cannot act as if nothing had happened in South Africa.”

“I followed the events with sadness, I was disappointed with the sporting results and I was shocked by certain behaviours.

“I will integrate these elements into my analysis and my thoughts. I always had the principles, rules of conduct and not just in my sporting life. They have not changed and I will not change.”

Can the amount of faith in the Blanc over that of Domenech by the French public be quantified? Probably not – infinity fold, perhaps?

That game will be the August 11th friendly against Norway which, logically, could actually help the 23 in question since they’ll either be in the midst of their domestic campaigns or running up to it shortly, and a trek to Oslo against Norway isn’t exactly the most ideal situation for most club bosses. So FFF can expect many, many fruit baskets with cards written in suspect French, along with equally suspect requests for access to their youth teams.

Meanwhile Franck Ribery and Karim Benzema have been suspended indefinitely until they clear up their “legal issues”, bringing the grand total to 24. Sometimes complete overhauls are quiet; this time, they’re doing it on their front lawn for all the world to see. Setting an example for the next generation: play nice, or else…

Even if you’re not a fan of France, you have to love this move for their sake and for the sake of football in general. Sure, there’s a debate to be had regarding the ‘modern footballer’ being quite as evil as its predecessor, but nipping this sort of thing in the bud can’t be but a good thing. The punishment of being ‘one of the infamous 23′ is the type of hammer blow they needed.