French coach refuses to shake S African coach's hand

Sacre bleu....... But he's right. They cheated.

Parreira said an assistant coach for France told him that Domenech had refused to shake his hand because Parreira once offended the French team by saying they shouldn’t have qualified for the World Cup.

The French didn't really qualify for the World Cup, did they? A handball put them in the World Cup. Domenech is finished (or should be) as the French coach.

It's easy to see why the French team didn't want to play for this clown. I don't agree with the team's actions but I can now see why they did what they did.

What a sore loser, and the defense of it is pathetic. They shouldn't be allowed in the next WC, if they could qualify, that is.

What's with the French refusing to shake hands? Arsene Wenger does that from time to time as well. :-p

Domenech is finished (or should be) as the French coach.

Rumour has it, Bordeaux's manager Laurent Blanc is next in line for the job.

As I said on the other thread, hopefully there will be some accountability in France over why Domenech was not removed from the job when it was clear that he was not up to it and that his behavior was damaging to the team. This incident is just another example of that behavior, to go with stuff like proposing to his girlfriend during a post-match interview, selecting lineups based on horoscopes, and generally annoying everybody (there is a stronger expression than annoying but not sure if it is allowed on JT).

Easy to blame selfish, overpaid players, but why would you pick a Class A jackass like Anelka in the first place if you didn't know how to man-manage him. Easy for people to also blame the immigrant make-up of the team and say they are unpatriotic and don't care, which people are doing. But if those two things actually were real problems, then that makes it even more questionable that he was kept on as manager instead of getting someone who could deal with them.

Rumour has it, Bordeaux's manager Laurent Blanc is next in line for the job.

Not a roumour - it is a done deal

Easy for people to also blame the immigrant make-up of the team and say they are unpatriotic and don't care, which people are doing.

Blame the immigrants when things go wrong! Don't think they were blaming the immigrant culture when they won in 98 and Eruo 2000. Stars like Zizou, Patrick Vieira, Lilian Thuram, Christian Karambeu, Marcel Desailly & Youri Djorkaeff - all players of non-French descent, but could never be accused of not caring.

The glaring fact is is that Zidane carried this team for a long time - and without him they have been exposed. And a buffoon of a manager doesn't help either.

French coach refuses to shake S African coach's hand

What a toad.

Easy to blame selfish, overpaid players, but why would you pick a Class A jackass like Anelka in the first place if you didn't know how to man-manage him

With this point it is a bit of a catch 22 situation. The Coach picked him, started him in the opening two games before Anelka opened his mouth, and then promptly sent him home. Now people are saying: "Why did you pick him if you can't man-manage him?"

On the other hand, if he didn't pick Anelka in the squad people would have said "Why didn't you pick Anelka? Sure he has a bit of a surly attitude - but this is the world cup and we need our best players!"

Damned if you, damned if you don't.

and now you can see Zidane in Louis Vuitton ads in the Economist or Newsweek.

And there is Maradona...now that is exactly how a coach should be...astride with his team and the life of the team.

Unsportsmanlike doesn't even come close. Shame on you, France.

With this point it is a bit of a catch 22 situation.

He would have had a hard time justifying not picking him, that's true. But these guys had been together for SIX years. If Domenech hadn't figured out how to handle him after 6 years, when was he planning to figure it out. And if Anelka was unmanageable but he still picked him, then he has to live with it and put up with him. If that includes half-time blow-ups, then you have a half-time blow-up. Then tell him to shut up and get back on the field, instead of letting your team fall apart. It is called being a manager.

The interesting thing is that there is still no word (I think) on who leaked the news of what happened in the dressing room to the media. After how things turned out, somebody must be sweating right now.

The proof is in the pudding, as they say. France didn't deserve to be at this World Cup, and their early exit only proved it.

If now ex-coach Domenech can't even be bothered to shake hands after an international match, regardless of some imagined earlier slight, then he doesn't deserve to coach any national team.

Good riddance to him.

It was down right disrespectful and a disgrace to France and football as a whole.

Let's face it - the French players are awful. They shouldn't blame Domenech - as much as he appears to be a grubby individual, in public and private. The French in reality are not talented enough to be even playing at this cup - they got there through cheating - not skill.