Friday, July 23, 2010

Laurent Blanc Suspends France Team

Laurent Blanc is my new hero.

The new France coach took the best first step imaginable with the national side when he announced that he was suspending all 23 players on the World Cup team for one match. That match is a friendly Aug. 11 against Norway.

France was a disaster at the World Cup, scoring one goal, gaining only a tie as its best result, and had a slew of players refuse to train during the tournament in protest of whacky Ray Domenech, the head coach of the stars who relied on the stars for strategy.

From the French Football Federation website:

''Laurent Blanc was heard this Friday, July 23 by the Federal Council which he presented his staff and his sporting project. He also proposed to the Federal Council, which agreed to retain for the friendly Norway-France, Wednesday, August 11 in Oslo, none of 23 players selected by the official French Football Federation for World Cup South Africa.''

In the long run, this isn't a big deal, but it's an interesting first step for Blanc. If you're going to grandstand out of the chute, then this is the way to do it. Instilling more misery and humiliation on that embarrassing group of players works for me, hopefully it works for Blanc.

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