Sep
6
Blanc makes every French player sing, but still can’t stop the rot
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French coach Laurent Blanc is pulling out all the tricks to get the public on his side, including printing out the text to the French national anthem “La Mersellaise” and making every player memorize and sing it at games. It’s an effort to improve the image of his squad, as well as bolster the team spirit, but so far it doesn’t seem to have much effect. In front of over 70,000 people, who had come to lift up France in their first competitive game after the World Cup, Blanc’s team suffered a 1-0 defeat at the hands of Belarus.
To put things in perspective, the French were selected as top seeds for their Euro 2012 qualifying group, while Belarus a lowly 4th. But I guess it shows to highlight that getting rid of most of the players that failed at the WC, and making the others sing the anthem isn’t going to fix everything. The French seem to be in a little bit of a knockdown right now, and they’ll need something special to help pick them back up.
What’s interesting also is that Blanc said “there was no one in the team to score a goal”, which is what happens when their two top strikers, Henry and Anelka, left the squad. The former retired from international football, while the latter was suspended for 18 games due to his involvement in the scandal. Many think it’s time for Benzema to step up, but so far he really hasn’t delivered on the international stage.