Merci Kaiser Franck - Ribery retires from national team

Les Bleus will no longer see their world class #7 on the left wing any more. Ribery announced today that he will no longer play for the French national team. This comes as a slight surprise since he had to back out of the World Cup due to injury and the next major tournament will be held in France. Ribery would have been 33 for the next Euros, certainly not an advanced age.

Ribery stated that he came to this decision to spend more time with his family as well as concentrate on his career with Bayern Munich. For Ribery, his international career will be viewed as a good one, yet one that did not live up to what could have been. He was first called up in 2006, then a youngster in France. He was looked at as one of France's up and coming players, but what he would bring to the table was not known. It was more of a selection of a player to get him into the squad, blood him for later tournaments. Instead he played a vital role for Les Bleus in their run to the finals. It was Ribery that scored the still haunted the Bayern winger a year ago! Finally the 2012 Euros saw a French team finally get out of the group stages, but lose timidly against the Spanish Armada.

His best moment for Les Bleus?

equalizer against Spain. His pace out wide opened up lanes for the other French players, most notably Zidane. Unfortunately for the Kaiser, that might have been the highest of his international career. 2010 saw France crash out of the Euros with a grand total of 1 point. We all know what happened at the World Cup in South Africa. While many point to Evra as the ring leader of the mutiny, I think Ribery had much more to do with that fiasco than was reported. There was also a lot of controversy surrounding Ribery and how he treated his teammates, most notably how he interacted with Gourcuff. Something that

In none of these tournaments did Ribery truly shine or live up to his potentially - like he showed for Bayern Munich when he came close to winning the Ballon D'Or. So we close the chapter on Kaiser Franck and the French national team. Following on the heels of Nasri announcing the same, Deschamps loses another player that he can select. But like Nasri, this might be a blessing in disguise. Ribery has shown signs of breaking down - see his missing the last World Cup due to injury. He would be 33 at the next Euro. Again not over the hill, but maybe a little long in the tooth, especially considering that there appears to be an heir to the left side of the formation - Griezmann. DD can now focus on allowing his new left winger to develop and establish himself in the role. It was a joy watching Ribery bombing down the left side for Les Bleus. Alas it did not all come together for him and the national team at the right time.

Better to retire a year too early than hang on a year too late.

Merci Kaiser Franck.