Au revoir Escalettes! Long live Les Bleus

So after a week of continued revelations about the fiasco Les Bleus suffered in South Africa and after many, including this blog, had called for his scalp, Escalettes finally did what he needed to and stepped down. Clearly his roles as head of the French Football Federation could no longer be allowed after it was his decision to maintain the man at the heart of all this - Domenech. After hitting rock bottom in South Africa, this latest move is an indication that Les Bleus are starting to come out of that darkness. The question remains who will step into the role? There are plenty of apt candidates - it will be interesting if the federation goes with someone who was so vocal against Domenech - Christian Teinturier - or with someone seen more as a moderate like Le Graet or Desumer. Or could the Federation reach to an outsider? What about a Guy Roux or an Aime Jacquet? The former is one of the masters when it comes to running a development system and putting in place the necessary infrastructure and the latter has the cache of being the manager of the World Cup championships and has demonstrated an ability to put a strategy together and preserver during the good and bad. He also has a good relationship with Blanc. 

The good news is France has jettisoned 2 problems - Domenech and Escalettes. Come August 11th it will be interesting to see if Blanc has cleaned house when it comes to the players - Evra, Abidal, Henry, Gallas and Ribery to name a few who were thought of as the problem children in South Africa will have to be dealt with. The question remains how will Blanc handle that situation...stay tuned.