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.

France v Ireland...the Managers

As we are less than a week away from the first match between France and Ireland, I was thinking about all the elements that go into the game...why not...I have time and why not over analyze the matches! So the first entry will be on the Managers. Since they are the ones that select the players, the line ups, tactics, formations and provide the inspirational speeches...or in Domenech's case some astrological explanations.

Let us start with the Irish manager...who is Italian. Giovanni Trapattoni, or Trap to his closest friends. Anyone who follows footie knows of the Italian and his storied track record with clubs, less glorious with nations since the Italian teams he lead did not shower themselves in titles. Granted, his Japan/South Korea adventure could have ended better had Italy not gone out in controversial manner to the co hosts South Korea. However, the Italian is very adept at the art of football management and ensuring he gets the most out of what he has at hand. At the club level he has won everything one could hope for, no need to list it out you can follow his link above to see his record. I think he is a solid manager when it comes to knock out style competitions, which is really what we have coming up. You do not win all the major club silverware without having a knowledge of managing game to game, knowing that a loss and you are out. Finally he is Italian...so he knows how to get his teams to defend and play for the 1-0 win...with over 2 weeks to prepare I am sure that he has poured over match video and statistics and is keenly aware of France's weaknesses....ok really does not need to study too much, he could just read this blog - we all know that Les Bleus are vulnerable to set pieces, something Ireland is rather adept at. I am sure he will have some thoughts about how to get set pieces anywhere inside the French half and how to exploit France's skittish defending on these actions. He will give Ireland and their fans much to hope for, granted his team had some poor performances in the group stages, but were able to draw twice with Italy...almost beating them at Croke Park.

What about Les Bleus...well we all know who their manager is...and how I feel about him. He has been fairly consistent during his tenure with France. Consistently maddening! He continues to insist on having 2 holding midfielders, even against weaker sides. He jettisons players without much reason - Pires, Guily, Trezeguet to name a few. He has a bunch of binkies...who are terrible - Boumsong. He should have been axed after a disasterous Euro campaign. Finally he has the personnel skills of a gnat - see how he jettisoned Pires and Guily or how he "informed" Malouda that he would not be playing in a recent match. Yet through all of this he maintains his job. The side he has selected for these matches are very close to what he has always leaned on these days, so for creativity a zero. But I think consistency needs to be factored so that is good. His in game tactics leave much to be desired...something I have written about in the past. I think he uses his substitutions poorly, not controlling the pace and rhythm of the game when he could be (one match in particular against Israel where up 1-0 but down a player he does not use a substitute until the game is level, when he could have used his subs to get fresh legs on the pitch and slow down the Israeli momentum). Finally there is no love lost between Domenech and the Italians. Clearly during his time managing the U20s he had many a run ins with the Italians that did not come out in his favor. Is it mental? Does he have something against managing versus an Italian counterpart?

Overall I give the edge to Trap. While Domenech has a superior pool of players to select from, Trapattoni is a better in game manager and his club experience will make him very comfortable managing a home-away situation. Advantage - Ireland.

Sagnol retires...merci

Willy Sagnol has announced his retirement from professional football, for the most part this was not by his choice. A nagging injury has caused the Bayern man to leave the scene. A converted winger, Sagnol always gave Les Bleus an extra element when he would come up the right wing supporting the offense. I also think during France's run in 2006 in the Germany World Cup, he was the best crosser of the ball France had. He almost got the assist when his cross to Zidane forced a terrific save from Buffon late in the finals.



Sagnol was an important part of France's success during that run. Unfortunately we might remember him more for staying longer with Les Bleus. During the 2008 European Cup, it was evident that Sagnol and the rest of the old guard could not keep up with speed from teams such as Holland. That should not be his legacy.

Sagnol was a solid international defender. You could always see the influence he carried over from his early days as a winger. He will be missed, but I think that his retirement will allow Domenech to move on, go with Sagna as France's right back.

Merci Willy