Gattuso curses French progress


Gennaro Gattuso has just one cloud over his evening – helping France to reach Euro 2008 and eliminate his beloved Scotland.

“I am proud of the qualification we have achieved with this squad,” said the midfielder after Italy’s 2-1 win in Glasgow.

“But I am really annoyed because I know we also helped France to go through.”

Gattuso spent a year at Glasgow Rangers at the start of his career and married a local girl, but even stronger than his love for the country is his dislike of Les Bleus.

“Raymond Domenech is always being such a pain and he really did not deserve to reach the finals.

“Now I hope to meet France at Euro 2008 so we can teach them all a lesson.”  

Domenech: I motivated Italy



Raymond Domenech has taken the credit for Italy and France both reaching Euro 2008. “At least they were useful for once.”

The Bleus boss has made a habit of sniping comments towards the Azzurri, especially after the World Cup Final won on penalties in Germany.

Italy’s 2-1 victory in Scotland automatically qualified both Roberto Donadoni’s side and France for the tournament.

“They won because my words motivated them,” smiled Domenech, who had suggested this week that Italy were ‘draw specialists.’

“I didn’t see the game, as I prefer not to force myself to sit through too many ugly things. I feel both relieved and frustrated, as to be honest I would have preferred to play the last game in Ukraine with the need for a result.

“This is the strength of our squad, the ability to hold out under pressure, when we are afraid of elimination. I shall miss that sensation.”

If Italy had drawn in Glasgow, France simply needed to avoid defeat in Kiev on Wednesday evening, but now that tie and the Azzurri’s against the Faroe Islands only serve to decide which of the two teams top Group B.

“I am happy anyway, as if we are qualified today then it means that we deserved it,” concluded Domenech.

I hope France do a World Cup 2002 again and embarass themselves, they're a disgrace to the World of football!

@misha ...  The build up to the first goal !!! And who is the #7, great vision from him ..

I hope France do a World Cup 2002 again and embarass themselves, they're a disgrace to the World of football!

guys like henry,gallas,thuran, makalele and even vieira arent what they used to be. especially the first 3, if they actually think they're gonna rely on those guy again then i wouldnt be surprised if that happens.

Poland, France, Italy, Greece, Germany, Czech Republic, Croatia, Spain, Romania, Holland and England

That's better

I hope you're right!

I don't see how France is a disgrace to the football world.
It's just that Domenech is a bitter little fellow with loads of inferiority issues.

btw, Gallas openly broke with Domenech couple of days ago.
Domenech wanted all his players to watch the Ukraine game, but Gallas said it was no chance of him not watching Scotland-Italy.

I don't see how France is a disgrace to the football world.
It's just that Domenech is a bitter little fellow with loads of inferiority issues.

Fillipo, I saw the highlights of Croatia's game yesterday. The pitch was shcoking, one of the worst I've ever seen, especially when you consider it's an International teams. My local sunday league team would be ashamed of that!

There was no hope for you, a team that keeps the ball on the floor as passes it couldn't stand a chance.

Fillipo, I saw the highlights of Croatia's game yesterday. The pitch was shcoking, one of the worst I've ever seen, especially when you consider it's an International teams. My local sunday league team would be ashamed of that!

There was no hope for you, a team that keeps the ball on the floor as passes it couldn't stand a chance.

They qualified already ... They don't need to play for anything ..

Well, when it comes to matches against former Yugoslavia countries, it really does not matter if you have a secure pass to the finals or a bottom position. If you watch the goals by Macedonia - their players celebrate as if they have won something,..

Well, when it comes to matches against former Yugoslavia countries, it really does not matter if you have a secure pass to the finals or a bottom position. If you watch the goals by Macedonia - their players celebrate as if they have won something,..

Ehem,..Napoleon Bonaparte, ehem,..

well, they were celebrating cause they've won against a great team...what do u think faroe islands's players would have done if they could win against some "big" nation...

i wouldnt call russia a big football nation, at least not anymore. if they still had a soviet team.. the likes of  sheva, hleb... if the Balkans had a united team would be pretty good too. but ya isreal has a pretty decent team nowadays, by no means a small country like faroe islands!

You find assh@les all over the world.
Italy has Mussolini, Norway has Qvisling, Russia has Stalin and so on.
And I think Domenech is a MUCH bigger assh@le than Napoleon.

yap, i was talking about macedonia - croatia...

Really?


Oh, and you should not compare Stalin and Napoleon,...

Um, yes!
No offense to you if your'e a communist or something, but I regard Napoleon infinetely higher than Stalin.
And you can compare them.

and then we should say don't mix politics with sports people, can't wait for wednesday and wembley clash...croatia will help russia hehehe

I'm not really sure how former Yugoslav and former Soviet countries feel about each other, so I really don't know whether they'd like to help you out or not.

I'm not really sure how former Yugoslav and former Soviet countries feel about each other, so I really don't know whether they'd like to help you out or not.

Oh no, I'm not a communist at all,...but, simply said, Napoleon is a excellent leader and dictator who tryed to conquer Europe (which is pretty normal for the strong nations in the 19th century) and more. Stalin is a mass-murderer who transformed Lenin's USSR into, using Reagans phrase, "Evil Empire"...

So, of course you can compare personas from different times, but you allways have to keep the time-context in mind. Napoleon's policy was, for the 18/19 century regular and in a way acceptable. Stalin's policy in the 20th century,..not!

Italy has Mussolini, Norway has Qvisling, Russia has Stalin and so on.

And I think Domenech is a MUCH bigger assh@le than Napoleon.

Gaurdian

News on the England team.

-Robinson was bad in training yesterday, he's been dropped. Carson has been given the nod to start in goal.

-Ferdinand, Terry and Neville are all definetly out in defense. Richards, Campbell and Lescott look set to start. With Ashley Cole/Wayne Bridge at left back (I really don't know if Cole's injured or not!) So our starting back 4 could all be out. 

-McLaren refuses to name the rest of his team, though.

I suspect Milan's Simic will be given a start in this one for Croatia.

Caveat: This is information from goal.com (link) and goal isn't always especially reliable.

England coach Steve McClaren has supposedly named his starting XI for the game with Croatia.

According to the article, here it is:
Carson
Richards, Lescott, Campbell, A Cole
Wright-Phillips, Gerrard, Barry, Lampard, J Cole
Crouch

It seems to me that he's made some smart choices and at least one I think is not a good idea. The pluses? Starting Carson in goal and Barry in midfield. Barry has been far more effective than Hargreaves and, well, my fish doll would probably do better than poor Paul Robinson at this point. Also, no sign of David Beckham, which I also consider a plus since he is in no way match-fit.

However, he's starting Gerrard and Lampard in midfield. This doesn't ever seem to have worked so I don't see why he's doing it again.

                    Carson

Richards, Lescott, Campbell, A Cole

                      Barry

  Wright-Phillips, Lampard, J Cole

            Gerrard

                      Crouch

            eduardo, petric

kranjcar                          srna
            modric, n.kovac

simunic, r.kovac, simic, corluka

              pletikosa