And it keeps on coming. France captain Patrice Evra gave an interview in which he commented about a 'traitor among us' who leaked word to the press about Anelka's fight with Domenech and who 'wants to see us eliminated'. He apparently thinks it's either one of the players or someone on the coaching staff.

link

Good luck to the next coach.

Cripes, this whole episode is going to make Mommie Dearest look like The Sound of Music.

What if France wins by 3 goals difference against South Africa ?
They'll qualify ?

They also need the Uruguay-Mexico tie to have a winner.

this one has a draw written all over it

Exactly!

Except for the fact that Mexico will then face Argentina in the 1/8-finals... and after beating France I think they'll fancy their chances against Uruguay.

Speaking about France 98'

The french paper Libération reports the traitor to be Ribéry among 3 other not named players, who is constantly in connection with his manager, Zidane. Further more, it seems they forced Domenech not to play a few players he wanted for the Mexico game, and it seems as Zidane is the one who is behind this absurd coup d'état.

I must say, if this is true, and it could be, because my opinion on both Ribéry and Zidane is very low (not on their football skills), I'm with Domenech. Never liked him much, but he did lead France to the WC final, he's eccentric yes, but he certainly did not deserve this.

World Cup 2010: Alou Diarra To Captain Remodelled France Against South Africa - Report

After close to a week of turmoil in the France camp, les Bleus are set to field a drastically reworked side against South Africa this afternoon.

Coach Raymond Domenech has denied allegations that he won’t be in charge of picking the squad, telling a press conference on Monday evening: “I'll play the team that the staff and I want.”

Captain Patrice Evra, who on Sunday led a strike of the France players, failed to show for a meeting with the media, and Football365 suggests that the Manchester United left-back could be stripped of his role in the side and placed on the bench.

While France’s 4-3-3 formation is set to remain, the personnel will be different. Djibril Cisse has been strongly tipped to come into the side to provide a goalscoring threat, while Mathieu Valbuena is ready to replace Sidney Govou down the right flank. Franck Ribery is not certain of a starting berth and could be replaced by Thierry Henry, while Alou Diarra should come into the midfield to displace Abou Diaby and also claim the captain’s armband.

Should Evra vacate the left-back berth, Gael Clichy will take the role, and Sebastien Squillaci will supersede William Gallas in the centre of the rearguard.

Possible France XI to face South Africa: Lloris; Sagna, Squillaci, Abidal, Clichy; A.Diarra, Gourcuff, Malouda; Valbuena, Cisse, Ribery

goal.com

official line-up: Lloris; Sagna, Squillaci, Gallas, Clichy; A.Diarra, Gourcuff, Diaby; Gignac, Cisse, Ribery

I almost hope the French continue in this tournament. They're providing such great melodrama that I'm going to miss it if they go out.

+1

Viva France.

Cisse will score

Which game are you guys going to watch?

France - South Africa my channel shows me... oh, the other 2 showing this game also... so... easy pick

edit: I'm so stupid, the Dutch are showing both games

early chance for france. gignac shoots straight at keeper. good play from gourii

SA 1-0 France

Big mistake Lloris


-

Red card Cisse. WTF? no it's Kuffkuff! WHAT A STUPID *** DECISION!! THAT DIDN'T DESERVE RED!!

I don't like France at all (except Gourcuff) but I'm sorry for them. I'd like them to see continuing.

I am glad they cheated the Irish out. There us no way Ireland would have given us this amount of entertainment.

The leprechauns are probably into the potcheen by now.

2-0

hahaha

2-0 now!

i don't care what entertainment value they offer...i don't want to see anymore of these overpaid pre-madonas.

France hasn't trained since Anelka did not want to apoligize.
offsides 3-2 france - South Africa and one of them was goal

Uruguay 1-0 Mexico Suarez

oh if both france and mexico could lose on the same day...i would be soooo happy

Mexico is in danger from South Africa ?

URUGAUY !!!

Mexico and South Afirca got the same points just that Mexico scored more

HT Mexico - Uruguay 0-1
HT South Africa - France 2-0
c'mon Uruguaý

If Uruguay scores one goal, and South Africa also one goal, THEN Mexico is out and S.Africa through

oh, and I can watch both games I see now

Suarez missed one wonderful chance there!
But Forlan will score, I hope.
I hope South Africa scores 2 more goal and will go trough cause, at least one African Team should go trough

David James scores for France, 2-1.

South Africa out. Take the vuvuzelas with you plz.

France and SA were given the golden chance by Uruguay but didn't take it. they can only blame themselves. esp France.

Can i take my earmuffs off now?

But seriously, full credit and +1 cookie to Bafana Bafana for surprising perhaps everyone a bit - and for actually playing. Decently, too.

http://worldcupsimulator.com/

I'd completely forgotten that France cheated Ireland out of the World Cup (Henry's Handball Heard Round the World) until Kurt mentioned it. Well, karma is definitely a female dog, I'd say.

Now I'm just awaiting the announcement that Domenech will finally be thrown out on his ear once and for all.

I must say, I'm a bit impressed by Uruguay: 3 matches, 0 goals conceeded, solid defending, nice counter-play, flamboyant attack. I see them in the quaters.

So, things are not entirely rosy in the England camp either.

A couple of days ago, John Terry gave an interview to itv saying that (among other things) there needed ot be a clear the air meeting with Capello and that Joe Cole should start. link

Lampard the next day denies that crisis talks took place. link

Terry's actions were not much appreciated by Capello, who said that Terry made a 'big mistake' by talking to the press about it instead of him. link

So John Terry apologized. link

Diego Lugano is da man!

The US' bellyaching about the phantom foul against Slovakia has been bad enough (which itself has conveniently covered up the fact that they shouldn't have gone down 2-0 like that in the first place). But the real drama queens never fail to stay in the shadows for very long, and we have France and England to thank for that.

Anyone who watched Germany '06 remembers that England were the only squad who openly complained about the heat and being denied water breaks during training sessions.

I was pleased with Terry's comments, especially as theres been a bit of a rumour that Capello is far too strict.

Our players are often accused of not caring, Terry certainly dispelled that myth with those comments.

IMO Terry made himself look like the tool he is by saying what he did, if he had felt that strongly then he should have gone straight to Don Fabio. I find it funny how he's had to publicly backtrack

And so what if Don fabio is strict? It's about time these overpaid prima donna's had some discipline.

That's the point, he's too strict. There's noises coming out of the camp that you can't talk to him, communication between him and the players goes one way.

It doesn't matter how much they're paid, if they're treated like crap and aren't even allowed to talk, it's too far.

As for what he said about Cole, bang on. Yet another selection howler from Fabio.

But the rumors (granted they're rumors) indicate the poor wee lads were upset at not having copious amounts of booze or their playstations or their blow-up do...er, wags around during the tournament. If this really is why the poor lambs were upset then I really do worry for the future of England's national team. For the record, I think Terry was way out of line in going to the press about it and to me it smacks of an attempt at revenge for his having lost the captaincy.

EDIT: And Kurt, Capello's comment that Terry singling out Joe Cole was out of line is also spot on -- his having done so was disrespectful both to the coach and to the rest of his teammates.

Meh, Terry was spot on as far as I'm concerned.

If Joe does play tomorrow and we win, might as well have Terry coaching the team. The FA making him apologise is s load if BS. Especially seeing as they're probably the ones that deserve the most blame in recent years.

Then we can agree to disagree on this one, Kurt. I think Terry was way out of line and I'd actually be disappointed if he were to play tomorrow. Think he's embarrassed himself and his country quite enough.


EDITED slightly because I don't want to be an argumentative fish.