Escalettes: WCup debacle undid 50 years of values
French football federation president Jean-Pierre Escalettes said Tuesday that France's World Cup debacle has destroyed ``50 years of values'' and the national team's wild antics brought ``shame'' upon the country.
France was eliminated after the first round for the second consecutive major tournament under coach Raymond Domenech, but it was the open conflicts live on television that tore apart a once-proud team and really shocked the nation.
French players boycotted a training session in protest at Nicolas Anelka's exclusion from the squad after his expletive-filled tirade was splashed across a newspaper.
``What upsets me the most if the psychodrama of last weekend. Where, for me, 50 years of values crumbled,'' Escalettes said after France lost to South Africa 2-1, eliminating both teams. ``I thought at the time of this shame that football brought to France ... That's far worse than poor results.''
Escalettes said there will be a FFF federal council meeting early July to discuss what went wrong.
``Everyone will go before the federal council, the president, the players, the coach, the medical staff, to see who is responsible,'' he said. ``There will probably be sanctions, but I can't pre-empt what the council will decide.''
With Domenech's troubled six-year reign at an end, former France defender Laurent Blanc - a World Cup winner with France in 1998 and a European Championship winner two years later - has a lot of work to do.
``The rebuilding will be done around Laurent Blanc ... a page has been turned,'' Escalettes said. ``It won't be the same team. ... I have total confidence on Laurent Blanc as a man, as a coach.''