Raymond Domenech

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Raymond Domenech
Personal information
Full name Raymond Domenech
Position(s) Defender (retired)

Raymond Domenech (born 24 January, 1952 in Lyon) is a former French football player and the current manager of the French national team. He is of partly Spanish-Catalan descent. His father fled Spain during the rule of Francisco Franco. He has two children, Victoire (*2004) and Merlin (*2007) with famous football-specialized sports journalist Estelle Denis. He proposed to her while being interviewed on French M6 TV channel at the end of the last match of the French squad at the 2008 Euro. She is yet to respond.

France manager

2006 World Cup

On July 12, 2004, Domenech was a surprise choice to succeed Jacques Santini after the country's disappointing exit from Euro 2004 by losing in the quarter-final match to the eventual tournament winners Greece. He was given the objective by the Fédération Française de Football to reach "at least" the 2006 FIFA World Cup semi-finals.

Qualifying

France struggled in the qualifiers, even though the team was seeded in a group that included the relatively unheralded teams of Israel and Switzerland The Republic of Ireland were France's main contenders in the group, and looked like contributing to France's exit until Zidane returned to inspire France to a 1-0 win at landsdowne road, inspiring the French and ending the hopes of the Irish. Domenech had to force Claude Makélélé, Lilian Thuram and Zinédine Zidane, members of France's 'golden generation', out of international retirement to aid the national team to eventually qualify. The general consensus in France, however, was that France was too dated a side to win the 2006 FIFA World Cup, despite the return of their cherished talisman, Zidane.

Squad selection

Domenech's management style has also raised eyebrows amongst players and fans. A keen amateur dramatist and astrologer, Domenech has admitted to distrusting Scorpios, such as Robert Pirès. This led to the choosing of Vikash Dhorasoo who played an important part in qualifying but not in the finals. He later fell out with Dhorasoo after he made a behind the scenes film called "Substitute".His decision to leave out FC Barcelona star Ludovic Giuly in favour of Franck Ribéry, and subsequent refusal to explain that decision, left many French players and fans mystified. [1]. Domenech chose Pascal Chimbonda, a low-profile player with no international experience, for the squad. Domenech's selection for the France's World Cup squad was further criticised when he publicly announced that Fabien Barthez would start ahead of Lyon goalkeeper Grégory Coupet. This decision was met with derision in the French press and also led to Coupet walking out of the national squad before the tournament, though he was later to return. [2] His exclusion of A.S Roma back bone defender, Philippe Mexès, has also raised a few eyebrowes. Mexès, named Hope of the year in 2000 and being an all star defender for A.S Roma since his arrival to the team, still has to participate in a competitive senior tournament under Domenech.

Finals in Germany

His tactical strategies, perceived as "naïve" amongst the French press [3] and his team's slow start in the 2006 FIFA World Cup (recording ties against Switzerland and South Korea before finally defeating Togo) had seen him placed under further pressure[4].

However, France turned the corner after the victory against Togo and started to play the good passing possession football in which they were renowned for in their triumphs in World Cup 98 and Euro 2000. They shone in the knockout round, which included impressive victories over favoured Spain, Brazil, and Portugal. France lost the final to Italy in the penalty shootout after a 1–1 tie in extra time.

France's successful tournament caused the pressure on Domenech to be lifted completely. Recalled golden generation veterans Zidane and Thuram earned spots on the All-Star Team, with Zidane being named the tournament MVP. Ribéry's performance made him the potent successor to Zidane as the team's talisman.

Euro 2008

Qualifying

A 3–0 shutout of Georgia and a 3–1 defeat of arch-rivals Italy in the first Euro 2008 qualifiers took France back to the top of the ELO rankings.

On 27 August, Claude Makélélé's club manager José Mourinho stated that Domenech was treating Makélélé "like a slave", as Makélélé had earlier announced his retirement after the 2006 World Cup. Domenech responded "as long as he is performing, he will play. I have the right to pick him." Rules made by FIFA state that players not appearing for their national team when called up face a ban from playing for their clubs.[5] [6]

Despite losing to outsiders Scotland twice, France qualified for Euro 2008 as runners-up to Italy. Domenech criticised the seeding system for the Euro 2008 group stages draw, which could have seen France drawn with Italy, the Netherlands and Romania. His worst fears were confirmed when France were drawn in a group of death with Italy, the Netherlands and Romania. Domenech said that he would retire from being coach if he failed to qualify for the quarter finals. After losing 2-0 to Italy and thus being knocked out of the tournament, the French media touted Didier Deschamps as his replacement as coach of the national team although no decision was to be made before a meeting of the French Football Federation on June 26th. [7]

France drew 0-0 against Romania in their opening match, lost 4-1 to the Netherlands and then lost 2-0 to Italy to finish bottom of the group with only one point.

Career

References

  1. ^ "Giuly's confusion at being left out of the squad".
  2. ^ "Coupet temporarily quits squad".
  3. ^ "Tactical naiveté (article in French)".
  4. ^ "An example of the criticism of France's performances in the press (Article in French)".
  5. ^ BBC SPORT | Football | My Club | Chelsea | Domenech rekindles Makelele row
  6. ^ [1][dead link]
  7. ^ "Big trio in tough Euro 2008 group". BBC. 2007-12-02. Retrieved 2007-12-12.
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