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The Domenech thing:
The bust up with Malouda seemingly occured when RD asked him to play on one wing and Ribéry on the other. It is strange. Ribéry wants to play on the left flank. Malouda never played on the right.
Malouda said today that the altercation happened in training. He played too aggressively and that wasn't appreciated, by Evra and Domenech. Evra might be overacting as new captain. Too demanding.
Malouda added that the bust up was not one, and that Diaby being selected instead was no sanction.
Now, Diaby has been a good player since the warm ups. He was a sub and offered the assist on France's second goal against Costa Rica, 270 minutes ago.
So it could be the truth.
Anyhow, Domenech not sanctioning Malouda (by rushing him back to his homeland, like Ireland did to Roy Keane) can be seen as weakness.
Back in '06, he was deprived of his share of plaudits by former champions Dugarry, Lizarazu and others.
Domenech reckoned that he was focused on the tournament but alledged that the day after the final, no longer France coach, he will burn up immediately.
It seems the team as a team cannot cope with the pressure; everyone's dealing with his own load of responsibility. That ain't good.
I thought the result was OK. The team isn't as hopeless as it could have been. The game was not a shame - I remember France-Romania in '08, that was crap tactics.
I look forward to South Africa's next game.
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