PARIS // The day after Zinedine Zidane butted the Italian player Marco Materazzi in the 2006 World Cup final, his inevitable dismissal contributing to a French defeat, he joined teammates as a guest of Jacques Chirac, then president, at a homecoming reception at the Elysee.
If today's results lead to France's early departure from the 2010 tournament, it is difficult to imagine Nicolas Sarkozy throwing open the palace to a squad widely condemned for bringing disgrace on their country in South Africa. Zidane's gesture in Berlin was unprofessional and loutish, but France was quick to forgive, especially when it was reported that he had acted in response to a deeply offensive remark about his mother or sister. The Marseille-born son of Algerian immigrants, he has remained one of the country's most popular celebrities.
Les Bleus of 2010 are in a league of their own, their disarray and indiscipline provoking indignation from politicians, outrage in the media and question marks about future commercial sponsorship. There was already unconcealed exasperation at the poor performances of the team before the extraordinary events of recent days saw the team in open revolt after the Chelsea striker Nicolas Anelka was expelled from the side for insulting the beleaguered coach Raymond Domenech.
France television viewers have watched the unfolding drama in disbelief, cameras capturing the petulant actions of players who not only refused to train - as a mark of solidarity with Anelka - but left Domenech to read out their explanatory statement to the media. "The ridiculous mutiny" , said Ouest-France, France's biggest-selling daily newspaper. "French football implodes", declared Le Figaro. "An embarrassment to sponsors," observed the financial daily, Les Echos, whose reporter thought it just as well that most were locked into long-term contracts. "The team explodes; the circus continues," added, a little cheekily, the Tribune de Genève from across the border in Switzerland.
Even Le Monde abandoned its customary understatement to list adjectives chosen by politicians to describe the antics of footballers supposedly representing their country in one of the world's greatest sporting events. "Heartbreaking, outrageous, pathetic, appalling," the paper said. "A torrent of unanimous criticism has descended on the team from France's world of politics, regardless of political colour," it added.
Mr Sarkozy, who had paused during an official visit to Russia to describe Anelka's reported obscenities as "unacceptable", asked Roselyne Bachelot, the health and sport minister, to extend a visit to South Africa to meet members of the squad. Her clear mission was to impress upon them the dismay their conduct was causing at home. For her part, Ms Bachelot called on French players to remember they were wearing their country's colours and to act with responsibility and dignity ahead of today's final Group A match, against the host nation.
But the team faces an uphill battle to regain the respect and confidence of their compatriots. Far more than when Zidane exacted his retribution on Materazzi in front of millions of viewers, French people are talking about the appalling example being set to children by highly paid sporting heroes. Sportswriters reacted scathingly to the 2-0 defeat by Mexico last Thursday; two newspapers chose the same phrase, "predictable disaster", for the main headlines on their sport pages, with sharp criticism directed not only at the failings of the players but at the abilities of Domenech as coach.
Domenech, a former defender with a fondness for amateur theatrics and astrology, has a track record of falling out with individual players. His tactical approach has been repeatedly questioned, with Zidane among his detractors, and he is due to be replaced after the World Cup by the former Barcelona, Inter Milan and Manchester United player and Bordeaux manager Laurent Blanc. Even a substantial victory against the hosts, South Africa, will fail to keep France in the tournament if Uruguay and Mexico draw their game, also today.
Fair-minded French football supporters accept their team's limitations more readily than they are prepared to tolerate the spectacle, on peak-time news bulletins, of members of the entourage behaving like squabbling adolescents. One of the abiding images of three days of mayhem in the French camp will be the look of horror on the face of France's team director, Jean-Louis Valentin, surrounded by reporters after announcing his resignation from the French Football Federation.
"It's a scandal for the French, for the young people here, for the federation and the French team," he said. "As for me, it's over. I'm leaving the federation. I'm sickened and disgusted." crandall@thenational.ae
