HANG ON TO your book vouchers this Christmas, Irish football fans; Raymond Domenech released his new book yesterday.
The Frenchman was in charge, of course, when Les Bleus edged out Ireland in a controversial World Cup qualification play-off in 2009, thanks in part to Thierry Henry’s infamous handball.
William Gallas ultimately scored from the move and the French went to South Africa instead of Giovanni Trapattoni’s men.
Their campaign was a disaster however with player unrest marring their short stay at the tournament and Domenech was fired.
“I’m not going to talk about that evening, the immense fear,” he writes in Tout Seul (All Alone), ”the Irish team that led 1-0 in front of 20,000 supporters dressed in green and singing with all their soul The exceptional performance of Hugo Lloris, the equaliser and qualifying goal by William Gallas, after a handball by Thierry Henry,” he writes.
“However, I had the feeling that we should apologise for qualifying. Everyone forgot that we weren’t going to be eliminated at that moment, that the history of football is filled with refereeing errors, that the Irish reached the playoffs thanks to a simulation in the box and an imaginary penalty,” he writes in reference to a dubious penalty that was awarded to Ireland against Georgia in Dublin.
Elsewhere, Domenech blasts several players and was particularly scathing about Franck Ribery, who last week said his Bundesliga club Bayern Munich was more important to him than the French national team. In an extract from his diary in September 2009, Domenech wrote: “Ribery, he continued to poison the group by his attitude as a susceptible diva.
“When I wanted to thank him, he cold-shouldered me, pulling his arm away: ‘Don’t touch me!’ For everything Ribery stood for I would have gladly strung him up.
“The classic image of a coach sees him in front of a blank piece of paper on which he has to name his team. A list for which you are alone. When the match is finished, you are all alone in front of the group. When you make decisions and must assume them, you are all alone even if behind me I had a competent team of staff.”
- additional reporting AFP
