The 2010 World Cup in South Africa constitutes one of the darkest pages in the history of French football. The Knysna fiasco reached its peak on June 19 of that year.
That morning, The Team poster Raymond Domenech and
Nicolas Anelka on the front page of his daily sporting life. This is crossed out by the following title: “Fuck you, you son of a bitch!” “.
More than fifteen years after this debacle, Raymond Domenech admitted an error concerning his list of selected players.
“It was a fiasco of organization, power and responsibilities, confided the former coach of the Blues to the Gazzetta dello Sport. We lacked individual and collective intelligence. I missed my summons: I should not have called Gourcuff and Anelka. »
Anelka-Gourcuff, before and after Knysna
Selected 69 times for the French team between 1998 and 2010 (14 goals scored), the Euro 2000 winner had a chaotic history with the Blues. Sidelined by Jacques Santini in 2003, he found himself at the heart of the Knysna fiasco, during the World Cup in South Africa.
As for Yoann Gourcuff, he signed for Olympique Lyonnais a few weeks after this competition. A colossal transfer from the Girondins de Bordeaux at the time. Except that the Breton never found his best level again…
