Vice-world champion in 2006 after its defeat in the final against Italy, the French team began qualifying two years later for the 2010 World Cup organized in South Africa. Before the fiasco illustrated by the bus episode in Knysna, the Blues had difficulty snatching their ticket for the competition. Fifteen years later, Raymond Domenech remembers that his team was not really supported.
On the set of the L’Équipe channel this Thursday, the former French coach spoke about this period. “There is a strange thing, it is that we have the impression that people, especially the media, wanted us not to qualify. We had this feeling. That’s what we felt. We felt a form of total opposition, a climate around us. »
And Estelle Denis’ former companion continued:
“At the stadium, the spectators, it was always complicated in all the qualifying matches. We never had the enthusiasm that existed afterwards. We felt it like that. » A very different feeling from that of 2006 according to Raymond Domenech.
“In 2006, we had the atmosphere, we had the public with us. Afterwards, in 2010, we qualified against everyone. And under what conditions in addition…”
Raymond Domenech and the hand of Thierry Henry
The former boss of the Blues here alluded to the famous hand of Thierry Henry during the extension of the return play-off match won miraculously against Ireland. A hand that Raymond Domenech continues to swear he did not see. ” But no. We are qualified, I go into the locker room, immediately I go to the press and they all make a six-foot-long head and I ask them: ‘What’s going on? Aren’t you happy we qualified?’ And it wasn’t to provoke any more. I hadn’t seen anything. And they start to tell me: ‘There’s been a problem, there’s a hand.’ I say: ‘Wait, I’m not a referee. If the referee didn’t see it, what am I going to do about it? We are qualified, you should be happy that we are qualified.’ (…) Injustice is part of sport. »
Against the backdrop of the Zahia affair revealed just before the 2010 World Cup, the Blues will go to South Africa and offer a spectacle that has sadly entered the history of the France team. Three matches played, none won, one draw and two defeats. After the elimination in the first round of Euro 2008, Raymond Domenech this time did not resist the storm and was dismissed after the World Cup.
