Euro 2012 qual. - Sorry France shocked by Belarus
Reuters - Fri, 03 Sep 22:00:00 2010
France, under new coach Laurent Blanc, failed to shrug off their old ways as they slumped to an embarrassing 1-0 home defeat against Belarus in their opening Euro 2012 Group D qualifier.
The French players were cheered on to the pitch by flag-waving fans but were booed off it an hour and a half later after Belarus substitute Sergei Kislyak netted the winner with four minutes left having converted his side's only clear chance.
"I want to thank the fans who came here to support us," France captain Florent Malouda told the angry crowd shortly after the final whistle was blown on Les Bleus's hopes of rediscovering the pride they lost at the World Cup in June.
"It is a pity to start this campaign with a defeat."
Hopes were high that France would have closed the door on their sorry World Cup chapter, when they were knocked out in the first round after a players' revolt, and start afresh under Blanc.
The players were greeted by a round of applause by the Stade de France faithfuls during the warm-up as Blanc welcomed back nine players who were at the World Cup in South Africa.
France took control of the game early on, with Marseille striker Loic Remy's header going just wide from a corner kick after 17 minutes.
Though they were shaky at the back, Belarus proved sharp on the break as Alexander Hleb twice caused havoc in the French defence.
Florent Malouda produced France's first attempt on target when Yury Zhevnov parried away the Chelsea winger's powerful 20-metre drive on the stroke of halftime.
Malouda thought he had scored in the 63rd minute but was ruled offside.
France piled on the pressure and Mathieu Valbuena, who came in for the injured Remy in the first half, had a superb dipping volley from the edge of the box tipped over his bar by Zhevnov.
Louis Saha came in for Jeremy Menez in the 70th minute in an attempt by Blanc to toughen up his front line. The Everton striker, however, was replaced injured 10 minutes later by newcomer Kevin Gameiro.
It was not enough, however, as Kislyak, who came on in the 75th minute, collected a back pass from Vyacheslav Hleb in the box before firing past Hugo Lloris.
France will next travel to Bosnia on Tuesday.
Comment 9 - 28 of 28
Shine? Future glory? You have got to be kidding me. yeah, they had the ball, but did they know what to do with it? Nope. There only were a couple of scoring chances, one of the most notable was from outside the box.
Guys groaning 'bout bad luck, you're pathetic. Not capitalizing on 3-4 scoring chances is no bad luck, it's football. The thing is, there should've been many more vs. 78th team in fifa world rankings.
Not sure 'bout any potential either. There was only one colourful spot on grey french canvass that night - Flourent Malouda.
France are the cheaters of football............they robbed ireland for the World Cup place and deserved to be humiliated again after their @#$% performance in the World cup........bunch of to.sers
From purushothampillaipillaigopipilla,
so you know for a fact that ireland would beat them on the extra time or on penalties? grow a brain
betting scam
arrest the bookmakers involved
@trd W.a.n.k.e.r!!!
IRELAND...IRELAND.....IRELAND!!!
I watched this match untill the 81st minute. Let me tell you, anyone that says France sucks and/or deserves to lose is ignorant. France dominated most of the match in Possession, and midfield play and creativity, bar 1-2 Belarus attacks.
France was unlucky, some flashes of shine, if not future glory, was displayed by the French side for the moment. This team has potential! The hate is somewhat ignorant and simply just spiteful.
Comment 11 & 16 ........ I think there is a letter 'U' missing from your name ........ Merci comme meme.
No doubt I'm also 'stupid' and you hate me too ?
Anythime you don't play one of the greatest players ever like Henry and you lose arguably one of the top 5 ever players in Zidane, your team is gonna fall off and that is what has happened in france, theses 2 players are irreplaceable. Although their are more than 2 players on a team, 2 players on a team at the same time of this greatness that no longer play, is going to affect the level of play of any team. France needs an identity, and thy've got a mix of some experienced and some guys that are brand new and they are just not playing like a team or to their capabilities yet. Give Blanc time to find the right pieces to the the national team, he's a great coach and he'll get it right even if it takes a year. I agree that Ireland was a better team when they played last year but the result was france won, can't change history. Just like you can't cahnge the past. Good luck to France cause they obviously need it, and good luck to Ireland they deserve to be in euro 2012
france are w@nk and so is michel`e platini the biggest w@nker of them all
Nemesis still follow France, they need to send an apology letter to Ireland for cheating on them, failing to do so they will never qaulify for the Euro cup....what a shame to the Almighty France.
Guess it wasnt all Domenech's fault, after all. But, hey, at least they got their scape goat.
Seems that either bashing on others' misfortunes or gloating on past glory is the banner under which the whole of Britain marches. During the WC qualifiers Fabio Capello was hailed as a master coach, an able driver who had reined the wild horses (lions?) of the English National team. I'll pass on what happened in South Africa. The French football team is going through its own changes, some players will be called and others dropped. At least, it is not Domenech at the helm! And get over the France Ireland loss! Ireland also profited of hand-assisted goals. Should the French be cheats, then Ireland are cheaters too!
Comment 3, A: when was the last time England got to a final of a major tournament? Answer 1966. When was the last time France got to a final of a major tournament? Answer 2006. When was the last time England won a major international tournament? Answer 1966. When was the last time France won a major international tournament? Answer 2000. Get my drift? As bad as things may be for France presently, at least they have achieved much more success on the international stage then England who have only managed to reached 1 world cup semi final since 1966 and of course haven't got to a final since then.
@Jacky you are stupid too!
when scotland beat them it was a shock. now it would probobly be shocking if scotland didnt beat them. how can you go from world cup finalists to world cup laughing stock in just 4 years?
My last comment didn't work, so I'll try transliterating it: Molodets, Belarus'!
@trd: thanks for wasting your time on things you hate.
ha ha stupid damien!
Most stupid football nation...i hate France,they are soo poor!!
Try typing 4u2vu in go-ogle there are hidden beauties inside
Please login to post a comment
Not already a Yahoo! user ? Sign up to get a free Yahoo! Account