A Tale of Two Federations: How France and England Cope with Disappointment

August 8th, 2010 | by: Sarah | View Comments

At the World Cup this summer, both England and France fans were dealt some disappointing blows. Sure, the details of what happened in the squads may be different. Arguably, what happened to France was by far worse. While England merely fizzled out (with a few sparks-both good and bad) during the tournament, France exploded. I don’t want to go into details for fear of triggering any post-traumatic stress symptoms fans may still have. So I encourage you to read this (France) and this (England) post at your own risk. World Cup Blog assumes no responsibility for any rage, sadness or deep depression you may fall into after…

But, following those disappointing weeks and the furious pace of the media in both countries trying to find someone to blame – the Federations are back in the spotlight to see how effective their changes are when both countries participate in friendlies this week. And while friendlies, especially the August friendly, aren’t normally important and don’t mean anything in terms of qualification points – this friendly may turn out to be very important for both federations, coaches and the players chosen. So here is how each country has attempted to mend the damage that caused their failures this summer..

France Football Federation (FFF)

• Confirmed Blanc, who had been announced as Domenech’s successor prior to the tournament, as the next coach of Les Bleus;
• The President of the FFF, Jean-Pierre Escalettes, resigned for his role in causing (and not preventing) the catastrophe;
• Opened an official investigation into the events that transpired during the World Cup (leading to massive political jockeying to elect new President to replace the one that resigned);
• Approved Blanc’s request to make all 23 players involved in France’s World Cup ineligible to be called up for August friendly;
• Celebrated an U19 European Championship win (and then embarrassed themselves by getting into a pissing contest with media consultant during celebratory speech);
• Unanimously voted that 5 players be held for additional investigation by the Disciplinary Committee;

For better of worse – all this (plus a few smaller changes not necessarily worth mentioning here) – led to the call-up of an almost entire new squad for France to face Norway on August 11th.

KEEPERS: Stephane Ruffier (Monaco), Nicolas Douchez (Rennes)

DEFENDERS: Rod Fanni (Rennes), Adil Rami (Lille), Philippe Mexes (AS Roma), Sakho (Paris SG), Benedict Trémoulinas (Bordeaux), Aly Cissokho (Lyon), Mathieu Debuchy (Lille).

MIDFIELD: Lassana Diarra (Real Madrid), Moussa Sissoko (Toulouse), Yann M’Vila (Rennes), Samir Nasri (Arsenal ), Yohan Cabaye (Lille), Charles N’Zogbia (Wigan), Blaise Matuidi (Saint Etienne).

STRIKERS: Hatem Ben Arfa (Marseille), Karim Benzema (Real Madrid), Loïc Remy (Nice), Jimmy Briand (Lyon), Jeremy Menez (AS Rome), Guillaume Hoarau (Paris SG).

ENGLAND FA

• Confirmed Fabio Capello will remain in charge of England after World Cup based on a “football criteria” (then revealed his assessment of players without his permission);
• “Outlined” the FA’s plans to give England “a better chance in the future” – which included working closely with club academies, encouraging licensing of English coaches and managers and approving Capello’s “request” to have an English coach join his set-up;
• Lowered ticket prices for England’s upcoming game vs Hungary as a “we’re sorry” olive branch to fans
• Boys U17 wins Nordic Title
• Boys U19 successfully progress to semi-finals of the European Championship before losing to Spain

These tweaks of the system resulted in Capello calling up a squad filled with familiar and new faces for England when they face Hungary at home on August 11.

KEEPERS:  Ben Foster (Birmingham), Joe Hart (Manchester City), Paul Robinson (Blackburn Rovers)

DEFENDERS:  Wes Brown (Manchester United), Gary Cahill (Bolton Wanderers), Ashley Cole (Chelsea), Michael Dawson (Tottenham Hotspur), Kieran Gibbs (Arsenal), Phil Jagielka (Everton), Glen Johnson (Liverpool), John Terry (Chelsea)

MIDFIELD:  Gareth Barry (Manchester City), Steven Gerrard (Liverpool), Adam Johnson (Manchester City), Frank Lampard (Chelsea), James Milner (Aston Villa), Ashley Young (Aston Villa), Theo Walcott (Arsenal), Jack Wilshere (Arsenal)

STRIKERS:  Darren Bent (Sunderland), Carlton Cole (West Ham United), Wayne Rooney (Manchester United), Bobby Zamora (Fulham)

JUDGMENT TIME

The biggest difference between the two strategies, for me at least, is the decision on what was at fault. England seem to think that they have the right people performing the tasks- its just the system they are using that is at fault. Whereas France seems to think they have the right system, just the wrong people managing it.  I’m not so sure you can separate the two so cleanly.

For me, it is too early to tell who is right. Of course, they could both be wrong.  I can’t really speak for England fans, but as a France fan I’m cautious in putting my faith in the FFF.  Because despite the public way in which they’ve announced changes to make it seem like real progress is being made, they are still a silly bunch who are more concerned about their egos and saving face than putting the good of the team first (I only have to point to Houllier’s recent public spat as an example).  There are differing opinions on how brilliant of an idea it is to suspend all 23 players considering the Euro 2012 qualifiers are just around the corner.  I, for one, am glad.  Sure, that means we will be entering qualification a little rusty.  But, forcing ourselves to think out of the box instead of relying on what “feels comfortable” isn’t going to work either.  Some of these players may never receive another call-up for France in their careers – but for others, it creates a real chance to challenge the 23 players who had largely owned their spot in the national team for several years.  Though the game means nothing and this young group of players have never played together before – this is a team that will be hungry to prove themselves to Blanc and France.

On the flip side of the coin…we have the English FA who, for better or worse, did not bend to media pressure and public sentiment to make significant changes in their team and the way their federation conducted themselves.  And they’ve had their fair share of embarrassments since the World Cup, such as the Capello index being revealed without his approval.

So where do you fall on this debate? Do you prefer the tweaking ’till you get it right strategy of England or the blank slate strategy of France (new coach, new team, new captain, new Federation President)?