France has become the first high-profile team to have been eliminated from the ongoing FIFA World Cup 2010. After suffering a 2-1 defeat to South Africa on Tuesday, World Cup campaign of the Les Bleus ended in a disastrous note.
France squad has made the newspaper headlines for all the wrong reasons over the last few days. Striker Anelka was excluded from the squad and sent home following his foul-mouthed tirade at coach Raymond Domenech. After that, the players including captain Patrice Evra refused to train as a protest against the decision of sending Anelka home. In the aftermath of the incidents, the team director resigned.
France started off their World Cup mission with a goalless draw with Uruguay, before suffering a humiliating 2-0 defeat at the hands of Mexico. In the last match, France required a big margin victory over South Africa. However, the 1998 world champions could not even win a point from the South Africa encounter.
It is an utterly disappointing performance from a side which features some of the top class players like Anelka, Evra, Henry and Ribery. France played in the tournament final of World Cup 2006 in Germany.
History shows that France’s performance at World Cup has always been inconsistent. Until 1998 World Cup, France could never qualify for more than 3 consecutive World Cup finals.
Even their performance after 1998 World Cup success at home would also give evident to their inconsistency. Going into the 2002 tournament as defending champion, they were eliminated from the Group stage. Four years later in 2006, France made it to the tournament final, before suffering another group stage exit in 2010.
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