Domenech receives strong backing before job verdict

02/07/2008 14:50

By Patrick Vignal

PARIS (Reuters) - France coach Raymond Domenech, who will find out on Thursday whether his team’s disappointing Euro 2008 campaign has cost him his job, can at least rely on a few powerful allies.

Captain Patrick Vieira, inspirational playmaker Franck Ribery and all-time great Michel Platini, now the UEFA president, have all said Domenech should stay on.

Others, including several members of France’s 1998 World Cup-winning team like Zinedine Zidane, have spoken out in favour of former France captain Didier Deschamps, regarded as the favourite to replace Domenech if he is axed.

"It’s true that someone who could replace the current coach is clearly Didier Deschamps," Zidane told a news conference during Euro 2008.

"He’s got everything it takes. He knows the group, he knows football very well and I think it’s quite in order for him, one day, to take over."

The 56-year-old Domenech, who has a contract until the 2010 World Cup finals, will appear before a council meeting of the French Football Federation (FFF) on Thursday to assess his achievements.

The 21 council members will then deliberate before FFF president Jean-Pierre Escalettes announces the verdict at a news conference scheduled for 1100 GMT.

Domenech, who took over after France’s Euro 2004 quarter-final .....continued below

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exit, will point out that he defied the odds to guide the team to the 2006 World Cup final after persuading Zidane, Lilian Thuram and Claude Makelele to come out of retirement.

TOUGH TASK

He faces a tough task, however, in explaining why the former world and European champions finished bottom of their group at Euro 2008 with one point and one goal.

Domenech, who failed to find the right mix between ageing stalwarts and untested newcomers, was also criticised for keeping midfielder Vieira in his squad despite a thigh injury that meant the captain did not play at all.

France, playing their first tournament in over a decade without Zidane who retired after the 2006 World Cup final, produced dismal performances during Euro 2008.

Nervous at the back, short of ideas in midfield and toothless in attack, the team did little to suggest Domenech had a coherent game plan.

There is a room for hope, however, with several gifted players from the team who won the Under-17 European championship in 2004, notably striker Karim Benzema, playmaker Samir Nasri and forward Hatem Ben Arfa.

The question is whether the uncompromising Domenech, who has a difficult relationship with some players and the media, is the right man to lead the rebuilding process.

"What needs to be done is to rejuvenate the side and qualify for the 2010 World Cup," Platini told French sports daily L’Equipe. "The best-placed person to do that is Raymond, because he knows the players in the current squad and those coming up."

(Editing by Ed Osmond)

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