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| LIONEL CIRONNEAU/AP |
| SIDELINED: French national soccer team coach Jacques Santini, left, celebrates as Zinedine Zidane of France is mobbed by teammates after scoring the equalising goal against Croatia. |
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The French national coach is off to Tottenham Hotspur. Is their loss France's gain?
By BRUCE CRUMLEY |
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Posted Friday, June 18, 2004; 17:20 BST
So go to Tottenham already, Mr. Santini. When French coach Jacques Santini sets up shop with the London club, millions of France fans will exhale in relief at seeing the bug-eyed boob gone. As his judgment proved during les Bleus match up against Croatia, Santini can't decide whether he's coaching an amateur league club of VIPs, or officiating an adolescent popularity contest—a bad thing in international football, which isn't remotely close to either. Despite the general elation after beating England, French fans no longer feel terribly confident their boys will get it together, stomp the Swiss, and produce some momentum to take into the quarter finals. All anyone is taking solace from now is that—whether France wins it all July 4, or gets run out on a rail next Monday—this Euro will mark the merciful end of Jacques "Jabba the Hutt" Santini's control of their side.
If England coach Sven-Goran Eriksson's genius in the opener was knowing exactly how the French would play and positioning his team to bog that down, Santini's salvation lay in not feeling forced to make drastic changes, then waiting for opportunity to present itself. Because that worked out so well against England, Santini did the only illogical thing to take on Croatia: he stupidly mucked it all up. Out went the indefatigable Bixente Lizarazu on defense, and in came the frankly frightening Marcel Desailly (whose imitation of a severely drunken man resulted in Croatia's second goal, and whose later boner presented the Croats with a fat chance to break the tie in the closing seconds of the match). France's Einstein of the bench then stuck with midfielder Olivier Dacourt after the midfielder made it clear he'd rather foul his way out of the match than continue stinking in public; he similarly hung in there with defender Mikael Silvestre until very late in the game (presumably to give the Croats a decent chance of copping another penalty). The guilt of having equalized on Trezeguet's larcenously handed ball must have just torn Mr. Fair-Play Santini up with guilt.
When Santini finally did make a few moves, they constituted defeatist self-mockery. Santini eventually pulled Dacourt for the even more clueless Benoit Pedretti (Lesson one, Benny: when those really predictable passes of yours invariably find waiting opponents, it's a sign they're on to you...). And with only 19 minutes left, Santini made the bold move of replacing an uninspired Sylvain Wiltord with Arsenal team mate Robert Pires—the one factor damping the applause over that one being that Pires should have started and played the entire match.
No one knows why Santini decided to futz around with the side that beat England; the notoriously contrarian coach generally refuses to explain his moves (and speaks so slowly when he does that most people lose interest before he's done). Internal French team politics seemed to dictate Desailly's participation in spite of growing signs—including the supposedly slow-to-heal injury that benched him for the opener—that he's no longer up to snuff. Injury to the stellar Claude Makelele forced the midfield alteration on Santini—though it's anyone's guess why he went for a bad solution in Dacourt, and worsened the situation with Pedretti. It is, however, public knowledge why both those midfield dogs are on the squad rather than the brilliant, lighting-fast Vikash Dhorasoo: the pathologically grudge-carrying Santini refuses to select a player with whom he bickered while both were employees of Olympique Lyonnais. Similarly, Santini's decision to sign with Hotspur was based on his anger with France's Football Federation of not renewing his contract before the Euro—a petulant move Santini decided to announce as his players prepared to leave for Portugal, consequences on the group be damned.
Such lack of primary concern for French fortunes may not be surprising from a man whose own hiring was imposed on the French Federation by France's pro clubs and league. (Santini's lobbyist hailed his record of having won a single French title with Lyon, and noted he'd almost been chosen for the national side as a player himself...once.) But Santini's inexplicable coaching moves—and auto-exculpating criticism that his players "had perhaps been too confident" in facing Croatia—leave no one feeling overly confident for Monday's showdown with the mighty Swiss. For that reason, fans who believe in miracles fantasize the Bleus will stage an internal coup, locking Santini in his hotel room, and coach themselves to the final. More realistic types pray the proximity to Fatima will inspire coherence, clarity and logic in Santini's clearly troubled mind. The fatalists, however, are resigned that this time it just isn't meant to be—and seek solace in the thought that before too long, Santini will be Tottenham's cross to bear.
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 Brand it Like Beckham [Apr. 27, 2003]
England's captain on keeping his life in balance: "Never say never"
Players Behaving Badly [Jan. 14, 2002]
More English footballers wind up in the courts, prompting questions about discipline off the pitch
Home-Field Advantage [Feb. 27, 2001]
Are some foreign football stars playing for European teams with the assistance of bogus passports?
Back to the Bad Old Days
[Oct. 14, 2002]
English fans were at their worst at last week's Euro 2004 qualifying match against Slovakia
No Money, No Kickoff [Aug. 25, 2002]
Reality bites, and Italian teams are forced to take drastic action
Pink, Proud And Scoring [May. 14, 2001]
Spain's Alav s proves soccer success doesn't always require big bucks
In The Football Business [Sep. 7, 2003]
The true cost of a kick in the grass
Play and Pay [Jul. 30, 2001]
European soccer's big leagues are eager to recruit Japanese players and not just for their ball skills
Search all issues of TIME Magazine
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| Saturday, June 7, 2008 |
UEFA Euro 2008
Austia & Switzerland |
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