JOHANNESBURG – Zinedine Zidane is not happy with the controversial situation going on in the French national team camp and says he does not agree with the team’s decision to boycott training on Sunday.
The former France icon was bombarded with questions about the discord going on within his former team at an Adidas event here on Monday ahead of Tuesday’s France-South Africa match, and nearly all of the questions aimed at finding the 1998 World Cup champion’s take on the current French mess.
While Zidane said he has slim hopes that France can beat the odds and qualify for the knockout phase from Group A, he admitted he was “sad” that most of the attention centering on Les Bleus had little to do with soccer.
Striker Nicolas Anelka was sent home after an obscenity-lade tirade aimed at head coach Raymond Domenech in France’s 2-0 loss to Mexico last week, and the rest of the squad elected to skip training on Sunday in protest.
That led to more drama as team captain Patrice Evra and two team staffers got into a verbal altercation that led the team director to resign, a lamentably public look into the instability in the France camp under lame-duck manager Domenech.
“What’s done is done,” Zidane said through a translator. “[Anelka] has been excluded from the team; he just has to accept the situation. But concerning the players, I do not agree with the fact that they refused to go to the training pitch.”
The captain of the 1998 World Cup-winning team admitted he never had a problem with Domenech, even though he was never a huge supporter of the much-ridiculed manager. But he also added that he would never have challenged any coach during his legendary 12-year career in a French national-team jersey.
“Personally, I don’t agree with what has happened,” he said, “not because of what was said but because of how. I don’t think what was said in the dressing room should have leaked to the press.”
Zizou also denied reports that he had advised his former teammates before the loss to Mexico and said he has absolutely no desire ever to coach the French national team. He reluctantly chuckled about the fact that the public appearance coincided with the controversial situation.
"Yes, I'm sad like a lot of people who support this team,” he said. "We're all disappointed, me firstly, because I wore this jersey for a long time and the nicest thing I could have was to wear it.''
France has a single point through two games after drawing Uruguay in their opener and must defeat South Africa on Tuesday in Bloemfontein and hope the margin of victory between Mexico and Uruguay is at least five goals. The French team returned to the training pitch on Monday ahead of the match.
MLSsoccer.com managing editor Jonah Freedman is reporting from South Africa all this month.
