Et Tu, Domenech?

By: Martha | January 15th, 2007

Apparently there is so little going on in French football these days that the top names still have nothing to do but bellyache about Fabio Cannavaro winning the Golden Ball. This time, it’s national team manager Raymond Domenech, spinning his wheels in impotent rage. Said the gaffer, “I was shocked when I heard he’d won — I couldn’t understand it.” Now, since the award is presented by a French magazine and Domenech speaks French, I’m assuming his lack of understand wasn’t a simple inability to read the announcement, but rather a case of shock leading to incomprehension. Because he clearly watched only Arsenal during the season and didn’t watch the World Cup, Domenech felt there wasn’t even a contest: “Henry deserved it 100 times more than [Canna] did … He scored a third of France’s goals last year, and was the top scorer in England.” And yeah, ok. Those are pretty impressive achievements, from a great player. But still — despite turning in what Domenech described as a “catastrophic” performance (a phrase I’m committed to using this week at work) against Lyon early this season, Canna isn’t exactly chopped liver. Plus, did Henry never play a bad or anonymous game? Did he never, say, disappear in a big league match? We are talking about the same Thierry Henry, right?

Just so you know, though, Domenech is in no way biased in favor of the French. No, sir! If he ruled the world, it’d be acceptable for Buffon to have won the award — based, oddly enough, entirely on his performance in the World Cup, though apparently the emphasis on Canna’s performance there is a reason didn’t deserve it. Ah, the French. So crazy inscrutable.

Category: Rumors & News, Serie A

Tags: Cannavaro, Donenech, Golden Ball, Rumors -amp; News, Serie A, Theirry Henry

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Comments  

• Louise |  January 15th, 2007 at 1:54 pm

  
  
  

  Domenech is such a waste of time. Tell the truth–this was just an excuse to post another picture of Canna, wasn’t it?

  Posted from United States

  

• Martha |  January 15th, 2007 at 4:53 pm

  
  
  

  Hey, Laurie insists Domenech is a fascinating, intelligent man, so I’m just trying to help him, you know, air his opinions.

  Posted from United States

  

• Louise |  January 15th, 2007 at 5:36 pm

  
  
  

  Maybe he should air some opinions about something other than this, considering this is the same thing he said in November. He needs to go back to his astrology and leave Canna alone.

  Posted from United States

  

• Martha |  January 15th, 2007 at 5:55 pm

  
  
  

  You know, I actually wondered if it was an old quote, but from what I could tell he really did bring it up again. Perhaps the stars told him to?

  Posted from United States

  

• Laurie |  January 15th, 2007 at 8:06 pm

  
  
  

  You just posted this to bring me out of the woodwork today, didn’t you? Funny, this quote popped up in my mailbox three or four times in the last day or so, and I never clicked on the article link because I assumed it was old. But maybe not. Now I’m curious.

  And did I really use words like “fascinating and intelligent”? If so…well, what I meant was: “He drives me totally insane, but he’s fascinatingly and surprisingly good at what he does, and every time he takes the international stage I feel like I’m waiting to see a train wreck.” That kind of fascinating and intelligent.

  Posted from United States

  

• Martha |  January 16th, 2007 at 6:12 am

  
  
  

  Well, of course — I assumed that was what you meant.

  Posted from United States

  

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