The French team has become the laughing stock of planet earth for its swearing, bickering and training boycott at the World Cup.
Assessments outside France range from “kindergarten” and “the incredible sulk” to “French Revolution” and “France: Les Bleus? Les Misrables!”
The expulsion of Nicolas Anelka over his failure to apologise for insulting coach Raymond Domenech, a player strike, the resignation of team director Jean-Louis Valentin and an altercation between captain Patrice Evra and the fitness coach have made waves.
“France’s 2010 World Cup experience now resembles a kindergarten field trip gone awry,” said The Wall Street Journal in the United States.
The paper went on to say that “by now, the whining from France’s soccer team has become far more pronounced and aggravating than anything a vuvuzela can manage,” a mocking reference to Evra’s complaint about the World Cup trumpet from early in the tournament.
The Independent said that “on a training ground called The Field of Dreams French football disintegrated yesterday.” The paper also duly noted that the bus of the troubled squad bore the name “United for a New Blue Dream.”
German broadsheet Sueddeutsche Zeitung said the French “World Cup trip to South Africa is more and more turning into a parade of ghosts.”
Austria’s Kurier titled: “France: Les Bleus? Les Misrables!” and in Australia the Sydney Morning Herald spoke of “the incredible sulk.”
Many papers said it was the ultimate humiliation for Domenech to read out the players’ statement that they went on strike because of Anelka’s expulsion.
— DPA