Raymond Domenech: The World Cup Begins In March

Time is running short for France if they are to make a push towards the World Cup finals in South Africa in 2010. Currently the 1998 world champions sit in third spot in Group 7, five points adrift of both Lithuania and Serbia, who have both played a game more than Raymond Domenech’s troops.

A double-header against the in-form Lithuanians will see France gifted an ideal opportunity to close that gap, although any slips could mean the end of their South African dreams. This is a fact that Domenech is acutely aware of yet he masks France’s problems with a degree of spin.

“We have already taken a step [towards South Africa],” he rather optimistically explained in his weekly column on the FFF’s official website. “February’s match [against Argentina], will only serve to prepare the players for late March and early April. We will be ready.

“We know there will be Champions League matches cutting in to the left and to the right but the World Cup begins here for us.”

Perhaps someone should inform the French boss that the World Cup started, in fact, back in September. Domenech will have done well to have wiped les Bleus’ previous games from his mind as they were embarrassingly humbled in Vienna by Austria (3-1) before unconvincingly edging Sebia 2-1 at the Stade de France.

At 2-0 down against Romania, France appeared to be crashing out of the competition 18 months before the final stages began but they refused to buckle and fought back for a 2-2 draw, salvaging some hope.

Any such further calamities against Lithuania in the spring or will surely spell the end of les Bleus and for Domenech.

Robin Bairner, Goal.com