Source: Shanghai Daily/Agencies
06-19-2008 11:28
Special Report: 2008 European Championships
BEIJING, June 19 -- A Decision on whether Raymond Domenech remains the France coach after his team's group stage exit from Euro 2008 will be made on July 3, the French Football Federation said yesterday.
French media called for Domenech to resign after France lost 0-2 to Italy on Tuesday in Zurich to finish bottom of Group C with one point and one goal from three matches.
"It is necessary to take time to analyze the reasons and the consequences of France's early elimination and to sum up the work done (by Domenech) over the past four years," the FFF said in a statement.
FFF president Jean-Pierre Escalettes will meet Domenech and the federation's technical director Gerard Houllier before announcing his decision at the ruling body's next council meeting on July 3.
A nightmare of a tournament, it did not prevent Domenech from thinking of romance on Tuesday.
Asked whether the incident-ridden game might have been his last in charge, Domenech said his only immediate plans were to marry TV journalist Estelle Denis.
"My future? The only plan I have is to marry Estelle," said Domenech.
"There are beautiful things in life," Domenech told reporters. "In difficult moments, you want to tell people you love them, you want to say the things that matter."
There was no shortage of difficult moments on Tuesday in a game where everything went wrong for Domenech's men.
France, needing to beat the world champion to stand a chance of reaching the quarterfinals, had its key player Franck Ribery carried off on a stretcher with a twisted knee after less than 10 minutes.
Defender Eric Abidal was then shown a red card for bringing down Luca Toni in the area midway through the first half. Andrea Pirlo scored the resulting penalty and Daniele De Rossi added the second from a 62nd-minute free kick, deflected in by striker Thierry Henry.
Defender Lilian Thuram and midfielder Claude Makele later announced their retirement.
Editor:Xiong
