Singing Les Bleus

After another disappointing, but hardly surprising, draw in this World Cup, this time against South Korea, it is clear that France is a team collapsing right before our very eyes. Rather than coming out inspired to redeem themselves for a poor performance in the last World Cup, as we have seen Argentina do, Les Bleus have picked up right where they left off in Japan/Korea 2002: short on goals, lacking inspiration, unhappy with their coach, and failing to gel into a cohesive unit despite a collection of fantastic players from most of the world's top leagues. The French flop is a classic case of a team failing to add up to the sum of its parts. The team's leader, Zinedine Zidane, continues his sad fall from the top of soccer's Mount Olympus - after an amazing string of years when he could seem to do nothing wrong, culminating with a stunning half-volley against Bayer Leverkusen to give Real Madrid the 2002 Champions League title, Zizou is now a visibly unhappy, disillusioned veteran far past his prime. If France fails to qualify for the second round, then the world's last sight of Zizou would be a disgusted toss of his wristband as he stormed off the field in the 88th minute against Korea, having capped off another poor performance with a second booking in the tournament's first two games, leading to an automatic suspension for the third group game against Togo. The wristband fell to the ground a few feet from where Raymond Domenech, France's under-fire head coach, stood and watched his team blow a one-goal lead to the Koreans. Two minutes later, Domenech subbed David Trezeguet into the game, having inexplicably benched the Juventus striker for the first two games. The look on Trezeguet's face as he entered the game in injury time was priceless: "All I do is score bags of goals for the biggest club team in Italy and crucial goals for the national squad - remember the Euro '00 final against the Azzurri - and this guy leaves me to rot on the pine while this team can't score a goal to save its life!" It's a wonder that Trezeguet didn't pull a Ben Wallace and tell Domenech to go f*** himself. Maybe Trezeguet will get the nod in the Togo game thanks to Zidane's suspension, but with Domenech calling the shots, I'd sooner expect him to call Michel Platini out of retirment than play Trezegol from the start. For the sake of soccer fans all over the world, we can only hope that Domenech buys a coaching manual, starts Trezegol, and somehow leads France to qualification for the second round...not because this Les Bleus team is any fun to watch (a "Full House" marathon would be more entertaining), but because it would be a crying shame if the last sight of this generation's greatest player is of a frustrated, angry genius storming off the field, wondering where, when, why and how it all went so horribly wrong. They say it's better to burn out than fade away - the reasons for Zidane's demise are up for debate, but no one can deny that it would be great to see one last flaming burst of his immeasurable talent. On behalf of the entire population of France, including Domenech and Trezeguet, here's hoping that the world is treated to one final fiery display before Zidane hangs 'em up for good. Allez Les Bleus!